Obituary News

Billy Taylor (1921-2010)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 31, 2010

Billy Taylor, a pianist mentored by Art Tatum who could play any jazz style flawlessly and whose graceful keyboard choices were matched only by his ability to communicate the joys of jazz on TV and radio, and in books and classrooms, died in New York on December 28 of a heart attack. He was 89. [Photo by Hank O'Neal] A jazz giant who eschewed alcohol and drugs, Billy defied the jazz-musician stereotypes found in pulp fiction and film of the ...

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Billy Taylor, 1921-2010

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
December 30, 2010

Billy Taylor, a pianist who became a television and radio spokesman for jazz and made the music familiar to millions, died last night in a New York City hospital after sufferingheart failure at home. He was 89. In his work on National Public Radio and CBS-TV's Sunday Morning, Taylor's playing and relaxed explanations dispelled for many listeners and viewers the notion that jazz was remote, impenetrable and difficult. He earned a doctorate in music in 1975 and chose to be ...

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Billy Taylor: 1921-2010 - Scholarly jazz ambassador considered D.C. home

Source: Michael Ricci
December 30, 2010

Billy Taylor, one of the most versatile, influential and revered figures of the jazz world, who left his mark as a pianist, composer, educator and broadcaster and made Washington's Kennedy Center one of the nation's premier concert venues for jazz, died Dec. 28 at a hospital in New York. He was 89 and had a heart attack. Dr. Taylor, who grew up in the District and derived his early musical education from local teachers and from jazz shows at the ...

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Billy Taylor, Jazz Pianist and Educator, Dies at 89

Source: AAJ Staff
December 30, 2010

Billy Taylor, a pianist and composer who was also an eloquent spokesman and advocate for jazz as well as a familiar presence for many years on television and radio, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 89 and lived in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The cause was heart failure, said his daughter, Kim Taylor-Thompson. Dr. Taylor, as he preferred to be called (he earned a doctorate in music education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1975), was ...

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Jazz Legend Dr. Billy Taylor Dies at 89

Source: Michael Ricci
December 29, 2010

Jazz legend Dr. Billy Taylor died in New York on December 28 of heart failure. He was 89 years old.

Taylor was a noted pianist, and was the house pianist at Birldand early in his career, where he performed with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. He also appeared on stage with Cozy Coles' Quintet in Billy Rose's show, The Seven Lively Arts, and played in the pit band for Ethel Waters' show, Blue Holiday.

During his lifetime, he ...

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Trudy Pitts (1932-2010)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 26, 2010

Trudy Pitts, a Hammond B3 organist with a swirling, stinging style rich with technique and whose attack on the instrument was as aggressive as many of her male counterparts, died December 19. She was 78. A late jazz-soul bloomer, Pitts was signed by Prestige in 1967 just as jazz was losing young listeners to rock and soul. Unlike many organists of the period who had learned to play the Hammond B3 in church and on the road, Pitts studied music ...

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A Sad Note: Jack Tracy is Gone

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
December 24, 2010

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Trudy Pitts Carney, Jazz Organist, Vocalist -- R.I.P.

Source: JazzStage.net
December 23, 2010

Trudy Pitts Carney, 78, a Philadelphia-born jazz organist, pianist, and vocalist who played with many jazz greats over a career that spanned more than four decades, died of pancreatic cancer Sunday, Dec. 19, at Chestnut Hill Hospital. She played with jazz greats John Coltrane and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, among others, her daughter said. Actually, “she didn't play with them; they played with her. Just about whoever you could mention played with her." Click here for complete obituary from philly.com. When ...

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