Bass trombonist David Taylor studied with Davis Shuman at The Juilliard School, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He began his performing career in 1967 as a member of Leopold Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra and appeared with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez. He was a member of the Thad Jones–Mel Lewis jazz band, and has performed and recorded with leading jazz, pop and classical artists including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin, as well as with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Wynton Marsalis, the St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Basel Sinfonietta, and the Adelaide Philharmonic. In 1984, at the age of forty, Taylor gave a solo recital at Carnegie Hall, followed by two further New York recitals. He won the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Most Valuable Player Award for five consecutive years (1982–86), and in 1987, he was awarded the NARAS Most Valuable Player Virtuoso Award—an honor accorded no other bass trombonist. Taylor teaches privately and sits on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College.