Dr. Billy Taylor, who turns eighty eight on July 24th, celebrates this milestone with the posting of eighty eight videos on his website, and a concert at William Patterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.
Dr. Taylor is the Artist-in-Residence at William Paterson University's Summer Jazz Week, performing with his Trio, featuring Chip Jackson on bass, and Winard Harper on drums, on July 24th at 8:30 pm. For tickets, please contact the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.
He will also be working students in the school’s Jazz program, spending a day critiquing ensembles and answering questions in a Master Class setting.
For the past six years, Billy has been working closely with web Jazz video maven Bret Primack to digitize his video archives. Bret has been posting the video on his YouTube Jazz Video Guy channel, as well on Billy's website. The video player on Billy’s home page now features eighty-eight different videos documenting his remarkable career.
Highlights include:
- Duke Ellington, Willie “The Lion” Smith and Billy performing on the David Frost Show in 1969
- Billy as Jelly Roll Morton, from the early 50s CBS Show, “See It Now”
- Excerpts from the groundbreaking 1958 TV program, “The Subject is Jazz,” featuring Ben Webster, Cannonball Adderley, Lee Konitz, Tony Scott , Bill Evans and George Russell
- Billy and Max Roach performing a tribute to Duke Ellington
- Two renditions of his most famous composition “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”
- Piano Duos featuring Billy with John Lewis, Tommy Flanagan, Monty Alexander, Dick Hyman and Ramsey Lewis
- A thirty minute documentary, “Billy Tayor, American Hero,” produced by Bret Primack in 2006
- Mini-documentaries produced by Bret Primack, including “Billy Taylor Meets Charles Mingus,” “Billy Taylor Meets Art Tatum,” and “Billy Taylor Meets Ben Webster”
- A series of educational videos, “What is Jazz,” where Billy and Trio demonstrate the vital components of Jazz, including improvisation, rhythm and chord progressions
- Many Trio performances featuring Billy’s compositions, including “You Tempt Me,” “His Name Was Martin,” “CAG,” “I’m A Lover,” “Invention,” and “One for the Woofer”
Reaction to these postings on YouTube, where Dr. Taylor’s videos have garnered nearly one and half million views, has been “overwhelmingly enthusiastic,” reports Bret Primack. “There is a growing global audience for web video and posting this documentation of Billy’s long and very productive career has enabled new listners, all over the planet, to learn about Jazz from a true Master.”
To view Billy Taylor’s videos, please visit: http://www.billytaylorjazz.com
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