Biography
Art Taylor stood among the leading drummers of the 1950s, contributing to a vast array of hard bop recordings and jam session dates. An early career highlight came through his work with Howard McGhee in 1948, after which he collaborated with Coleman Hawkins from 1950 to 1951, Buddy DeFranco in 1952, Bud Powell in 1953 and again from 1955 to 1957, and George Wallington from 1954 to 1956. Throughout the latter half of the 1950s Taylor maintained an almost constant presence at Prestige’s studios, yet he still managed to front his own group the Wailers, travel to Europe alongside Donald Byrd in 1958, perform and record with Miles Davis, and appear with Thelonious Monk—including at the notable 1959 Town Hall concert. Taylor relocated to Europe in 1963 and remained there for the bulk of the following two decades, basing himself primarily in France and Belgium while working with local musicians as well as visiting Americans such as Dexter Gordon and Johnny Griffin. He conducted extensive interviews with fellow artists and compiled many of these exchanges into the book Notes and Tones, a volume later reissued in 1993. Upon his return to the United States Taylor resumed freelance activity, and in the early 1990s he assembled a fresh edition of the Wailers that, in the brief period before his passing, helped address the void created by the Jazz Messengers’ disbandment.
Albums
