The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 24, 1978, Page Page 15, Image 17
4
Billy T aylor t
The veteran jazz pi
By JAY LATHAM
Gamecock Staff Writer
When we called one of the "with it" record shops this
week to see if any of jazz pianist Billy Taylor's recordings
were still heinp issnpH fho nnAnmafAM -
o v.iv |/ivpuviui daivcu, Dime
Taylor? What does she sing?" It was a strange reaction to
a name many jazz buffs would include in a list of the top ten
living keyboard artists.
Perhaps Billy Taylor has been out of the limelight too
long, but he has remained professionally active and he has
acquired a new and devoted following-people under 20! For
the last several years he's been bringing jazz to youngsters
in 15 northeastern inner-city communities through an inperson
lecture-performance called "Jazzmobile." That
same kind of program is set for Township Auditorium
Thursday and Friday when the Billy Taylor Trio will
perform for Columbia area school children. What kind of
response does Taylor's brand of jazz get from young
audiences?
"The reaction is always positive," says the Greenville,
N.C. native, "but it takes many forms. For instance, some
kids-depending on age-want to participate. You can feel in
talking to them that they would like to react to some of the
things you're saying and 'try some of that out.' Others are
interested, too, but on a much more intellectual basis. They
want to know about the history. They want to know about
how the music we're playing fits in with all the rest. Mostly,
though, says Taylor, his audiences are interested in the
performing musicians themselves-particularly the percussionist.
"SECRETLY EVRRVROnv halimfoc u** ^
- . uvuv * vo lib Ul OIIC toil piety
the drums, and they are amazed at how complicated it
really is and how easy it looks," Taylor said. "Then, we
sometimes get right into improvisation, which interests a
lot of people. They say, 'well, what happens to the melody-what
happens when you guys go off on your own with no
relation to the melodies you've been talking about?' So, we
give them an idea about that process, and then we talk
about the various aspects of the application of improvisation--both
individually and collectively-and it
seems 10 maKe some Kind of sense, because they do that in
other areas.
"I point out to them that the fellows who play basketball,
when they're running down the court, don't have to look
over-if they've been playing with the same guys for awhile-don't
have to look over to see if the other guy is going to be
there. You know he's going to be there, and you can go
ahead and pass the ball. That happens a lot musically."
Voungsters today ... can play rock, can
play jazz ... can do alot of things if you just
let'em alone and just give'em a gentle push.
Taylor talks about music education with authority. He
has a doctorate in musicology, and has lectured for years at
such institutions as the Manhattan School of Music, C.W.
Post College, Columbia University and Yale University.
How does Taylor, a jazz veteran whose career spans
almost 40 years, view the current crop of young performers?
Technically, he savs. thev are astounding
r * ? y / ??- 'O*
Springtime for Workshop Theatre has The South C
brought storytime, "Raggedy Ann and the Kitani F<
Andy's Storytime," an original play written musical festh
and directed by Ann Dreher Brailsford. Ms. oianost-comn<
- ? s? *
Brailsford's production is providing outstanding fl
Columbia families with an outing combining jazz artist h
entertainment, supper, if you wish, and the demonstratioi
lovely historic setting of the Robert Mills Taylor and
House. Raggedy Ann and Andy's Storytime Auditorium in
is narrated by Mary Jeffcoat and Sarn 10:00 a.m. for
Sexton in the title roles. The familiar a7f!rl!ssl0/\lf
elements of fairy tales are all there, char- will be at tne
~u:? J ...
I ming cuuuren, wiciceaness, a magical purse 8:00 p.m. lie
and a friendly old tortoise who will steal
your heart away. This family production Jill Dalton,
will run through April 30. Performance has been cn<
times are Monday through Friday at 5:30
p.m.; Saturday 11:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; SJfh r
and Sunday 2:00 and 5:30p.m. Tickets may u ar? \n
be purchased at the Blanding St. gate of the
Robert Mills House 45 minutes before each ? trough the
performance. All seats are $2.50 each. In ducting a miir
case of rain, the performance of that day Junel2throug
will be cancelled. 11:30 a.m. -1:<
speaks
anist resurfaces and tai
Billy Taylor...
in concert April 28 at the Coliseum
"I'M ALWAYS amazed at the technical facility the young <
people have developed at a very early age. That has a great
deal to do with the training, the availability of records, good
instruments, and many other factors. But the thing that i
worries me is that we have not brought the educational i
process up to what we have done technically. 1
" inougri much is available, many young people are still <
being taught in the traditional way that I was taught:
harmony, theory, etc. and not relating those techniques and <
devices to music in general, but specifically to the i
European tradition. That bothers me.
"Youngsters today are brighter than that. They can play
rock, they can play jazz, they can play country and western,
they can play European classical music. They can do a lot
of things if you just let 'em alone and just give 'em a gentle
nncVi "
puon.
Does the warm reception Taylor's music gets from
today's youngsters mean jazz is faring well in the intensely
competitive marketplace?
'IT'S GROWING," he acknowledged, "and there's a
resurgence of interest in jazz. It's being presented much
better in the marketplace than it ever has in my lifetime. I
know from my own personal experience in New York,
which is the most competitive of all radio markets, I was
able to sell jazz opposite, or in competition with all of the
very neavny commercialized music back in the '60's, so I
know it's possible now because the idiom is much more
acceptable now than it was then.
