Coda: Dr. Billy Taylor

JJazz pianist, composer, educator and broadcaster Dr. Billy Taylor passed away on December 28, 2010 at the age of 89. He died from heart failure after several months of heart problems. Dr. Taylor's recording career covered more than six decades; he composed more than 350 songs and for theatre, dance and symphony orchestras. He began his professional career with Ben Webster's Quartet on 52nd Street ad was the house pianist at Birdland, the legendary jazz club where he performed with such celebrated masters as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Dr. Taylor earned his Masters and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts and held a Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale University. He was granted 23 honorary doctoral degrees and was the recipient of two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Tiffany Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine and was elected to the Hall of Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education. Dr. Taylor was one of only three jazz musicians appointed to the National Council of the Arts. He was the Artistic Advisor for Jazz at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is survived by his wife Theodora and by his daughter Kim Taylor-Thompson; his son Duane predeceased him.

2010 was a year in which many icons of jazz passed away. We are diminished by their loss and enriched by the legacy of jazz music they have bequeathed to us. Each jazz musician and listener carries that legacy with them.