Billy Taylor

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For other uses, see Billy Taylor (disambiguation).
Billy Taylor
1976
1976
Background information
Birth name William Taylor
Born July 27, 1921 (1921-07-27) (age 86)
Origin Greenville, North Carolina, USA
Genre(s) Jazz, Hard Bop
Occupation(s) Pianist, Composer, Educator
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active 1940s – Present
Associated acts Charlie Parker
Dizzy Gillespie
Miles Davis
Herbie Mann
Gerry Mulligan
Christian McBride
Nancy Wilson
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Cyrus Chestnut
Website www.BillyTaylorJazz.net

Billy Taylor (born July 24, 1921 in Greenville, North Carolina) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. He is currently the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Since 1994, he has been the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Taylor was born in Greenville, North Carolina. He graduated from Virginia State College with a B.S. in Music in 1942, and has been playing piano professionally since 1944, starting with Ben Webster's Quartet on New York's 52nd Street. He later became the house pianist at Birdland, where he performed with the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. He was a protege of jazz pianist Art Tatum. In 1958, he was the Musical Director of NBC's The Subject Is Jazz, the first ever television series on the subject of jazz.

In 1964, Dr. Billy Taylor founded New York's Jazzmobile, which provides arts education program of the highest quality via workshops, master classes, lecture demonstrations, arts enrichment programs, outdoor summer mobile concerts, special indoor concerts and special projects.[1] During the 1960's,the Billy Taylor Trio was a regular feature of the Hickory House on West 55th street in Manhattan In 1981, Jazzmobile produced a Jazz special for the National Public Radio, and for which the program received the Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting Programs. Jazzmobile's 1990 Tribute Concert to Dr. Taylor at Avery Fisher Hall, part of the JVC Jazz Festival, featured Nancy Wilson, Ahmad Jamal Trio and Terence Blanchard Quintet.

Among his most notable works is "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free", composed in 1954, and subsequently achieving more popularity with Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Nina Simone covered the song in her 1967 album Silk and Soul. It is widely known in the UK as a piano instrumental version, used for BBC1's Film programme, hosted by Barry Norman and subsequently Jonathan Ross. Derek Trucks, The Lighthouse Family and Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra have also recorded versions.

In 1989, Billy Taylor started his own "Taylor Made" record label to document his own music, releasing four albums, You Tempt Me (1996) is a strong outing by his 1985 trio (with Victor Gaskin and drummer Curtis Boyd) that includes a rendition of Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train". White Nights (1991) has Taylor, Gaskin, and drummer Bobby Thomas performing live from Leningrad in the Soviet Union, than came Solo (1992), and Jazzmobile Allstars (1992).

[edit] Selective awards and recognitions

With over twenty three honorary doctoral degrees, Dr. Billy Taylor is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, NEA Jazz Masters Award (1998) an Emmy Award (1983) for "Outstanding Informational, Cultural or Historical Programming", a Grammy Award (2004)[2] and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts (1992), the Tiffany Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Down Beat Magazine. He was also honored in 2001 with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award,[3] and election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education.

Now in his eighties, and officially retired from active touring and recording, he remains active with his educational activities and a full schedule of speaking engagements and appearances on radio and television.

[edit] Selective discography

Year Title Genre Label
1999 Taylor Made at the Kennedy Center
with Dee Dee Bridgewater		 Jazz Kennedy Center Jazz
1993 Live at MCG Jazz Manchester Craftsman Guild
1993 Dr. T Jazz GRP
1992 Solo Jazz Taylor Made
1991 White Nights and Jazz in Leningrad Jazz Taylor Made
1977 Live at Storyville Jazz West 54
1962 Impromptu Jazz Mercury
1959 Billy Taylor with Four Flutes Jazz Riverside
1957 My Fair Lady Loves Jazz Jazz GRP
1956 Cross Section Jazz Prestige
1945 Billy Taylor Piano Jazz Savoy

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Jazz Mobile Inc.
  2. ^ Grammy Award Database
  3. ^ Jazz Living Legend Award 2001

[edit] External links

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