As part of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Oral History Project, Warren Smith interviewed Art Taylor for 1 hour and 50 minutes! He sits at the drums briefly during the interview and tells a funny story. Be sure to catch that.
The entire interview is full of wonderful insights and he talks at length about the process of writing his book, Notes and Tones.
Notes and Tones
Notes and Tones is one of the most controversial, honest, and insightful books ever written about jazz.
It consists of 29 conversations which drummer Arthur Taylor held with the most influential jazz musicians of the ’60s and ’70s
Interviews include Art Blakey, Betty Carter, Don Cherry, Kenny Clarke, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Dizzy Gillespie, Hampton Hawes, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Carmen McRae, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone and Randy Weston.
I highly recommend buying a copy if you don’t have it.
When I was attending Berklee in Boston I was fortunate see Art Taylor play at the Regatta Bar and asked him to autograph my copy.
The expanded edition of Notes and Tones is supplemented with previously unpublished interviews with Dexter Gordon and Thelonious Monk, a new introduction by the author, and new photographs.
Here’s a bonus radio interview with Art Taylor on Eric in the Evening (WGBH Boston) from 1994.