Dr. Billy Taylor, who left us at the age of 87 in December 2010, opened the doors of Jazz for generations. As a pianist he played with the best in the business from 1942 (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker et al) through 2010. But his contributions to jazz went far beyond the bandstand. Behind a radio microphone (for four decades), in front of a television camera, in the university setting and in the streets on Jazzmobile's flatbed trucks, Taylor was an evangelist and swinging practitioner of "America's classical music" In a 2007 Jazz at Lincoln Center conversation with Lewis Porter, he remembers the very surprising way he wound up in Ben Webster's band.

Dr. Billy Taylor, who left us at the age of 87 in December 2010, opened the doors of Jazz for generations. As a pianist he played with the best in the business from 1942 (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker et al) through 2010. But his contributions to jazz went far beyond the bandstand. Behind a radio microphone (for four decades), in front of a television camera, in the university setting and in the streets on Jazzmobile's flatbed trucks, Taylor was an evangelist and swinging practitioner of "America's classical music" In a 2007 Jazz at Lincoln Center conversation with Lewis Porter, he remembers the very surprising way he wound up in Ben Webster's band.