Stroke won’t silence Billy Taylor, his jazz sounds

Billy Taylor never lets the tough stuff get in the way of his love for jazz.

That includes dealing with what he sees as a lack of respect for the great role of female jazz stars and coping with a stroke that made him wonder whether his work would continue.

"I feel blessed," says Taylor, 85. "I've been through a lot and am at the position right now where I can choose what I want to do."

One of those things will be this weekend's shows at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, North Side, where he will open the site's 20th year as a concert venue.

He will perform with drummer Winard Harper and bassist Chip Jackson, his long-time trio standmates, but also be joined by trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, sax player Frank Wess and guitarist Russell Malone.

Taylor is the obvious choice for beginning the celebration because he was the performer who began in 1987 the Guild's long list of jazz guests.

"It all started with their commitment," he says about the Guild's work that also has branched into recording and education. "Since then, it has reached out and touched everyone."

In many ways, he has done the same thing. He began playing when he was 8, has been performing since the mid-40s and founded Jazzmobile, a program to put music education on the road, in 1965.

He has been the host of a National Public Radio series, served on the National Council for the Arts and been on the board of directors for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

He leads a jazz program at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C., where he founded the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, an event aimed at exploring the music created by female performers.

All the while, he has been composing and performing a disciplined, elegant form of jazz that never falters in its creativity and spirit.

When he had a stroke four years ago, he says, he had to approach the thought that it might all be over. He was involved in a life that sometimes involved 10 hours of practice in a day, and he then had to deal with the idea of not playing at all.

"But that all came back," he says. "I began to do some exercises based on the work of Art Tatum, who had such incredible technique, and Teddy Wilson, who created such a sonic resonance in his work."

He isn't able to practice with the intensity he once did, but he is grateful he was able to return to his music.

And, he says, he is at the point in his career where he can perform as much as he wants. Life on the bandstand has changed a great deal, he says, and that works out well for him, too.

He now will take several days at a club such as New York City's Blue Note or a series such as the one here. It's different from spending several weeks at a club as he points out he once did in venues in the Hill District.

"People then would come back to see you several times, and they would really know you," he says.

He says the audience then was a bit more intense about the music, but he isn't about to complain.

"The audience now is very hip, so that's cool," he says.

In some ways, he says, that just adds another element to the responsibility of a performer.

"We just need to reach out more for our audience," he says. Additional Information:

Billy Taylor

Admission: $40

Where: Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, North Side

Details: 412-322-0800