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Art Taylor

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Art Taylor, in full Arthur S. Taylor Jr., was an American jazz drummer, born in 1929 in New York. He grew up on Sugar Hill in Harlem and as a teenager played in a local band with Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean and Kenny Drew. He soon worked with big names from bebop and hard bop: Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco and above all Bud Powell, for whom he often sat behind the drums in the 1950s. He also recorded with Miles Davis, Gene Ammons and John Coltrane.

Music and breakthrough

In 1956 Taylor started his own group, Taylor's Wailers. The debut album Taylor's Wailers appeared in 1957 and contains swinging hard bop with Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean and Charlie Rouse, among others. It includes two pieces by Thelonious Monk: Well, You Needn't and Off Minor. Later came Taylor's Tenors in 1959 and A.T.'s Delight in 1960, among others. In 1963 he moved to Europe, where for seventeen years he lived mainly in France and Belgium and took lessons from Kenny Clarke. In 1977 he wrote Notes and Tones, a book of interviews with other musicians, in which they also spoke about the social side of their profession.

Influence

Taylor worked mainly as an accompanist and played on hundreds of recording sessions. His strength lay in listening: he adapted to the soloist instead of drowning him out. Coltrane said that he chose him because his playing did not get in his way. His sense of rhythm was influenced by Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey and Max Roach, and by the piano rhythms of Bud Powell. In his drumming you can hear how a good accompanist carries a group without drawing attention to himself.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Well, You Needn't on Taylor's Wailers from 1957. Notice how the drums follow the soloists and push them on without drowning out the conversation between the horns.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: Artists