Art Taylor was born on April 6, 1929. While still in his teens he played with Sonny Rollins and Jackie McLean. He also played with Art Farmer, Bud Powell, Coleman Hawkins, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. He was the drummer on the famous Giant Steps album.

In the 60’s Taylor moved to Europe. While in Europe he started recording interviews with other expat jazz musicians about race, politics and jazz. The interviews, titled Notes and tones: Musician-to-musician interviews, were published in 1977.

In the 1980’s, he returned to the US. In 1995, recorded his last session with Jimmy Smith for the album Damn!. Taylor died on February 6, 1995.