Jerry was born on a potato farm in Oregon, the grandson of Czechoslovakian immigrants who had settled there as homesteaders. He attended Walla Walla College, now University, where he completed a music education degree in 1975. Both Melvin K. West and Harold Lickey were major influences in his musical development during his undergraduate study.

Taylor began his career teaching music at Ozark Academy in Gentry, Arkansas, and then taught at Shenandoah Academy in New Market, Virginia. While at SVA, he built a 32-rank pipe organ, established the Shenandoans, a select choir, and increased choir participation to 125 singers.

While at SVA, he completed a master's degree with distinction in church music at Indiana University in 1981, studying organ with Oswald Ragatz and Wilma Jensen. Taylor also completed all class work for a DMA at IU.

The Kettering church music program has significantly expanded under Taylor’s leadership. When he started his work at Kettering, he inherited a choir of 14 "dedicated singers." His first move was to establish a youth choir program with Martha Jean Hoehn that grew to 85 singers and was eventually moved to nearby Spring Valley Academy.

Several of those students have gone on to be music majors in college or to serve as Seventh-day Adventist pastors. The Spring Valley Academy choirs were invited to be the featured artists at Epcot Center in Florida and were taped for an international broadcast by NBC television. Today's fifty-member Kettering church choir sings every other week for worship and presents three major concerts each year with the church’s orchestra.

Taylor was instrumental in getting Vic Kostenko, then president of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, and Joan Ulloth Dorgan to develop a graded handbell program that today includes a handbell ensemble, the Advent Ringers (experienced adults) and the Praise Ringers (youth and learning ringers). He also set up a modified Suzuki String program that became the basis for today's 50-piece church orchestra directed by Maretta Alden.

Steve Hall, formerly band director at Union College, conducts a twelve-member church brass ensemble, and Donald Huff, formerly Spring Valley Academy and Loma Linda Academy band director, conducts the church’s Praise Orchestra, an ensemble that performs contemporary music for the church’s First Service. The church also offers a Kindermusic program and provides private music lessons in voice, piano, organ and strings.

During Taylor's time as minister of music, Kettering Church keyboard resources have grown to include three 9' concert grand and two smaller grand pianos by Baldwin and Steinway, a Zuckerman harpsichord, a three-rank Bennett-Giuttari portative tracker pipe organ, a 1912 Estey Harmonium, eleven Baldwin Sabbath School/practice pianos and two electric pianos. Other instruments include seven octaves of Malmark handbells, six octaves of Schulmerich handbells, and a set of four Ludwig timpani.

As an organist, Taylor has been a performing artist for Baldwin Organs, Inc. and the Rodgers Organ Company, for which he has played a number of dedication recitals. He has served as organist for the General Conference Sessions world gatherings of Seventh-day Adventists. In 2002, he oversaw the renovation of the Kettering Casavant pipe organ, enlarging it to 130 ranks and installing a new four-manual console.

As music associate for the Dayton Westminster Presbyterian Church, mother church of famous Westminster Choir College, he has produced two highly acclaimed CD recordings with its choirs and they have appeared on international television.

Taylor recently talked about his work as Minister of Music at Kettering:

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