Chad Taylor was born March 19, 1973, in Tempe, Arizona, and grew up in Chicago, where he began performing professionally at sixteen. He graduated from Lane Tech in 1991 with a scholarship to study classical guitar at Millikin University, but after his freshman year switched his focus to jazz drumming, transferring to the School of Jazz at the New School in New York City. There he studied privately with drummers Horace Arnold, Chico Hamilton, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile, Joe Chambers, Lewis Nash, and Pheeroan akLaff.

Taylor is a co-founder of the Chicago Underground ensembles and leads both the Chad Taylor Trio, with Brian Settles and Neil Podgurski, and Circle Down, with Angelica Sanchez and Chris Lightcap. He has performed with Fred Anderson, Derek Bailey, Cooper-Moore, whose own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile, Pharoah Sanders, Marc Ribot, Peter Brötzmann, and Malachi Favors, among many others. In 2024 he was selected to lead the University of Pittsburgh's Jazz Studies Program, holding the university's William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies.

Working primarily in avant-garde and free jazz, Taylor recorded his leader debut, Titration, for Delmark Records in 2002, and his catalog includes notable albums such as Time No Changes, Radiant Imprints, and Sticks and Stones.

Taylor's grounding under drummers including Chico Hamilton and his co-founding of the Chicago Underground ensembles established him as a central connective figure in Chicago's avant-garde jazz scene, and his extensive collaborations with free-jazz pioneers including Fred Anderson, Peter Brötzmann, and Cooper-Moore place him firmly within the international free-improvisation community.