"But there doesn't seem to be the concerted effort in jazz
promotion that exists on behalf of country music or latin
?Ha rvnfminorc
rr "bu
Carolina Arts Commission and of body movement isolati
nmdation will present a jazz technique, improvisation
/al featuring world renowned ceptualization. The cost is $5<
sser Dr. Billy Taylor and ?
utist and international concert Auditions for Stage South
lerbie Mann. Two lecture statewide tour are scheduled Sf
is will be presented by Billy 6 in Columbia. Actor-singer-mi
his trio at the Township throughout South Carolina sh
i Columbia April 27 and 28 at Ms. Meribeth Meacham, gene
school children. The cost of for Stage South, the state the*
>1.25 per person. The concert Carolina. Deadline for re
Carolina Coliseum April 28 at audition appointment is Ms
kets are $3.25, $5.25 and $7.25. professional touring company's
fall production will be an oi
a South Carolina Mime artist written
Iks about jazz
music, and that bothers me. I think those two styles have
had better cooperation among the artists and within the
business in terras of getting the good things out to the
public."
Taylor said most of what is played on most radio stations
across the country today bears little on what people really
want to hear.
"It's a symptom of greed...a combination of record
promotion and people on the radio who have abdicated anv
programmatic desires or responsibilities and are going
with lists that are after-the-fact. Any kind of poll or list that
you find in any of the major trade publications are afterthe-fact,
after the record is sold or after it's been promoted
to whatever position it's supposed to be in the 'Cash Bow' or
'Record World' or 'Billboard' poll.
"My idea of radio is to create rather than follow. It just
bugs me that so many people are going into all kinds of
variations on the theme-top 40, top 20, etc.--fewer and
fewer records played more and more frequently. It shortchanges
the public, it shortchantfps arti^e ; of,,*-*
_ m , ..0WW ??IV MIL iltJVC, I I OIIU1 I"
changes the business, because the more products you have
out there the more you can sell. It's really self-defeating."
TAYLOR has not done any recording for over a decade,
much to the sorrow of those who developed a taste for the
Billy Taylor Trio at Birdland, the Embers or other jazz
oases, but he says that situation is likely to change before
too long.
"I'm about to get involved with records again," he said.
i consciously walked away from recording some years ago
after a rather unfortunate experience with several record
companies. I just decided that I could devote my time to
other areas in which I could control the creative product a
little better or at least approve the creative things I was
asked to do.
"It seemed to me that if I was doing more creative things
on commercials than I was doing on records something was
wrong, so I just decided that I would go into other areas.
But now I've 0Ont? full oimlo onH T'iro ?""" 4L- ,--1
_ . _ 0 v.v uuu i vc uccu icikviii^ in me last
Few weeks with several people in the record business who
seem to be interested in what I have to say musically. So
hopefully I'll have something out there on the market by fall
after a hiatus of several years."
Remembering the Billy Taylor big band, the sextet, the
quintet, and other combinations, Taylor was asked what
might be expected in the future.
I ve been talking with several people in
the record business ... hopefully I'll
have something on the market by fall...
"I don't know what form it'll take," he said. "I have
several tapes with the trio which are very exciting. I also
have a couple of tapes with the Utah Symphony and several
other major symphonies of a work I did called 'Suite for
Jazz Piano and Orchestra.' I really would like to get that
out becailSP it's a wnrb- hot'c ? 1?
- - ? ? .. .. uiut O ntincvcivcu uy iiUUlCIlCCS
around the country. And I'm about to write another long
work, too, so I'd really like to get that one and another
called 'Impromptu' which we've been doing for the last
couple of years on record. Those are the kinds of projects
uppermost in my mind, anyway."
Columbia jazz fans won't have to wait till fall to hear 'illy
Taylor play. He'll be in concert with his trin anH - '***
Herbie Mann this Friday night at Carolina Coliseum,
ions, mime twenty-five photographs that were taken by
anrl />nn Mr* IPrnnb 1-I ? a
UIIU v?n- ??? ???** ? uui mg ins iwo year traveling
3 experience throughout the United States.
The focus is on the realistic, non-pretty side
's fall 1978 of America with scenes ranging from bars to
tturdav. Mav political rallies to a lunrh^noH*.
^ _ ? - M.^s.^vraa\/i vv
isicians from
ould contact Fifteen works of art have been purchased
* *or ?nclusi?n >n the State Art Collection,
lire oi souin Carolina Arts Commission Executive
ques ing an pirecjor George announced today,
ly 3. The , _?. > . -
civfh annual ,,,c WUI w?re selected irom among 72
... . pieces currently exhibited at the ComM
mission's fourth Annual Exhibition at
Columbia College Music Art' Center Gallery.
The exhibition will be open to the public
th through April 30. Gallery hours are from 10
1 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and
_ 2-6 p.m. on Sundays.
obert Frank "Works from a wide range of disciplines
Museum of were chosen by the State Art Selection
tman House Committee," George said, "and the State
loor lobby of Art Collection will be enhanced by these
consists of acquisitions."
?^ ** at-waa W|TWViM?a^ ?VfI Ui?^
>sen to perform during the Meacham said. A six-memfc
internationally acclaimed employ mime, music and mov
/al to be held in Charleston, imaginatively-staged play b?
a from May 25 through June environment.
on will be performing in the
tivals during the week of June Fine Arts presents The R
tlth. She will also be con- Collection of the International
le class, sponsored by RHUU, Photography at George Eas
il, on II I 41? - _ * ** - " * "
,u au, monuay uin?u}{ii rnaay, mrougn iviayio in the second f
00 p.m. The class will consist Russell House. The exhibit