Billy Taylor - pianist, teacher - dies at 89

When we were in high school my sister Nancy gave me for Christmas a Miles Davis Album - Live at the Blackhawk.  How did she know?  It was 1961.  All we knew (or all I knew) was show tunes, wearing out the grooves on Oklahoma and South Pacific.  I had a couple of Harry Belafonte albums too.  And certainly a few 45's.  Patience and Prudence I recall  - "got along without ya before I met ya, gonna get along without you now".  But Nancy had been listening in her room to the radio, late at night, when we were supposed to be sleeping, to WLIB, to Billy Taylor's Taylor Made Jazz.  She learned about Miles and Kind of Blue from the fine pianist and brilliant teacher, remembered HERE on NPR and HERE in the Guardian which talks about his role as teacher and emissary of jazz - America's Classical Music.

And below is his most famous composition: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free.