Billy Taylor | |
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 Taylor in 2000 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Billy Taylor (1921-07-24)July 24, 1921 |
| Died | December 28, 2010(2010-12-28) (aged 89) New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz,hard bop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, educator, broadcaster |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1944–2010 |
Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010)[1] was an Americanjazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music atEast Carolina University inGreenville, and from 1994 was the artistic director for jazz at theJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.[2][3]
A jazz activist, Taylor sat on the Honorary Founders Board of TheJazz Foundation of America, an organisation he founded in 1989, with Ann Ruckert, Herb Storfer and Phoebe Jacobs, to save the homes and the lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians, later including musicians who survivedHurricane Katrina.[4]
Taylor was a jazz educator, who lectured in colleges, served on panels and travelled worldwide as a jazz ambassador. CriticLeonard Feather once said, "It is almost indisputable that Dr. Billy Taylor is the world's foremost spokesman for jazz."[5]
Taylor was born inGreenville, North Carolina, United States,[6] but moved toWashington, D.C., when he was five years old. He grew up in a musical family and learned to play different instruments as a child, including guitar, drums and saxophone. He was most successful at the piano, and had classical piano lessons with Henry Grant, who had educatedDuke Ellington a generation earlier. Taylor made his first professional appearance playing keyboard at the age of 13 and was paid one dollar.[7]
Taylor attendedDunbar High School, the U.S.'s first high school for African American students. He attendedVirginia State College and majored in sociology. During his time, he joinedKappa Alpha Psi fraternity. PianistUndine Smith Moore noticed young Taylor's talent in piano and he changed his major to music, graduating with a degree in music in 1942.[7]
Taylor moved toNew York City after graduation and started playing piano professionally from 1944, first withBen Webster's Quartet on New York's52nd Street.[6] The same night he joined Webster's Quartet, he metArt Tatum, who became his mentor. Among the other musicians Taylor worked with wasMachito and his mambo band, from whom he developed a love for Latin music. After an eight-month tour with theDon Redman Orchestra in Europe, Taylor stayed there with his wife, Theodora, and in Paris and the Netherlands.[8]
Taylor returned to New York later that year and cooperated withBob Wyatt andSylvia Syms at theRoyal Roost jazz club andBillie Holiday in a successful show calledHoliday on Broadway.[9] A year later, he became the house pianist atBirdland and performed withCharlie Parker,J.J. Johnson,Stan Getz,Dizzy Gillespie andMiles Davis.[7] Taylor played at Birdland longer than any other pianist in the club's history.[8] In 1949, Taylor published his first book, a textbook about bebop piano styles.
In 1952, Taylor composed one of his best known tunes, "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free", which achieved more popularity with thecivil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.Nina Simone recorded the song on her 1967 albumSilk & Soul. The tune is known in the UK as a piano instrumental version, used forBBC Television's long-runningFilm... programme. He made dozens of recordings in the 1950s and 1960s, includingBilly Taylor Trio with Candido with Cuban percussionistCandido Camero,My Fair Lady Loves Jazz,Cross Section andTaylor Made Jazz.
In 1958, he became music director of NBC'sThe Subject Is Jazz, the first television series focusing on jazz. The 13-part series was produced by the newNational Educational Television Network with guests such as Duke Ellington,Aaron Copland,Bill Evans,Cannonball Adderley,Jimmy Rushing, andLangston Hughes. Taylor also worked as a DJ and programme director on radio stationWLIB in New York in the 1960s. During the 1960s, the Billy Taylor Trio was a regular feature of the Hickory House on West 55th Street in Manhattan. From 1969 to 1972, he served as music director forTheDavid Frost Show and was the first African American to lead a talk-show band.[10]Louis Armstrong,Count Basie,Benny Goodman, andBuddy Rich were just a few of the musicians who played on the show.
In 1964, he establishedJazzmobile in New York City as a way to promote jazz through educational programmes.[11] In 1981, Jazzmobile produced a jazz special forNational Public Radio, for which the programme received thePeabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting Programs.[9][citation needed] Jazzmobile's 1990 Tribute Concert to Taylor atAvery Fisher Hall, part of theJVC Jazz Festival, featuredNancy Wilson,Ahmad Jamal Trio, andTerence Blanchard Quintet.
