Taylor, Billy 1921–

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Billy Taylor 1921–

Jazz pianist

Billy Taylor has been playing top-notch jazz for well over 50 years. That would be an impressive enough fact for most musicians, but in Taylor’s case it barely begins to describe what he has accomplished. During the second half of the 20th century, perhaps no other musician has done as much as Taylor to place jazz into the consciousness of the American public, whether at the keyboard, behind the radio microphone, or in front of the television camera.

Taylor was born July 24, 1921, in Greenville, North Carolina. His family was a musical one. His father, William Sr., was a dentist by trade, but played bass in his spare time. His mother, Antoinette, was a competent pianist. Taylor’s younger brother, Rudolph, played saxophone. Shortly after Taylor’s birth, the family moved to Washington, D.C. While living in Washington, D.C., he was introduced to jazz by an uncle, who was particularly fond of stride piano king Fats Waller. Taylor began learning how to play several instruments as early as the age of seven, but it was the piano that finally captured his interest.

Taylor made his first professional appearance at the age of 13, receiving the impressive sum of one dollar for his efforts. At Dunbar High School in Washington, Taylor studied classical music with Henry Grant, who had also trained Duke Ellington. After graduating from Dunbar, Taylor enrolled at Virginia State College, a predominantly African American school in Petersburg. By 1938, he was playing professionally on a regular basis. Initially, Taylor majored in sociology. Heeding the advice of one of his instructors, the noted pianist and composer Undine S. Moore, Taylor switched his major to music, and was determined to make it his full-time career. In 1942 he graduated from Virginia State, and soon set out for New York to test his luck and his talent in the world of jazz.

Gained Success Quickly

It did not take long for Taylor to find his niche in the Big Apple. Less than a day after his arrival, Taylor found himself jamming with tenor saxophonist Ben Webster at Minton’s, one of New York’s hottest jazz clubs. Webster was impressed enough to offer Taylor a steady gig with his quartet at another club, the Three Deuces. After less

At a Glance…

Born William Taylor, Jr., July 24, 1921, in Greenville, NC; son of William Sr, (a dentist) and Antoinette (a schoolteacher) Taylor; married Theodora, 1964; children: Duane, Kim. Education: Virginia State College, BA, 1942; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, DME, 1975.

Career: Pianist, Ben Webster’s ensemble, 1944; Birdland jazz club, house pianist, 1949-51; founder and leader, Billy Taylor Trio, 1952-; host of Educational Television Network’s The Subject is Jazz, 1958; music director, Black Journal Tonight, 1960s; founded Jazz-mobile, 1964; musical director and bandleader, David Frost Show, 1968-72; host of several radio programs, including National Public Radios’ Jazz Alivel, 1977-82; jazz correspondent, CBS Sunday Morning, 1980-; Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, artistic advisor on jazz, 1994-; numerous performances, lectures, clinics, concerts, etc., in a wide variety of venues and forums.

Awards: Lifetime Achievement Award, Down Beat magazine, 1984; inducted in Down Beat Hall of Fame; Peabody Award for radio series The Subject is Jazz ; Emmy award, CBS Sunday Morning segment, 1983; National Medal of the Arts, 1992; Jazz Masters Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, 1988; International Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame, inducted 1991; Tiffany Award, International Society of Performing Arts Administrators, 1991; Mayor’s Award for Art and Culture, New York City; Man of the Year, National Association of Jazz Educators.

Addresses: Manager —Herbert Barrett Management, 1776 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; Publicist —Creative Music Publicity, 2575 Palisade Ave., Suite 10-J, New York, NY 10463.

than three days in New York, Taylor had become a member of a top-name band.

Taylor quickly became a mainstay on the vibrant jazz club circuit. Pianist Art Tatum, whose acquaintance Taylor also made in those heady first few days after his arrival in New York, became his mentor. Taylor has always credited Tatum as the primary influence in the development of his playing style. Under Tatum’s guidance, Taylor earned a reputation for being a reliable pianist who was capable of playing in any style.

After leaving the Webster band, Taylor toured along the West Coast with the Eddie South trio. Returning to New York in 1945, he joined the Cozy Cole Quintet. With that group, he made his Broadway debut, taking over for Benny Goodman’s band in the musical The Seven Lively Arts at the Ziegfeld Theatre. The following year, Taylor toured Europe with the Don Redman Orchestra. When the tour was over, Taylor stayed behind to live and work in Paris and Holland for several months, before returning to New York in 1948.

