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; Taylor also was a member of the original Kenny Dorham Quartet of 1957.

In 1963, Taylor 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.

Taylor also studied drums in Paris with Kenny Clarke.

He returned to the United States to help his mother, who was ill.

He was the author of Notes and Tones, a 1977 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.

With Pepper Adams, et al.

With Gene Ammons

With Chris Anderson

With Dorothy Ashby

With Benny Bailey

With Kenny Burrell

With Donald Byrd

With Paul Chambers

With Sonny Clark

With James Clay

With Jimmy Cleveland

With Arnett Cobb

With John Coltrane

With Continuum

With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

With Miles Davis

With Walter Davis Jr.

With Kenny Dorham

With Art Farmer

With Tommy Flanagan

With Red Garland

With Matthew Gee

With Benny Golson

With Dexter Gordon

With Bennie Green

With Johnny Griffin

With Tiny Grimes

With Steve Grossman

With Gigi Gryce

He continued freelancing after returning to the United States, and in 1991 organized a second band called Taylor's Wailers.

He died aged 65 in Beth Israel Hospital, Manhattan, in 1995.