Val Wilmer, in As Serious As Your Life: "Cecil Taylor was the first innovator to come to the music without the benefit of an immediate grounding in the blues. John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman had both played in blues bands, certainly all their predecessors had done so, but Taylor, with a background of conservatory training, was often rejected because of it. First of all, he employed a staggering technique. His use of extreme chromaticism - that is, playing every note on the keyboard so that he could be in any key - made it obvious that here was someone who was very knowledgeable. Furthermore, he rushed all over the keyboard, hitting each note with an intense, percussive touch, as if they were eighty-eight tuned drums."