Art Taylor

Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (April 6, 1929 – February 6, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".

As a teenager, Taylor joined a local Harlem band that featured Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean and Kenny Drew. After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee (1948), Coleman Hawkins (1950–51), Buddy DeFranco (1952), Bud Powell (1953), George Wallington and Art Farmer (1954), Powell and Wallington again (1954–55), Gigi Gryce and Donald Byrd (1956), he formed his own group, Taylor's Wailers. Between 1957 and 1963,he toured with Donald Byrd, recorded with Miles Davis, Gene Ammons and John Coltrane, and performed with Thelonious Monk; he also was a member of the original Kenny Dorham Quartet of 1957.

In 1963, he moved to Europe, where he lived mainly in France and Belgium for 20 years, playing with local groups and jazz musicians such as Johnny Griffin, John Bodwin, and with travelling American musicians, such as Woody Shaw during the latter's tenure in Paris. He returned to the United States to help his mother, who was ill. He continued freelancing after returning to the United States, and in 1993 organized a second band called Taylor's Wailers. He died in Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan.

He was the author of Notes and Tones, a book based on his interviews with other musicians. This was, for many musicians, a ground-breaking work, because it presented the interviewees' perspectives on the wider social, political, and economic forces in which they operated – topics normally not mentioned in mainstream coverage of jazz musicians.

As leader

• Taylor's Wailers (Prestige, 1957)
• Taylor's Tenors (Prestige, 1959)
• A.T.'s Delight (Blue Note, 1960)
• Mr. A.T. (Enja, 1991)
• Wailin' at the Vanguard (Verve, 1991)

As sideman

With Thelonious Monk

• Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (Prestige, 1956)
• The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall (Riverside, 1956)
• 5 by Monk by 5 (Riverside, 1959)

With Gene Ammons

• The Happy Blues (Prestige, 1956)
• Jammin' with Gene (Prestige, 1956)
• Funky (Prestige, 1957)
• Jammin' in Hi Fi with Gene Ammons (Prestige, 1957)
• The Big Sound (Prestige, 1958)
• Groove Blues (Prestige, 1958)
• Blue Gene (Prestige, 1958)
• Boss Tenor (Prestige, 1960)
• Velvet Soul (Prestige, 1960 [1964])
• Angel Eyes (Prestige, 1960 [1965])
• Up Tight! (Prestige, 1961)
• Boss Soul! (Prestige, 1961)

With Chris Anderson

• My Romance (Vee-Jay, 1960 [1983]),

With Dorothy Ashby

• In a Minor Groove (New Jazz, 1958)
• Hip Harp (Prestige, 1958)

With Benny Bailey

• Big Brass (Candid, 1960)

With Kenny Burrell

• All Night Long (Prestige, 1956)
• All Day Long (Prestige, 1957)
• 2 Guitars – with Jimmy Raney (Prestige, 1957)
• Just Wailin' (New Jazz, 1958) with Herbie Mann, Charlie Rouse and Mal Waldron

With Donald Byrd

• 2 Trumpets (Prestige, 1956) – with Art Farmer
• Jazz Eyes (Regent, 1957) – with John Jenkins
• Off to the Races (Blue Note, 1958)
• Byrd in Hand (Blue Note, 1959)

With Paul Chambers

• Bass on Top (1957)

With Sonny Clark

• Sonny's Crib (Blue Note, 1957)

With James Clay

• The Sound of the Wide Open Spaces!!!! (Riverside, 1960) – with David "Fathead" Newman

With Jimmy Cleveland

• A Map of Jimmy Cleveland (Mercury, 1959)

With Arnett Cobb

• Party Time (Prestige, 1959)
• More Party Time (Prestige, 1960)
• Movin' Right Along (Prestige, 1960)

With Pepper Adams, et al.

• Baritones and French Horns (1957)

With John Coltrane

• Wheelin' & Dealin'(1957)
• Trane's Blues(1957)
• The Dealers (1957)
• Black Pearls (1958)
• Lush Life (1958)
• The Believer (1958)
• Settin' the Pace (1958)
• The Last Trane(1958)
• Jazz Way Out (1958)
• Traneing In (1958)
• Soultrane (1958)
• Giant Steps (1959)
• Bahia (1964)
• Alternate Takes (1975)

With Continuum

• Mad About Tadd (1980, Palo Alto Records)

With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

• Goin' to the Meeting(Prestige, 1962)

With Miles Davis

• Miles Ahead (1957)
• Collector's Items (Prestige, 1956)

With Walter Davis Jr.

