Wasn’t that a man

Jazz great Billy Taylor died earlier this week. He’s one of those celebrities whose death actually had an emotional impact for me. Why? Because he was so much more than a jazz giant. From founding the JazzMobile musical outreach program in NYC during the 1960s, to his work as a formal–and informal–music educator, Dr. Taylor was a giant. Through Billy Taylor Jazz, a program carried by many public radio stations including NCPR, during the 1980s and 1990s, Americans across the country learned to love Taylor for his talent, his humor and for giving everyone who watched or listened to him a sense that he was welcoming you personally into a warm and interesting salon. For more about Billy Taylor, here is a link to the NY Times obituary.

If you never saw–or heard–Billy Taylor, here’s a YouTube video of him performing one of his most famous compositions:

Tags: Billy Taylor