Taylor Still Calling the Class to Order

Wynton Marsalis is probably the most visible spokesperson for jazz these days, but let’s not forget pianist Billy Taylor, who has fostered increased public awareness of this art form for decades.

Though he has certainly been involved in jazz education, it’s as a broadcaster that Taylor has had his primary impact on the national jazz scene.

The pianist’s first major TV exposure came as the host of “The Subject Is Jazz,” a 13-part history which aired on PBS in 1958 (and which is available for viewing, as are scores of classic shows, at the Museum of Broadcasting in Manhattan). Next came more than a dozen years as an announcer on commercial radio in New York City. And since January, 1979, Taylor has reached millions of viewers via his twice-a-month interviews with jazz notables on the CBS show “Sunday Morning,” with Charles Kuralt.

“I get to talk to people that I admire, and to an extent, like spending an entire day with an artist, that I usually don’t get a chance to. And I’ll ask questions which, as a friend or colleague, I might not think to ask,” said the 70-year-old Taylor.

Taylor’s appearance Sunday(the program airs between 7:30 and 9 a.m.)is approximately his 300th for CBS and is with ace pianist Roger Kellaway, the Newton, Mass., native who recently moved back to Southern California (where he lived from the mid-’70s to the early ‘80s), and who appears tonight at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City, with singer Ruth Price.

“Roger is one of those artists that people should know a lot more about. He’s someone I really wanted to do,” said Taylor from San Francisco, where he was performing with the Turtle Island String Quartet. (He appears with that ensemble in Los Angeles in April at Pepperdine University and in May at UCLA.)

Taylor, whose 40th album, “Dr. T,” has just been issued on GRP Records, said he sees his work in broadcasting as an extension of what he does as a performer, a field in which he remains very active. But he relishes the idea that his profiles may affect the career of an artist in a very positive way.

“I’ve had so many people tell me that I seemed so excited about a particular artist that they just had to go and check the guy out,” Taylor said.

Cuban Pianist Finally in U.S.: Gonzalo Rubalcaba, the Cuban pianist who has twice applied for visas to perform in the United States, and has been twice denied by the U.S. State Department, was granted a 30-day visa to attend the funeral of Dizzy Gillespie in New York City on Jan. 12, where he served as an honorary pallbearer.

“The government granted the visa for humanitarian reasons, and Gonzalo was not allowed to perform,” said Don Lucoff, owner of Manhattan-based DL Media, who was Rubalcaba’s escort during his brief stay in the United States. “When I took him to the Village Vanguard, club owner Lorraine Gordon begged him to sit in, but he wouldn’t.”

Rubalcaba, who has created something of a sensation with his two trio albums for the Blue Note label, met Gillespie in Havana, in 1981. “Dizzy was the first American musician Gonzalo played with in Havana, and when Dizzy invited him here in 1988 to play a concert in Central Park, his visa was denied,” said Lucoff.

Rubalcaba only remained in the United States a few days, Lucoff said. “He was obviously excited about being here for the first time, and he wanted to be an ordinary tourist,” said Lucoff. “He wanted to go to Tower Records, and to buy a pair of good shoes, so I took him to Barney’s. He also wanted to see a Broadway show, so he attended ‘Jelly’s Last Jam.’ ”

Lucoff said there are tentative plans for a Rubalcaba performance in the United States in April, but nothing has been confirmed.