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Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor encompassed that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that made him one of our most cherished national treasures.The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor's recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free," as well as works for theatre, dance and symphony orchestras.
Playing the piano professionally since 1944, he got his start with Ben Webster's Quartet on New York's famed 52nd Street. He then served as the house pianist at Birdland, the legendary jazz club where he performed with such celebrated masters as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Since the 1950s, Billy Taylor has been leading his own Trio, as well as performing with the most influential jazz musicians of the twentieth century.
Dr. Taylor has not only been an influential musician, but a highly regarded teacher as well, receiving his Masters and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and serving as a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.
He has also hosted and programmed such radio stations WLIB and WNEW in New York, and award winning series for National Public Radio. In the early 1980s, Taylor became the arts correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning.
Dr. Billy Taylor is one of only three jazz musicians appointed to the National Council of the Arts, and also serves as the Artistic Advisor for Jazz to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he has developed one acclaimed concert series after another including the Louis Armstrong Legacy series, and the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival.
With over twenty three honorary doctoral degrees, Dr. Billy Taylor is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts, the Tiffany Award, a Lifetime achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine, and, election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education.
Dr. Billy Taylor passed on Dec. 28, 2010.
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Learning the Art of Jazz, Part 2
by Monk Rowe
Dr. Billy Taylor, Phil Woods, Holly Hofmann and Jerry Jerome continue the tales of entering the jazz life before the music was accepted by academia. ...
read moreJazz vs. Classical Funding
by Nicholas Krolak
Throughout jazz history there has been a desire among the jazz community to see the music respected on the same level as western classical music. It is after all, jazz is America's classical music. As Dr. Billy Taylor explains, “Classical music must be time-tested; it must serve as a standard or model; it must have established value; and it must be indigenous to the culture for which it speaks. Jazz meets the criteria of classical music. Because it is particularly ...
read moreBilly Taylor and Gerry Mulligan: Live at MCG
by Woodrow Wilkins
The typical jazz listener easily tires of hearing standards covered by newer artists. However, it's occasionally good to hear the masters revisit some of these old compositions--a way of staying connected. Jazz legends Billy Taylor and Gerry Mulligan have done that with Live at MCG. The Manchester Craftsmen's Guild is a non-profit organization in Pittsburgh, USA whose mission is to preserve, present and promote jazz. In doing so, MCG brings in artists such as Taylor and Mulligan to entertain and ...
read moreBilly Taylor and Gerry Mulligan: Live at MCG
by Joel Roberts
Dr. Billy Taylor has spent so much of the latter part of his nearly sixty-year career in jazz as an educator and broadcaster that it's easy to forget what a brilliant pianist he is. This splendid 1993 date, billed as his first-ever performance with the late baritone sax legend Gerry Mulligan, should serve as a reminder of Taylor's often overlooked talents--as well as a valuable addition to Mulligan's legacy. The album features the two veterans, Taylor, then ...
read moreBilly Taylor: Taylor Made at the Kennedy Center
by Jim Santella
Dr. Billy Taylor and friends begin this concert performance compilation with homage to early bebop as Terence Blanchard recalls the loose, pioneering spirit of Diz and Stanley Turrentine does his best to interpret Bird's spirit in his own way. Russell Malone and Stefon Harris broaden the scope, turning Taylor's idea into a thrilling jam session that presents Jazz at the Kennedy Center with open ears and smiling faces. Tradition has been served.
Performed and recorded between 1999 and ...
read more"Bebop" from Taylor Made Piano
by AAJ Staff
By Billy Taylor Chapter 9: Bebop Originally published in 1982, this book is an invaluable and popular resource for both music students and professional musicians alike. Billy Taylor conveys the history and development of America's classical music, jazz, through a unique perspective--that of practicing musician, jazz pianist and educator. This excerpt is taken from the chapter on Bebop.
Bebop was the next step in the evolution of Jazz. The most musically complex ... read moreBilly Taylor: Taylor Made at the Kennedy Center
by Franz A. Matzner
A tribute to the retiring Dr. Billy Taylor, Taylor Made at the Kennedy Center documents the artist's performance career at the Kennedy Center and presents him in the context he loved best--on stage and sharing his love of jazz by not only performing his own music, but also bringing to the audience some of jazz's greatest contemporary voices.
