[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 116 (Thursday, September 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1855-E1856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      A SALUTE TO DR. BILLY TAYLOR

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 15, 2005

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, as Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
and Chairman of the Jazz Forum and Concert that occurs during the 
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference, 
I rise to salute the lifetime achievements of one of the most 
distinguished artists in American music history, Dr. Billy Taylor. The 
following biography, found on the Kennedy Center's web site, chronicles 
a career of accomplishment deserving of such high recognition, and of 
this body's thoughtful attention and respect:
  ``Billy Taylor arrived in New York City on a Friday evening in 1942. 
He headed for Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, where he was heard by one 
of his idols, tenor saxophonist, Ben Webster. The following Sunday 
Taylor began his professional career, playing with Webster's quartet at 
the Three Deuces alongside Webster, Big Sid Catlett and Charlie 
Drayton. During this time, Billy was Art Taturn's protege and Jo Jones 
was his `appointed guardian.''
  Taylor worked with Machito's Afro-Cuban band, replaced Erroll Garner 
in the Slam Stewart Trio, and became a member of the Don Redman 
Orchestra, the first American jazz band to tour Europe after World War 
II (1946). He also played on Broadway in Billy Rose's ``The Seven 
Lively Arts,'' opened for Billie Holiday in ``Holiday on Broadway,'' 
and played in the pit band for ``Blue Holiday,'' starring Ethel Waters, 
Mary Lou Williams and the Katherine Dunham dancers.
  He played a lot of solo gigs along the northeast corridor--the Earle 
Theater in Philadelphia, The Royal Theater in Baltimore, the Howard 
Theater in DC and the Apollo in NYC. In 1949 he got a call to sub for 
Al Haig with Charlie Parker and Strings at Birdland. This was the 
beginning of his two-year stint as house pianist at that legendary jazz 
club. He played with everybody--Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles 
Davis, Oscar Pettiford, Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, Zoot Sims, Roy 
Haynes, and Kenny Dorham among others. Often playing opposite such 
bands as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton and Lennie Tristano, 
his tenure at Birdland was one of Taylor's greatest learning 
experiences.
  Billy made some recordings with his own group during the early 1950's 
for such labels as Prestige, Riverside, ABC Paramount, Impulse!, Sesac, 
Mercury and Capital Records. He also recorded albums with Quincy Jones, 
Sy Oliver, Mundell Lowe, Neal Hefti, Eddie `Lockjaw Davis', Sonny 
Stitt, Lucky Thompson, Coleman Hawkins and Dinah Washington. He even 
started his own music publishing company, Duane Music, Inc.
  Also about this time Taylor started writing about jazz and giving 
lectures/clinics to music teachers interested in teaching jazz. He 
began to witness first-hand, the serious lack of funding for the arts 
and humanities and began to focus on radio and television in order to 
gain better exposure for America's classical music. He helped to 
facilitate many local and national broadcasts featuring jazz artists in 
live performances. Some in broadcast studios, others in nightclubs, 
dance halls, and hotels. In 1958 he was named Musical Director of the 
first series ever produced about jazz, ``The Subject Is Jazz'' (NET). 
His house band for these 13 programs included Doc Severinsen, Tony 
Scott, Jimmy Cleveland, Mundell Lowe, Earl May, Eddie Safranski, Ed 
Thigpen and Osie Johnson. Guests included none other than Willie ``The 
Lion'' Smith, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Jimmy Rushing, Bill 
Evans and Aaron Copeland among others.

