Art Taylor


Arthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".

Career

As a teenager, Taylor joined a local Harlem band that featured Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean and Kenny Drew. After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, George Wallington and Art Farmer, Powell and Wallington again, Gigi Gryce and Donald Byrd, he formed his own group, Taylor's Wailers. Between 1957 and 1963, he toured with Donald Byrd, recorded with Miles Davis, Gene Ammons and John Coltrane, and performed with Thelonious Monk; he also was a member of the original Kenny Dorham Quartet of 1957.
In 1963, he moved to Europe, where he lived mainly in France and Belgium for 20 years, playing with local groups and jazz musicians such as Johnny Griffin, John Bodwin, and with travelling American musicians, such as Woody Shaw during the latter's tenure in Paris. He returned to the United States to help his mother, who was ill. He continued freelancing after returning to the United States, and in 1993 organized a second band called Taylor's Wailers. He died in Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan.
He was the author of Notes and Tones, a book based on his interviews with other musicians. This was, for many musicians, a ground-breaking work, because it presented the interviewees' perspectives on the wider social, political, and economic forces in which they operated – topics normally not mentioned in mainstream coverage of jazz musicians.

Discography

As leader

With Thelonious Monk
With Gene Ammons
With Chris Anderson
With Dorothy Ashby
With Benny Bailey
With Kenny Burrell
With Donald Byrd
With Paul Chambers
  • Bass on Top
With Sonny Clark
  • Sonny's Crib
With James Clay
With Jimmy Cleveland
  • A Map of Jimmy Cleveland
With Arnett Cobb
With Pepper Adams, et al.
With John Coltrane
With Continuum
With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
With Miles Davis
With Walter Davis Jr.
With Kenny Dorham
With Art Farmer
With Tommy Flanagan
With Red Garland
With Matthew Gee
With Benny Golson
With Dexter Gordon
With Bennie Green
With Johnny Griffin
With Tiny Grimes
With Gigi Gryce
With Ernie Henry
With Elmo Hope and Frank Foster
With Milt Jackson
With Thad Jones
With Clifford Jordan
With Duke Jordan
With Ken McIntyre
With Jackie McLean
With Lee Morgan
  • Introducing Lee Morgan
  • City Lights
  • Candy
With Oliver Nelson
  • Meet Oliver Nelson
With Cecil Payne
  • Patterns of Jazz
With The Prestige All Stars
  • Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors
With Bud Powell
  • The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
  • Bud Powell Trio
  • Birdland, 1953
  • Three Nights at Birdland
  • Bud Powell's Moods
  • The Lonely One
  • Piano Interpretations
  • Strictly Powell
  • Swingin with Bud
  • Bud plays Bird
  • Bud!
  • The Scene Changes
With Julian Priester
  • Spiritsville
With Dizzy Reece
  • Blues in Trinity
With Charlie Rouse
With Sahib Shihab
  • Jazz Sahib
With Horace Silver
  • Silver's Blue
With Jimmy Smith
  • Damn!
With Johnny "Hammond" Smith
  • Talk That Talk
  • Open House
With Louis Smith
With Sonny Stitt
;With Buddy Tate
With Clark Terry
With Toots Thielmans
  • Man Bites Harmonica!
With Stanley Turrentine
  • ZT's Blues
With Mal Waldron
  • Mal-2
With Randy Weston
  • African Cookbook
  • Niles Littlebig
With Julius Watkins and Charlie Rouse
  • Les Jazz Modes
With Lem Winchester
  • Winchester Special
  • Lem's Beat
With Kai Winding & J. J. Johnson
  • The Great Kai & J. J.
With Frank Wright
  • Uhuru na Umoja
With Steve Grossman'