Billy Taylor

by Scott Yanow
Billy Taylor has been such an articulate spokesman for jazz, and his profiles on CBS Sunday Morning television program (where he has been a regular since 1981) are so successful at introducing jazz to a wider audience, that sometimes one can forget how talented a pianist he has been for the past half-century. While not an innovator, Taylor has been flexible enough to play swing, bop, and more advanced styles while always retaining his own musical personality. After graduating from Virginia State College in 1942, he moved to New York and played with such major musicians as Ben Webster, Eddie South, Stuff Smith (with whom he recorded in 1944), and Slam Stewart, among others. In 1951, he was the house pianist at Birdland and soon afterward Taylor formed his first of many trios. He helped found the Jazzmobile in 1965; in 1969, became the first black band director for a network television series (The David Frost Show); in 1975, he earned his doctorate at the University of Massachusetts; and he both founded and served as director for the popular radio program Jazz Alive. But despite his activities in jazz education, Taylor has rarely gone long between performances and recordings, always keeping his bop-based style consistently swinging and fresh.