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Andrew Charles Cyrille was born on November 10, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York into a Haitian family. He began studying science at St. John’s University but was already playing jazz in the evenings and soon switched his studies to the Juilliard School. His first drum teachers were fellow Brooklyn-based drummers Willie Jones and Lenny McBrown. Through them, he met Max Roach, nonetheless he became a disciple of Philly Joe Jones.

His first professional engagement was as an accompanist of singer Nellie Lutcher, had an early recording session with Coleman Hawkins and trumpeter Ted Curson introduced him to pianist Cecil Taylor when he was 18. He joined the Taylor unit in 1964 and stayed for about 10 years and eventually performed drum duos with Milford Graves.

In addition to recording a dozen albums as a bandleader, he has recorded and/or performed with David Murray, Irene Schweizer, Marilyn Crispell, Carla Bley, Butch Morris, Reggie Workman, Oliver Lake, Geri Allen, Ahmad Abdul-Malik, Billy Bang, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, Walt Dickerson, Charlie Haden, David Murray, Horace Tapscott and the list goes on.

Avant-garde drummer Andrew Cyrille is currently a member of the group, Trio 3, with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman.

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