• Davis Cup (1959)

With Kenny Dorham

• Show Boat (1960)

With Art Farmer

• The Art Farmer Septet (Prestige, 1953–54)
• When Farmer Met Gryce (Prestige, 1955) – with Gigi Gryce

With Tommy Flanagan

• Thelonica (Enja, 1982)

With Red Garland

• A Garland of Red (Prestige, 1956)
• Red Garland Revisited! (Prestige, 1957 [1969])
• The P.C. Blues (Prestige 1956–57 [1970])
• Red Garland's Piano (Prestige, 1956–57)
• Groovy (Prestige, 1956–57)
• All Mornin' Long (Prestige, 1957)
• Soul Junction (Prestige, 1957)
• High Pressure (Prestige, 1957 [1962])
• The Red Garland Trio (Moodsville, 1958 [1960])
• All Kinds of Weather(Prestige, 1958)
• The Red Garland Trio + Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (Moodsville, 1959)
• Halleloo-Y'-All (Prestige, 1960)

With Matthew Gee

• Jazz by Gee (Riverside, 1956)

With Benny Golson

• Gettin' with It (New Jazz, 1959)
• Free (Argo, 1962)

With Dexter Gordon

• One Flight Up (Blue Note, 1964)
• The Squirrel (Blue Note, 1967 [1997])
• A Day in Copenhagen (MPS, 1969) – with Slide Hampton

With Bennie Green

• Hornful of Soul (1960)

With Johnny Griffin

• Do Nothing 'til You Hear from Me (Riverside, 1963)

With Tiny Grimes

• Tiny in Swingville (Swingville, 1959) – with Jerome Richardson

With Gigi Gryce

• Jazz Lab (Columbia, 1957) – with Donald Byrd
• Gigi Gryce and the Jazz Lab Quintet (Riverside, 1957)
• Modern Jazz Perspective (Columbia, 1957) – with Donald Byrd
• New Formulas from the Jazz Lab (RCA Victor, 1957) with Donald Byrd
• Jazz Lab (Jubilee, 1958) with Donald Byrd
• Doin' the Gigi (Uptown, 2011)

With Ernie Henry

• Presenting Ernie Henry (Riverside, 1956)

With Elmo Hope and Frank Foster

• Hope Meets Foster (Prestige, 1955)

With Milt Jackson

• Bags & Flutes (Atlantic, 1957)

With Thad Jones

• After Hours (Prestige, 1957)

With Clifford Jordan

• Cliff Jordan (Blue Note, 1957)

With Duke Jordan

• Flight to Jordan (Blue Note, 1960)

With Ken McIntyre

• Looking Ahead (New Jazz, 1960) with Eric Dolphy

With Jackie McLean

• Lights Out! (Prestige, 1956)
• 4, 5 and 6 (Prestige, 1956)
• McLean's Scene (Prestige, 1957)
• Alto Madness (Prestige, 1957)
• Strange Blues (Prestige, 1957)
• A Long Drink of the Blues (Prestige, 1957)
• Makin' the Changes (Prestige, 1957 [1959])
• Swing, Swang, Swingin' (Blue Note, 1959)
• Capuchin Swing (Blue Note, 1960)

With Lee Morgan

• Introducing Lee Morgan (1956)
• City Lights (Blue Note, 1957)
• Candy (Blue Note, 1957)

With Oliver Nelson

• Meet Oliver Nelson (New Jazz, 1959)

With Cecil Payne

• Patterns of Jazz (Savoy, 1956)

With The Prestige All Stars

• Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors (Prestige, 1957)

With Bud Powell

• The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1954)
• Bud Powell Trio (Roost, 1953)
• Birdland, 1953 (ESP Disk, 1953)
• Three Nights at Birdland (SSJ, 1953)
• Bud Powell's Moods (Verve, 1954)
• The Lonely One (Verve, 1955)
• Piano Interpretations (Verve, 1955)
• Strictly Powell (RCA, 1956)
• Swingin with Bud (RCA, 1956)
• Bud plays Bird (Blue Note, 1957)
• Bud! (Blue Note, 1957)
• The Scene Changes (Blue Note, 1958)

With Julian Priester

• Spiritsville (Jazzland, 1960)

With Dizzy Reece

• Blues in Trinity (1958)

With Charlie Rouse

• Takin' Care of Business (Jazzland, 1960)

With Sahib Shihab

• Jazz Sahib (Savoy, 1957)

With Horace Silver

• Silver's Blue (Columbia, 1956)

With Jimmy Smith

• Damn! (Verve, 1995)

With Johnny "Hammond" Smith

• Talk That Talk (New Jazz, 1960)
• Open House (Riverside, 1963)

With Louis Smith

• Here Comes Louis Smith (Blue Note, 1958)

With Sonny Stitt

• Stitt Meets Brother Jack (Prestige, 1962) – with Jack McDuff

With Buddy Tate

• Tate-a-Tate (Swingville, 1960) with Clark Terry

With Clark Terry

• Top and Bottom Brass (Riverside, 1959)

With Toots Thielmans

• Man Bites Harmonica! (Riverside, 1957)

With Stanley Turrentine

• ZT's Blues (1961)

With Mal Waldron

• Mal-2 (1957)

With Randy Weston

• African Cookbook (Polydor [France], 1969)
• Niles Littlebig (Polydor [France], 1969)

With Julius Watkins and Charlie Rouse

• Les Jazz Modes (Dawn, 1957)

With Lem Winchester

• Winchester Special (New Jazz, 1959)
• Lem's Beat (New Jazz, 1960)

With Kai Winding & J. J. Johnson

• The Great Kai & J. J. (Impulse!, 1960)

With Frank Wright

• Uhuru na Umoja (America, 1970)

With Steve Grossman

• In New York (Steve Grossman album) (Dreyfus, 1991)

• Taylor, Art (1993). Notes and tones : musician-to-musician interviews. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 030680526X.