Culled from several years' worth of live recordings at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, the album presents nine tracks, each an original ...
read moreBilly Taylor: Two Fresh Sound Releases
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Between 1950 and 1960, jazz was dominated by elegant jazz pianists. The list is long and includes Oscar Peterson, Sonny Clark, Red Garland, Russ Freeman, Lou Levy, Ahmad Jamal and others. A pianist who belongs on this list but is often forgotten is Billy Taylor. Billy's technique was unrivaled in many ways because he covered so much ground effortlessly, from stride and swing to bop and Latin. As bassist and manager John Levy told me in 2010, “Billy was naïve—in ...
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Billy Taylor: Brazilian Beat
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Another rare and stunning Billy Taylor album is Brazilian Beat. It was recorded in 1963 for Sesac Records. Originally known as the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, Sesac is the third largest performance-rights organization, behind ASCAP and BMI. Founded in 1930, Sesac's mission was to support European stage authors and composers in seeking American performance royalties. In the 1940s, Sesac began widening its representation, and in the 1950s it set up an electrical transcription service. Each month, Sesac ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Billy Taylor
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Billy Taylor's birthday today! Billy Taylor encompassed that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that made him one of our most cherished national treasures. The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor\'s recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free... Read more. Place our Musician of ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Billy Taylor
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Billy Taylor's birthday today! Billy Taylor encompassed that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that made him one of our most cherished national treasures. The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor\'s recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free... Read more. Place our Musician of ...
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A Behind The Scenes Look At Billy Taylor's JazzMobile!
Source:
Patricia DeArcy
We are pleased to announce that Patricia DeArcy, Director of the documentary “The Harlem Cultural Council,” a behind the scenes look at the formation of Billy Taylor's JazzMobile as well as other Harlem Cultural Council endeavors like the DanceMobile, is in post production and taking a giant leap forward producing a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.com. After interviewing key members of the founding branch of the Harlem Cultural Council like jazz pianist Billy Taylor, Barbara Ann Teer, Ademola Olegubefola, Woody King ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Billy Taylor
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Billy Taylor's birthday today!
Billy Taylor encompassed that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that made him one of our most cherished national treasures. The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor\'s recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free... Read more.
Place our Musician of ...
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Billy Taylor Trios: 1952-56
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Today would have been Billy Taylor's 92d birthday had he not died in December 2010. Unfortunately, Billy is remembered most often now as a kindly educator and radio and TV personality rather than as a superlative pianist. Mind you, his work in jazz education was noble and needed. I would probably not be as passionate about jazz as I am now had Billy not turned up at Manhattan's Junior High School 143 in 1968 to play I Wish I Knew ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Billy Taylor
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Billy Taylor's birthday today!
Billy Taylor encompassed that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that made him one of our most cherished national treasures. The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor\'s recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free... Read more.
Place our Musician of ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Billy Taylor
Source:
All About Jazz is celebrating Billy Taylor's birthday today!
Billy Taylor encompassed that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that made him one of our most cherished national treasures. The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor\'s recording career spans nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free...Billy Taylor encompassed that rare combination of ...
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Concert Producer & Manager Laura Hartmann is a Growing Force in Jazz; Protege of Dr. Billy Taylor Speaks of His Legacy
Source:
Seth Cohen PR
Kingston-Based Concert Producer and Manager Laura Hartmann is a Growing Force in Jazz Shaping the Careers of Top Musicians, Bringing Innovative Technologies to Jazz Education and Presenting Eclectic Events, Hartmann is a Passionate Advocate for the Arts Protege of the Late, Great Dr. Billy Taylor Becomes a Protector of His Legacy Kingston-based Laura Hartmann has emerged as a passionate and formidable advocate for jazz artists, events and education in America. Widely-known as the long-time manager of acclaimed saxophonist Steve Wilson, ...
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Charles Gambetta
bass
Dave Cornwall
piano
donald hamilton (queen)
trumpet
Maurice Lynch
producer
Yujung Jung
pianoPhotos
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Billy Taylor
Instrument: Piano
Born: July 24, 1921
Died: December 28, 2010
