The Distinguished Musician and Educator, Performing With His Trio, Returns to America's Largest Summer Arts Day Camp, Where He Created and Directed the Jazz Studies Department
Dr. Billy Taylor, the world-famous jazz musician and music educator, will open the 40th Anniversary Season of Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Huntington, Long Island, on Monday June 25th at 12:00 Noon. Performing with his Trio, Dr. Taylor will inaugurate the Center's annual Festival Concerts, the daily educational performances for Usdan Center students, by internationally acclaimed artists at Usdan Center's 1,000-seat open-air McKinley Amphitheater. Dr. Taylor returns to the Center where, in 1986, he created, and for many years directed, the Center's Jazz Studies Department. In 2001, Dr. Taylor won Usdan's highest honor, its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Usdan Center, the largest summer arts day camp in the United States, has been called “One of the most unique camps in America" by Time Magazine. Usdan has introduced the visual and performing arts to more than 50,000 children, many on scholarship, from New York City and throughout the greater New York area. Each season, 1,600 students, ages 6 to 18 attend, are picked up each day by air-conditioned buses, and participate in more than 40 different courses in the arts, chess, writing, nature, and media arts. No audition is required for most programs. Although the mission of the Center is to provide students with the arts as a companion for life, regardless of their adult occupations, Usdan's unique program and superb faculty have caused many to go on to professional careers. Alumni include Mariah Carey, Natalie Portman, Jane Monheit, and members of major symphony orchestras and dance companies.
Dale Lewis, Executive Director of Usdan Center, said “I am delighted to be able to present a longtime Usdan favorite, Dr. Billy Taylor, to Usdan students during our 40th Anniversary season. Dr. Taylor is the dean of American jazz artists, having spent his lifetime in service to the jazz idiom that he defines as “America's classical music." In addition to his enthralling performances at the keyboard, Dr. Taylor has taught and supported young artists at Usdan, and on college and university campuses across the globe. We are proud to have him perform at Usdan once again."
Grammy-winning Dr. Billy Taylor, honored by the Kennedy Center as a Living Jazz Legend, and a distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, has had a recording career spanning nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free," as well as works for theatre, dance and symphony orchestras. From Charlie Parker to Dizzy Gillespie to Miles Davis, he has performed with the most influential jazz musicians of the twentieth century, and since the 1950's, has led his own Trio. Dr. Taylor has not only been an influential musician, but a highly regarded teacher as well, receiving his Master's and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and serving as a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.
Dr. Taylor has hosted and programmed such radio stations WLIB and WNEW in New York, and award winning series for National Public Radio. In the early 1980s, Taylor became the arts correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. With over twenty three honorary doctoral degrees, Dr. Billy Taylor is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts, the Tiffany Award, a Lifetime achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine, and, election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education. Now in his eighties, and officially retired from active touring and recording, he remains active with his educational activities, including an upcoming revival of his Jazzmobile, an outreach program he created two decades ago to bring free jazz programs to people across the country.
Registration is still open for Usdan Center's 40th Season, which runs through August 10. The rest of the Festival Concerts will be announced shortly, and past performers have included members of the New York City Ballet, Jane Monheit, cast members of current Broadway shows and the Tokyo String Quartet (after the first few weeks of the season, students perform the Festival Concerts). Interested families may visit and tour the Center's magnificent 200-acre woodland campus at 185 Colonial Springs Road in Wheatley Heights (Huntington area), Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM. Call (212) 772-6060 (through the end of May), or the Center at (631) 643-7900.
Dr. Billy Taylor, the world-famous jazz musician and music educator, will open the 40th Anniversary Season of Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Huntington, Long Island, on Monday June 25th at 12:00 Noon. Performing with his Trio, Dr. Taylor will inaugurate the Center's annual Festival Concerts, the daily educational performances for Usdan Center students, by internationally acclaimed artists at Usdan Center's 1,000-seat open-air McKinley Amphitheater. Dr. Taylor returns to the Center where, in 1986, he created, and for many years directed, the Center's Jazz Studies Department. In 2001, Dr. Taylor won Usdan's highest honor, its Lifetime Achievement Award.
Usdan Center, the largest summer arts day camp in the United States, has been called “One of the most unique camps in America" by Time Magazine. Usdan has introduced the visual and performing arts to more than 50,000 children, many on scholarship, from New York City and throughout the greater New York area. Each season, 1,600 students, ages 6 to 18 attend, are picked up each day by air-conditioned buses, and participate in more than 40 different courses in the arts, chess, writing, nature, and media arts. No audition is required for most programs. Although the mission of the Center is to provide students with the arts as a companion for life, regardless of their adult occupations, Usdan's unique program and superb faculty have caused many to go on to professional careers. Alumni include Mariah Carey, Natalie Portman, Jane Monheit, and members of major symphony orchestras and dance companies.
Dale Lewis, Executive Director of Usdan Center, said “I am delighted to be able to present a longtime Usdan favorite, Dr. Billy Taylor, to Usdan students during our 40th Anniversary season. Dr. Taylor is the dean of American jazz artists, having spent his lifetime in service to the jazz idiom that he defines as “America's classical music." In addition to his enthralling performances at the keyboard, Dr. Taylor has taught and supported young artists at Usdan, and on college and university campuses across the globe. We are proud to have him perform at Usdan once again."
Grammy-winning Dr. Billy Taylor, honored by the Kennedy Center as a Living Jazz Legend, and a distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, has had a recording career spanning nearly six decades. He has also composed over three hundred and fifty songs, including “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free," as well as works for theatre, dance and symphony orchestras. From Charlie Parker to Dizzy Gillespie to Miles Davis, he has performed with the most influential jazz musicians of the twentieth century, and since the 1950's, has led his own Trio. Dr. Taylor has not only been an influential musician, but a highly regarded teacher as well, receiving his Master's and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and serving as a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University.
Dr. Taylor has hosted and programmed such radio stations WLIB and WNEW in New York, and award winning series for National Public Radio. In the early 1980s, Taylor became the arts correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. With over twenty three honorary doctoral degrees, Dr. Billy Taylor is also the recipient of two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts, the Tiffany Award, a Lifetime achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine, and, election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education. Now in his eighties, and officially retired from active touring and recording, he remains active with his educational activities, including an upcoming revival of his Jazzmobile, an outreach program he created two decades ago to bring free jazz programs to people across the country.
Registration is still open for Usdan Center's 40th Season, which runs through August 10. The rest of the Festival Concerts will be announced shortly, and past performers have included members of the New York City Ballet, Jane Monheit, cast members of current Broadway shows and the Tokyo String Quartet (after the first few weeks of the season, students perform the Festival Concerts). Interested families may visit and tour the Center's magnificent 200-acre woodland campus at 185 Colonial Springs Road in Wheatley Heights (Huntington area), Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM. Call (212) 772-6060 (through the end of May), or the Center at (631) 643-7900.
For more information contact Reva Cooper.
