Cecil Taylor à Paris (Gérard Patris, 1968)

The brand-new restoration of Cecil Taylor à Paris, courtesy of INA, will be premiered at the 2025 edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato. – EK

“He doesn’t come from my community,” replies avant-garde jazz pianist Cecil Taylor, hidden deep behind dark glasses, when asked by the interviewer about Stockhausen. The same response follows for questions about Bach and John Cage. In a style characteristic of 1968, the African-American musician, filmed for Cecil Taylor à Paris in an old French palace with oversized chimneys, dismisses European traditions in favour of “across the track” culture – the lived experiences of African-Americans.

In this instalment in a five-part series for French television (ORTF) on modern music, Taylor discusses the philosophy of music and performance, rendering his points with an opaque, two-handed intensity on the piano that pushes bebop into abstract expressionism, and the film crew into a visceral pool of sound. Gérard Patris and Juliette Bort (as editor) respond with abrupt, rapid cuts, mirroring the music’s intensity with compelling precision. Like Taylor, who moves fluidly between music and poetry, the filmmakers shift from textless opening credits (where names are spoken aloud) to on-screen text and textual interjections, embracing the avant-garde in what becomes a duet between cinema and the Taylor quartet.

Ehsan Khoshbakht

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LES GRANDES RÉPÉTITIONS: CECIL TAYLOR À PARIS (1968)

Directed by Gérard Patris

Photographed by Raymond Clunie. Edited by Juliette Bort.

Featuring Cecil Taylor, Andrew Cyrille, Jimmy Lyons. 

Produced by Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF), Luc Ferrari, Bernard Legargeant, Pierre Schaeffer

Language: French and English

Duration: 45 minutes

Restored in 4K in 2025 by INA, from a 35mm negative and the optical 35mm soundtrack. The film was shot in 35mm and 16mm.