  During the 1960's Taylor was working regularly with his trio and 
hosting his own daily radio show on New York's WLIB. He was making 
guest shots on various TV shows and recording for Capital Records, when 
the Beatles began to nip at the heels of Taylor and other highly 
successful members of the Capital family like Frank Sinatra, Nat King 
Cole, and Peggy Lee. Rather than continue to be neglected, Taylor opted 
to forget about recordings for the time being and concentrate on radio 
and television. His success on WLIB led to a post at the popular WNEW, 
playing jazz for their affluent middle-of-the-road audience. He 
continued to perform as well during this period, usually with his trio 
and sometimes with larger ensembles.
  In the early 1970's, Taylor was named Musical Director for the 
popular daily television show, The David Frost Show. Many feel he had 
the best jazz band on TV at that time. They played an hour jazz concert 
every night for the studio audience, and at least twice a week, Frost 
booked guests like Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, or Buddy Rich to play 
and be interviewed. Two recordings were made with Taylor's band on the 
Frost show before the show came to an end three and a half years later. 
Billy Taylor returned to WLIB, this time as program director of the 
station and began to build the largest jazz audience in New York City. 
Simultaneously he had his own local television program on New York's 
Channel 47. It was about this time that Taylor was offered an 
opportunity to enroll in the doctoral program at the University of 
Massachusetts at Amherst. He had been an adjunct professor at C. W. 
Post College in New York and a visiting professor at Howard University, 
and felt the need to organize his teaching materials so that they might 
be more effectively used by others. After a few years of intense study, 
he earned his combined Masters and Doctorate in Music Education (1975). 
But he sorely missed playing and writing music. He had been appointed 
to the National Council for the Arts by President Nixon in 1970, and 
although this was a tremendous honor, the amount of time required to be 
an effective arts advocate took precious time away from practicing his 
music. Nonetheless, he tackled the task at hand, alongside his 
distinguished colleagues, Maurice Abravenel, Eudora Welty, Beverly 
Sills, and Nancy Hanks, who were doing so much to help make the arts 
available to everyone. It was a highly productive and rewarding period 
for Taylor, but not especially creative, musically.
  Sometimes things work themselves out in mysterious ways. Maurice 
Abravenel commissioned Taylor to write ``Suite For Jazz Piano and 
Orchestra''; T. J. Anderson commissioned him to write ``Make A Joyful 
Noise''; the University of New Hampshire commissioned him to write a 
dance suite, ``For Rachel''; the Kentucky Symphony asked him to write 
``Impromptu.'' And so, Taylor began to write jazz for ensembles that 
were larger than his trio. He composed the musical score and lyrics for 
an off-Broadway production of Wole Soyinka's ``The Lion and The 
Jewel,'' and some dance music for the original production of ``Your 
Arms Are Too Short To Box With God.'' (To date, Billy Taylor has over 
350 songs to his credit, including the popular, ``I Wish I Knew How It 
Would Feel To Be Free,'' which has been recorded by various artists and 
served as an anthem for the civil rights movement. His latest work, 
``Urban Griot,'' is detailed under the Soundpost section of this 
website.)
  All the while, Billy Taylor continued his work in broadcasting, as 
Musical Director for Tony Brown's Black Journal Tonight (PBS); and from 
1977-1982, as host of NPR's most listened to jazz program of its time, 
``Jazz Alive.'' By the end of the 1970's he was touring with his trio 
more than ever, but playing fewer and fewer jazz clubs, which had 
become crowded, overpriced and excluded young people. Realizing the 
need to bring his music to a broader audience, Taylor began to focus 
more on performing in larger venues such as concert halls and 
performing arts centers, which were a welcome change.
  In the early 1980's, Taylor was tapped by Charles Kuralt to become 
arts correspondent for the popular television program, ``CBS Sunday 
Morning.'' Still at that post today, he has profiled over 250 well-
known and not-so-well-known members of the jazz community. (He received 
an Emmy Award for his profile on Quincy Jones.) It was during this time 
that Billy also decided to start his own record company (Taylor Made), 
but after producing five albums, he realized that it was the music he 
wanted to be involved in, not the business. He

[[Page E1856]]

continued his work as a performer both on the bandstand and on 
television & radio as well. He hosted his own jazz piano show for 
Bravo, ``Jazz Counterpoint,'' which featured such artists as George 
Shearing, Marian McPartland and Ramsey Lewis, along with two different 
NPR radio series, ``Dizzy's Diamond.'' and ``Taylor Made Piano,'' which 
traced the history of jazz using the piano to tell the story. Based 
upon Dr. Taylor's book, ``Jazz Piano,'' ``Taylor Made Piano'' won a 
Peabody Award and generated more requests for tapes than any previous 
NPR program. As the 80's drew to a close, Billy Taylor signed with GRP/
Impulse, making some of his most popular recordings, including the re-
release of My Fair Lady Loves Jazz (arranged by Quincy Jones), It's A 
Matter of Pride, Dr. T (featuring Gerry Mulligan) and Homage (featuring 
the Turtle Island String Quartet) which received a Grammy nomination in 
1996.
  During the 90's Dr. Taylor was named Artistic Advisor for Jazz to the 
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Since 1994, 
under the umbrella of Jazz at the Kennedy Center, Taylor has developed 
one acclaimed concert series after another including the Art Tatum 
Pianorama, the Louis Armstrong Legacy series, the annual Mary Lou 
Williams Women in Jazz Festival, Beyond Category, Betty Carter's Jazz 
Ahead and the Jazz Ambassadors Program. His nationally broadcast NPR 
series, ``Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center'' is recorded live 
and features a mix of performances, audience Q & A, and conversations 
with musical guests. (see the Education/Residencies section of this 
website). Billy pioneered this play a little, talk a little format in 
the early 80's, with his ``Jazz Models & Mentors'' series, presented 
four times a year at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Taylor 
performs regularly with his current trio (Chip Jackson/bass & Winard 
Harper/drums) as well as with his long time friend, pianist Ramsey 
Lewis. When he's not touring, composing or recording, he can be found 
in classrooms throughout the country, conducting master classes, 
workshops and lecture/demonstrations. As he approaches his 80th 
birthday, Billy Taylor remains vigorously dedicated to nurturing jazz 
and creating new forums and opportunities for the artists who perform 
it. He encompasses that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, 
vision, commitment and leadership, all qualities that make him one of 
our most cherished national treasures.''
  In March 2005, Dr. Taylor retired from concert performance.

                          ____________________