Taylor still blows a wicked trumpet

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Roland Taylor's nimble hands played his trumpet in his home at the Fountains at the Albemarle Friday afternoon. Now 94, Taylor has been playing the trumpet since he was a junior in high school.

September 5, 2012

Taylor still blows a wicked trumpet

Staff Writer MIRANDA BAINES The Daily Southerner Wed Sep 05, 2012, 04:01 PM EDT

TARBORO — Big band music of the 1940’s is what 94-year-old Roland Taylor knows and loves best.

Ever since taking up the trumpet as a junior in high school, Taylor has played his favorite type of music whenever he’s had the chance. He’ll get his next opportunity the night of Saturday, Sept. 15, at a fundraiser at McIntyre Auditorium for the Edgecombe County Veterans’ Museum.

“Everything I do is from memory. The tune is in here,” said Taylor, pointing to his head, in an interview at his apartment at the Fountains at the Albemarle. He began singing one of his favorites, “I Can’t Begin to Tell You What You Mean to Me,” and later played one of his most requested songs, Hogie Carmichael’s “Stardust,” on his trumpet.

Taylor pulled out a stack of cards he keeps handy with the words to some of his favorite songs written on them — among them, “Some Enchanted Evening,” An Affair to Remember,” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

“All of these songs were popular back in the big band days,” Taylor said. “Harry James was my idol because he was the greatest trumpeter I’ve ever heard.”

Taylor got his start playing the trumpet when a man named Charles McCuller came to his rural school in Whitakers and got a group of young people together to form the Twin County Boys’ Band. Taylor took lessons from McCuller, helped him teach beginners, and boarded with him in Rocky Mount the summer before he enrolled as a freshman at North Carolina State in 1935.

He joined a freshman dance band at the beginning of the school year and played with several other bands and orchestras during his time at college, as the first chair trumpet. Taylor loved playing the trumpet so much he played with a band at Carolina Beach 98 nights in a row the summer he graduated in 1939. The next year, he went to work for Marshall Field & Co. in Spray, where he played with the company band at parties. He was drafted into the Navy in 1943.

Playing music that was popular during the time of his service in the presence of other veterans in Edgecombe County at the upcoming show has special meaning for Taylor.

“We have something in common. Sometimes you find someone that served on the same kind of vessel you did,” he said. He recalled making several trips back and forth across the English Channel bringing supplies to Army and also remembers the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944.

“There were waves of ships that went in for the invasion and we were on the second wave of ships going to the beach area,” said Taylor.

Taylor’s job was serious, but he also had some free time during his service days, much of which he spent playing “penny poker,” and, of course, playing his horn in the barracks. Taylor was a “bugle boy” of sorts; he was appointed corporal. of the color guard for his platoon in Chicago before going overseas.

Taylor married a girl from New Orleans after his time in the service, and has played his horn only recreationally since then. He has played at several churches, including First Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga. and the Methodist Church in Enfield.

These days, Taylor delights residents at the Fountains with his half-hour Sunday afternoon performances. The sprightly nonagenarian doesn’t plan to stop playing for audiences any time soon, mentioning that he is “available” to play at funerals and weddings as needed.

Even though Taylor has had plenty of experience, he still practices before every performance.

“I enjoy playing and I like to perform perfectly with no flaws at all. I try to do a good job every time I play a song.”

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Taylor still blows a wicked trumpet

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