On November 19th Billy Taylor will come to TC for a Master Class, a concert and to receive the prestigious Teachers College Medal for Distinguished Service. Past recipients of the TC Medal include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Coretta Scott King and Dave Brubeck.

The program, "Dr. Billy Taylor: Teacher," begins at 5:00 p.m. in Milbank Chapel with a Master Class. Performers will include TC students Steven Reid, Nicholas Ambrosino; The Storefront Gospel Chorus with Ken Kozol, TC student; soprano soloist and TC student Charmaine Yates; and the TC SPIRIT Ensemble with Director Bert Konowitz. Lloyd Pinchback, Music Specialist from the Library of Congress, which is the repository for the Billy Taylor archives, will answer questions between sessions regarding research opportunities available at the Library of Congress Music Division for further jazz study.

The concert event will begin in the Horace Mann Auditorium at 7:30pm with Taylor performing his compositions with SPIRIT. Then as a soloist he will perform a wide range of his recorded compositions. Later he will be joined by the Syosset High School String Orchestra and guest instrumentalists and finally the Storefront Gospel Chorus.

Taylor will offer insight into his work as the creator of the Harlem Jazzmobile as well as his work as an educational innovator at the Kennedy Center. He will join SPIRIT in performing the music of many of the outstanding artists with whom he has interacted, such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and others. The event, made possible by The Office of Diversity and Community and the TC Music Department, is open free of charge to the TC Community and friends. Visit the Billy Taylor website.

Published Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003