He's the reason I don't play the tenor saxophone," Taylor says. I was going to try to be the new Ben Webster," the tenor saxophonist who worked with another notable Washington jazzman, Duke Ellington.
Then Taylor heard Wess, and he decided to stick with the piano.
Even in his teens, he was really a remarkable player," he says.
To read all of Schudel's article, click here.
Wess was a principal arranger and soloist in Count Basie's band during the 1950s and early '60s. In this video clip, he solos on his composition Corner Pocket," following trumpeters Thad Jones and Al Aarons.