We were sadden to find out that jazz great Dr. Billy Taylor had passed away at 89 years of age on Tuesday night. This year would have marked the renowned jazz pianist and educator's 90th birthday and Harlem had been celebrating the Jazzmobile founder's auspicious event in the past couple of months with various concerts at cultural centers uptown. The lower photo was taken this past summer during one of the Jazzmobile free concerts at Grant's Tomb at which hundreds of neighbors gathered to enjoy an art that Dr. Taylor worked to keep alive in the hearts of the young and old. Channel Thirteen probably filmed one of the last interviews with the jazz musician this year and that clip can be seen from a post in November: LINK. Read more details on the life of Dr. Billy Taylor in the New York Times: LINK. Top photo courtesy Sara Krulrwich
RIP Billy ..... 2010 what a year of LOSS in Jazz...James Moody and I am still not over Abbey Lincoln !! So sad , but the music NEVER dies !
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