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Jazz Icon Billy Taylor Dies at 89

   VOA News 29 December 2010
   Billy Taylor (file photo)

Photo: AP

   Billy Taylor (file photo)

   Billy Taylor, an American jazz icon, has died of a heart attack at the
   age of 89.
   Taylor's family announced Wednesday the musician died in New York City
   overnight.
   Taylor  was  renowned as a pianist and composer.  His career began in
   the  1940s  and  included  live performances as well as appearances on
   radio  and  television.  He  played  with  many  of the top musicians,
   including  Charlie  Parker,  Dizzy  Gillespie  and Miles Davis, before
   forming his own trio in 1951.
   But  he  was perhaps better known as a jazz educator and advocate. His
   "Jazzmobile"  program,  created  in  the  1960s  and continuing today,
   brings  jazz  music  to predominantly black neighborhoods. Taylor also
   hosted a long-running radio show on national public radio and profiled
   jazz musicians on television for CBS news.
   Taylor,  who  preferred  to  be  called  "Doctor  Taylor",  earned his
   doctorate in musical education from the University of Massachusetts at
   Amherst.

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