Billy Taylor

William "Billy" Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

A jazz activist, Taylor sat on the Honorary Founders Board of The Jazz Foundation of America, an organisation he started in 1989, with Ann Ruckert, Herb Storfer and Phoebe Jacobs, to save the homes and the lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians, later including musicians who survived Hurricane Katrina.

Taylor was also a jazz educator, who lectured in colleges, served on panels and travelled worldwide as a jazz ambassador. Critic Leonard Feather once said, "It is almost indisputable that Dr. Billy Taylor is the world's foremost spokesman for jazz."

Biography

Early life and career

Taylor was born in Greenville, North Carolina, but moved to Washington, D.C., when he was five years old. He grew up in a musical family and learned to play different instruments as a child, including guitar, drums and saxophone. He was most successful at the piano, and had classical piano lessons with Henry Grant, who had educated Duke Ellington a generation earlier. Taylor made his first professional appearance playing keyboard at the age of 13 and was paid one dollar. Taylor attended Dunbar High School, the U.S.'s first high school for African-American students. He went to Virginia State College and majored in sociology. Pianist Dr. Undine Smith Moore noticed young Taylor's talent in piano and he changed his major to music, graduating with a degree in music in 1942.

Billy Taylor (footballer)

William "Billy" Taylor (31 July 1939 – 30 November 1981) was a Scottish footballer who played for junior club Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic before moving to England, where he made 122 appearances in the Football League playing for Leyton Orient, Nottingham Forest and Lincoln City. He then joined the coaching staff at Fulham. He played as a midfielder.

References

Billy Taylor (1880s pitcher)

William Henry "Bollicky Bill" Taylor (1855 – May 14, 1900) was a pitcher, outfielder, and catcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Worcester Ruby Legs, Detroit Wolverines, Cleveland Blues, Pittsburgh Alleghenys, St. Louis Maroons, Philadelphia Athletics, and Baltimore Orioles during the 1880s. Taylor was 5' 11" and weighed 204 lb.

Career

Taylor was born in 1855 in Washington, D.C. He started his professional baseball career in 1879 with the Northwestern League's Dubuque Red Stockings. The following year, he played for San Francisco of the California League.

In 1881, Taylor had stints with three teams in the National League. He made his major league debut on May 21 with the Worcester Ruby Legs, played six games for them, then appeared in one game for the Detroit Wolverines, and then appeared in 24 games for the Cleveland Blues. Mostly playing in the outfield, he batted .222 that year.

Taylor spent 1882 and 1883 with the American Association's Pittsburgh Alleghenys. He had arguably his best hitting season in 1882 when – splitting his time between five positions – he batted .281 and ranked third in the league with a .452 slugging percentage. In 1883, Taylor batted .260 and also appeared in 19 games as a pitcher. He led the league with nine games finished and went 4-7 with a 5.39 earned run average.

Billy Taylor (jazz bassist)

William Taylor Sr. (April 3, 1906 – September 2, 1986) was an American jazz bassist. He was born Washington, D.C. and died in Fairfax, Virginia.

Taylor began playing tuba but later picked up bass alongside it. After moving to New York City in 1924, he played with Elmer Snowden (1925), Willie Gant and Arthur Gibbs (1926), Charlie Johnson (1927–29, 1932–33), Duke Ellington (1928), McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1929–31), Fats Waller (1934), and Fletcher Henderson. He recorded with Jelly-Roll Morton on three sessions in 1930. From 1935 to 1940 he again played with Ellington, and it is for this association that he is best known; he often played with a second bassist in the orchestra, at times Hayes Alvis or Jimmie Blanton. During that time he also recorded with Cootie Williams and Johnny Hodges. In the 1940s he played with Coleman Hawkins (1940), Red Allen (1940–41), Joe Sullivan (1942), Raymond Scott (1942–43), Cootie Williams (1944), Barney Bigard (1944–45), Benny Morton (1945), and Cozy Cole (1945). Later in the decade he played freelance in New York before moving back to Washington, D.C. in 1949. He led his own ensemble for Keynote Records in 1944.

Billy Taylor (running back, born 1950)

William "Billy" Taylor (born July 24, 1950) is a former professional American and Canadian football running back who played for Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League after starring for the University of Michigan Wolverines. At Michigan, he became an All-American and broke the school record for career rushing yardage and finished second to Tom Harmon in scoring.

University of Michigan

Born in Hoxie, Arkansas, Taylor spent his early years in Memphis, Tennessee until his father's death in 1954 when Taylor was five years old. His mother moved the family to Barberton, Ohio. After graduating from high school, Taylor attended the University of Michigan where he became one of the most accomplished football players in school history. He was an All-Big Ten selection three times and a first team All-Big Ten selection two times (1969 and 1970).

Taylor broke the Michigan career rushing record with 3,072 yards in three seasons. His record was broken six years later by Rob Lytle.

Billy Taylor (ice hockey, born 1942)

William Gordon Taylor (b. October 14, 1942 in Kincaid, Saskatchewan - d. September 8, 1979) was a professional ice hockey centre who played two games in the National Hockey League. His father Billy "The Kid" Taylor Sr. played 323 games in NHL winning the Stanley Cup with Toronto in 1942.

Playing career

Taylor spent most of his playing career in various minor leagues on various teams from 1960 to 1968. He managed to play only two games in the NHL for the New York Rangers during the 1964–65 NHL season, recording no points.

After retirement as a player, he spent one season, 1971–72, as a head coach for the Guelph CMC's of the Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League. That season the CMC's went on to win the Mannitoba Centennial Cup as National Tier II Junior "A" Champions under the watch of Taylor.

According to the NHL Official Guide & Record Book and Total Hockey Taylor is deceased, but gives no date of death.

See also

External links