For Brooklyn-based musician Lee Taylor, making art means embracing more than one form of creative expression. A singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor and artist, Taylor draws on the grit of the blues and the improvisational spirit of jazz.

Taylor will perform with Joy in an Ugly World at this year’s Tusten Jazz Festival, November 7 and 8, at the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance’s Tusten Theatre in Narrowsburg.

Taylor sees creative expression as something that resists easy categorization.

“There’s a lot of pressure in social media and our current artistic landscape to homogenize being an artist,” Taylor said. “But the reality of it is that art has been around since all of humanity’s urge to create, the urge to express, and that urge doesn’t take one form.”

Joy in an Ugly World is also the title of Taylor’s forthcoming album, scheduled for release in 2027. The title track grew out of a devastating personal loss.

Taylor, who uses the pronoun they, says the song began with a melody that came while walking home from teaching music lessons. The resulting six-minute composition moves from a sparse, melancholy opening toward a more hopeful conclusion.

Its lyrics focus on finding beauty in everyday moments, from moonlight drifting through the pines to the smile of a child.

“Even if you’re overwhelmed by the world or personal loss, you can find joy in an ugly world,” they said.

That emphasis on storytelling carries into Taylor’s approach to performing. Lyrics matter, Taylor says, and each song chosen for the festival has a story worth telling.

Jazz improvisation offers another path toward connection. They describe performing as a way to quiet the part of the mind concerned with judgment and allow creativity to take over.

“I call it like a main line,” Taylor says. “It’s a main line to the universe, and you’re creating under this wonderful thing to where you’re just 100% connected.”

For Taylor, that connection extends beyond music. It can be found in the natural world and in everyday interactions with others.

“You don’t make the flower grow. You don’t make the snowfall. You don’t make the bird sing,” Taylor says. “If you tune into these small things, they’re very beautiful and they’re very joyful.”