Sixty-three years of jazz history wrapped up in one man comes to MSU tonight.
Celebrated jazz pianist Billy Taylor and his trio perform at 8 p.m. in Wharton Center’s Great Hall. The trio includes Winard Harper and Chip Jackson.
One piece in the program will be dedicated to Clifton Wharton III, the late son of Clifton and Dolores Wharton, for whom the Wharton Center is named.
Taylor said he hopes the piece will mean something to the Whartons.
“I hope this piece represents some of the things I think they stand for, helping people outside their family and particularly young people,” he said.
One of the pieces the trio will perform is “The Griot,” about a traditional West African storyteller.
“The piece makes parallels to the musician’s role as the griot of modern society,” Taylor said. “(The traditional griot) would perform at the weddings, at the funerals, at the harvest, at every important event.”
Taylor sees modern music as fulfilling this function in society.
One of the foremost jazz artists of the 20th century, Taylor has played with a virtual who’s who of jazz in America. He was the house pianist at Birdland in the 1950s. He wrote the classic inspirational civil rights song “I Wonder What It Would Be Like To Be Free.”
He has spent much of his life teaching jazz and inspiring others to follow in his footsteps.
“Jazz is America’s classical music,” Taylor said. “It’s a piece of everyone’s heritage.”
Taylor wishes to continue to show people what he saw in jazz so many years ago.
“There’s obviously so much that hasn’t been done, but I think people will continue to come into jazz the way I did.”
For tickets, call 432-2000 or (800) WHARTON. Tickets start at $12 for students and $16 for the general public.