Jammed With Jazz Greats

In 1949 Taylor was hired as house pianist at Birdland, where his versatility was on display night after night. His first job at Birdland was with saxophonist Charlie Parker. In addition to Parker, Taylor played at the Birdland with other notable jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, J. J. Johnson, Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, and Lester Young.

By the early 1950s, Taylor was ready to lead his own trio. He teamed up with bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Marquis Foster to form the Billy Taylor Trio. Foster was soon replaced by Charles Smith. Taylor continued to front the trio, as well as other ensembles, over the course of the decade. The trio’s lineup varied somewhat over the years and included, among others, bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummers Billy Cobham, Jo Jones and Ed Thigpen. All of these men were among the best musicians in the world on their instruments.

As the 1950s progressed, Taylor began to emerge as more than just another club musician. Talented players were a dime a dozen. However, there was a shortage of qualified jazz educators and diplomats—articulate individuals who could communicate exactly what was going on behind the blur of rapid chord changes and complex improvised melodies. Taylor assumed this role because other jazz leaders of the time refused it. In Len Lyons’ book The Great Jazz Pianists, Taylor remarked, “I’m a teacher because Dizzy… and Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington refused to do that. I knew that these men knew intellectually what they were doing, but I read interview after interview where they came off sounding like idiots.”

In 1958 Taylor hosted a 13-part series called “The Subject is Jazz,” produced by the National Educational Television Network. The following year, he signed on as a disc jockey at New York’s WLIB-FM radio station, where he became “the voice of jazz in New York.” Meanwhile, Taylor branched out into acting, appearing in a number of regional stage plays and television shows, including the role of piano great Jelly Roll Morton on an episode of CBS-TV’s You Are There. He also began writing about jazz on a regular basis, contributing to such publications as Saturday Review and Downbeat, and he became a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities.

When the jazz club scene began to wither in the 1960s, Taylor, unlike many of his contemporaries, was in a position to make the shift from clubs to concert halls and college campuses. He was also prepared to devote more energy to his educational endeavors. “What drove me out of the clubs,” Taylor was quoted as saying in a 1999 American Visions interview, “was that I was recording for Capitol Records when they discovered the Beatles, and I was so frustrated because nobody could get their records pressed.… You needed to be played on the radio so people would hire you.”

Found Home on the Air

In 1962 Taylor joined the staff of radio station WNEW, where he became the first African American host of a daily show on a major New York station. He moved back to WLIB two years later to take the position of program director. He remained at WLIB until 1969. Perhaps Taylor’s most significant contribution to jazz education came in 1964, when he co-founded the Jazzmobile. This unique program brought top jazz artists to impoverished urban areas, where they performed for free. Taylor maintained a steady presence on television as well, hosting a succession of music specials, including a five-part series about jazz on the popular children’s television show Captain Kangaroo in 1969. He also served as music director and bandleader for the David Frost Show, a position he held for three years.

Taylor was also active in education during this period. He taught at Howard University, C. W. Post, the Manhattan School of Music and the University of Massachusetts. In 1975, Taylor earned his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and he holds the Wilber D. Barrett Chair of Music at that institution. Taylor was named to the International Association of Jazz Educators’ Hall of Fame in 1979. Through the years, he has received 19 honorary degrees.

From 1977 to 1982, Taylor hosted Jazz Alive!, a weekly National Public Radio (NPR) show that became the most popular jazz series in NPR history. Taylor’s audience became even larger in 1980, when he began profiling jazz artists on CBS Sunday Morning. His 1983 segment on Quincy Jones earned him an Emmy award. He also received Downbeat’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984.

During the 1990s, Taylor earned numerous honors and appointments. President George Bush awarded him the National Medal of Arts in 1992. In 1994, Taylor was named artistic advisor for jazz at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. This appointment lead to the initiation of his NPR project, Billy Taylor’s Jazz at the Kennedy Center, which is recorded live and features a mix of performances, audience questions and answers, and conversations with musical guests. Taylor received yet another award in 1997, the New York State Governor’s Arts Award. The following year, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture included him in its list of the “100 Black New Yorkers of the 20th Century.” In terms of overall contribution to jazz—taking into account contributions as a performer, educator, and promoter—few individuals are in Billy Taylor’s league.