Billy Taylor

DC lost another great citizen yesterday when Billy Taylor died after 89 impressive years.  Taylor, a North Carolina native, moved to DC at a young age and became an important part of the Washington music scene. He studied music at Howard with the same instructor who taught Duke Ellington, and played with a Who's Who of jazz musicians: Frank Sinatra, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie among others, in a career that featured touring, making records, writing songs, hosting radio shows, working as a reporter for 'CBS Sunday Morning,' and educating his fellow citizens about the music he called "America's classical music" - a huge compliment to classical music in my opinion.


When I moved to DC in 1993 I was eager to take advantage of being a big and worldly city.  Within three months of moving here I had gone to a Redskins-Cowboys game at RFK, purchased a mini-season ticket package to the Bullets (seats behind the basket, row H or J, face value $28 a ticket, at the Cap Center one of the most minor league looking major league arenas in the US), and purchased season tickets to "Billy Taylor on Jazz" at the Kennedy Center.  


Four or five times a year, Taylor and his quartet would host a visiting musician, folks like Arturo Sandoval, Diane Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, to play and discuss jazz music for an hour and a half.  The series was usually held in one of the Kennedy Center's smaller theaters, so it was very intimate show.  And there was also a question and answer session with the audience.  


Taylor was great - knowledgeable, charismatic, genuine and funny.  His band was great, too, and very versatile.  For a redneck from North Carolina who had moved to DC from Tallahassee, Florida I felt incredibly sophisticated attending each show.  Alison and I would make a night of it, meeting for dinner somewhere in Foggy Bottom then walking to the Kennedy Center for the program.  It was a great introduction to DC, let alone a great way to learn more about one of the greatest art forms ever invented.


Tough year for DC losing two folks, Taylor and Abe Pollin, who made Washington a great place to live.


Other DC News

• Evan and I went to our first Wizards game of the season last night, mainly to see Tyler Hansbrough.  It turned out to be an enjoyable night as the Zards won a game, and Hansbrough played 21 minutes.  We picked up two tickets on the street from one of the nicest scalpers I have ever met ($100 for two tickets, whose face value was $135 each, at half court in the club section), ran into quite a few Tar Heels on the street and at the Green Turtle, and saw Washington make shots on their way to a 14-point win.  
• John Wall looked pretty good, at least with the ball in his hands.  He is not a great shooter and the Pacers were giving him jump shots all night. On defense, he was very passive, too.  But when the Wizards were running he was pretty compelling to watch.  Though he is only 20 this is clearly Wall's team.
• And it should be; he's clearly their best player.  A team like the Wiz are going to struggle no matter what; Nick Young is now the longest tenured Washington player.  The Post reported this morning that the team is shopping Andray Blatche, which is great news; that guy has some skills but absolutely no desire/drive/work ethic/smarts/savvy/whatever. Blatche is an athletic guy who thinks athleticism alone is enough when in reality it's only about 10 percent of the equation (for instance, uber-talented athletes like Jordan or Kobe owe 90 percent of their success to will and drive and hard work - and maybe Phil Jackson - not their physical gifts).  Any trade for Blatche would be a good one, but I hope the Zards can pick up a blue collar rebounder - the next Wes Unseld? - who can board and start a fast break with a great outlet pass to Wall.
• One last Wall note: the PA announcer last night repeatedly called him "Jimmy Wall."  When did that start?
• Hansbrough got some minutes last night, and finished with 7 points and 7 boards, plus 2 blocked shots in 21 minutes.  It's funny to see how small he looks, not just shorter but skinnier.  Injuries and illness have kept Psycho T's NBA career from picking up any momentum, but you did see flashes of the UNC-era Hansbrough, especially on the boards, last night.  The hustle and effort was there. 
• But on offense the Pacer's use their power forwards to set a lot of screens, and Hansbrough on the high post as a passer. It must be a huge adjustment for Tyler to be a facilitator instead of the instigator of the the offense.  But he did get open down low a few times, but three times had shots blocked,  Instead of going up strong Hansbrough tried a series of pump fakes to get open looks.  The explosiveness is not there, which I imagine is a by product of missing so much time the last two seasons to injury.  That will likely improve with time.  I am surprised, however, that Hansbrough has not taken many outside shots this season.  At Carolina he became a credible threat from 17-19 feet (and 22 feet in Cameron) but in the NBA he is still a banger.
• It may be too early to tell, but Indiana does not seem to be a good fit for him. Maybe coach Jim O'Brien wants Hansbrough to stay down low; that team has some shooters including Danny Granger, on the roster. O'Brien has not given Hansbrough steady minutes at the four spot, and Tyler did not look that energetic before the game or when he came out.  Granted, I was in the mezzanine section, but Psycho T didn't seem that psyched from where we sat.

That's enough for now.  Look for my look back at a terrible 2010, which will include my thoughts on Krzyzewski passing Dean (in the same year John Boehner took Nancy Pelosi's job; not a karmic coincidence), soon.