Billy Taylor R.I.P.

Jazz pianist, educator, broadcaster and composer Billy Taylor passed away on December 28th, 2010 at the age of 89 from heart failure. Born in Greenville, North Carolina, Taylor was the house pianist at Birdland, early on in his career, where he performed with the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. More recently Taylor was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C and the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University. Below is a video of Billy performing one of his most famous songs "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" penned in 1954, the song gained notoriety with Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. R.I.P.


Photo courtesy of Tom Marcello
Video courtesy of JazzVideoGuy
Info from Wikipedia and www.billytaylorjazz.net.