Taylor hosted two long-running jazz programmes on National Public Radio.Jazz Alive! ran from 1977 to 1983, andBilly Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center ran from 1995 to 2001. The former program won the Peabody Award.[12]
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In 1981, after being profiled byCBS News Sunday Morning, Taylor was hired as an on-air correspondent and then conducted more than 250 interviews with musicians. He received anEmmy Award for his segment on the multi-talentedQuincy Jones.
In 1989, Taylor formed his own "Taylor Made" record label to document his own music.You Tempt Me (1996), by his 1985 trio (withVictor Gaskin and drummerCurtis Boyd), includes a rendition of Ellington's/Strayhorn’s "Take the "A" Train".White Nights (1991) has Taylor, Gaskin, and drummerBobby Thomas performing live fromLeningrad in theSoviet Union. Then cameSolo (1992), andJazzmobile Allstars (1992). In 1997, he received the New York State Governor's Art Award.[citation needed]
Taylor suffered from a 2002 stroke, which affected his right hand, but he continued to perform almost until his death. He died after a heart attack on December 28, 2010, in Manhattan at the age of 89.[5][1]
His legacy was honored in aHarlem memorial service on January 11, 2011, featuring performances by Taylor's final working trio – bassistChip Jackson and drummerWinard Harper – along with long-time Taylor associatesJimmy Owens,Frank Wess,Geri Allen,Christian Sands and vocalistCassandra Wilson. Taylor was survived by his wife of 65 years, Theodora Castion Taylor; a daughter, Kim Taylor-Thompson; and a granddaughter. His son, artist Duane Taylor, died in 1988.[13]
Taylor appeared on hundreds of albums and composed more than 300 songs during his career, which spanned over six decades. His 1963 song "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free",[10] dealt with civil rights issues and became the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. It was selected as "one of the greatest songs of the sixties" byThe New York Times and was the theme music of the BBCFilm TV programme and the 1996 filmGhosts of Mississippi.[14]
Engaging and educating more audience and young people was a central part of Taylor's career. He was the Wilbur D. Barrett Chair of Music at theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst and a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale. Besides publishing instructional books on jazz, he taught jazz courses atHoward University,Long Island University, theManhattan School of Music, and theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, where he had studied underRoland Wiggins and earned his Master's degree andEdD degree inMusic Education in 1975.[15]
His extensive appearance in television series and jazz educational programs brought the music he loved to the masses at the grassroots level as well as more formal arenas. He was sometimes better known as a television personality than a pianist. He was quoted in a 2007 article in thePost Magazine: "there's no question that being an advocate eclipsed my reputation as a musician. It was my doing. I wanted to prove to people that jazz has an audience. I had to do that for me."[5]
Taylor had more than 20 honorary doctoral degrees and was the recipient of twoPeabody Awards forJazzmobile,NEA Jazz Masters Award (1998), anEmmy Award (1983) for carrying out over 250 interviews forCBS News Sunday Morning, aGrammy Award (2004)[16]Down Beat magazine's Lifetime Achievement award (1984),National Medal of Arts (1992), and the Tiffany Award (1991). In 1981, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from theBerklee College of Music.[17]
He was honored in 2001 with theAmerican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award,[18] and election to the Hall of Fame for theInternational Association for Jazz Education. He served as artistic director for jazz at theKennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he developed many critically acclaimed concert series, including the Louis Armstrong Legacy series, and the annualMary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. In addition, he performed at theWhite House seven times and was one of only three jazz musicians to be appointed to theNational Council of the Arts.
Taylor was inducted into theNorth Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010.[19]
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WithArkadia Jazz All Stars
WithJohnny Hartman
WithColeman Hawkins
WithMundell Lowe
With theMetronome All-Stars
WithSal Salvador
WithSonny Stitt
WithLucky Thompson
With Various Artists
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