Jazz pianist Billy Taylor dies

Billy Taylor, an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer who became one of the genre's most ardent advocates through radio, television and the landmark Jazzmobile arts venture, has died at 89.

Taylor died Tuesday of a heart attack in Manhattan, said his wife, Theodora Taylor. "He enjoyed his life," she said. "Music was his love."

Though he had a noteworthy career as a musician and composer that spanned decades, and played with luminaries such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, Billy Taylor was probably best known as a tireless jazz booster, educator and broadcaster.

He was the first black to lead a television studio orchestra in the 1950s. He founded Jazzmobile in the 1960s - a mobile, outdoor stage begun on a parade float that would take free music to inner-city neighborhoods. He was host of a popular jazz show on National Public Radio from 1977 to 1982.

And, in what he later called one of his more significant accomplishments, he profiled musicians for CBS' "Sunday Morning" show - winning an Emmy Award in 1983 for a piece on Quincy Jones.

After graduating from Virginia State College, where he studied sociology and music in the 1940s, he moved to New York City to forge a career as a jazz pianist. He lucked out, landing a gig playing with Ben Webster, Big Sid Catlett and Charlie Drayton opposite the Art Tatum Trio, he told an interviewer in 1994.

His went on to lead the Billy Taylor Trio and composed dozens of pieces for ensembles as well as more than 300 songs, including the popular "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free." - AP