Creed Taylor

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Creed Taylor (* 13. May 1929 in Lynchburg , Virginia) is an American music producer and founder of the Jazz - label Impulse! and CTI .

life and work

Taylor grew up in Virginia, in an area that was musically dominated by bluegrass on. He had contact with more modern music through the radio.

“ Since the station was very strong, I got it in very loud and clear, and I used to listen to it until two or three in the morning, then get up at 6 to go to school. That was my indoctrination. "

Brand logo of the label Impulse, founded by Taylor! Records

After graduating from high school, he attended Duke University , where he graduated with a degree in psychology . He then signed up for two years with the Marine Corps , during which time Taylor also served in the Korean War for a year .

Taylor, who was a trumpeter in the band The Dukes during his student days , began his career with Bethlehem Records in 1954 . There Taylor worked with musicians such as Chris Connor , Nina Simone , Charles Mingus , JJ Johnson and Kai Winding .

In 1956 he left the Bethlehem label to work for ABC-Paramount . One of his first productions was Quincy Jones ' debut album , This Is How I Feel About Jazz , in 1956 . During this time Taylor also made some of his own recordings with The Creed Taylor Orchestra & Chorus . In 1960 Taylor founded the sub-label Impulse, which specializes in jazz , on behalf of ABC-Paramount ! , for whom he was able to engage John Coltrane in 1960 and with whom he produced the album Africa / Brass in 1961 . In addition, ABC paramount could win Rudy Van Gelder as sound engineer and Bob Thiele as additional producer. To A Love Supreme , Coltrane and Impulse !, the biggest hit! In 1964, Taylor, the Impulse! and ABC-Paramount left again in 1961, but no longer a share.

In 1961, Taylor moved to the MGM subsidiary Verve as the successor to Norman Granz , his position at Impulse! Bob Thiele took over. Through his recordings with Astrud Gilberto , Stan Getz , Charlie Byrd , João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim , Taylor shaped the face of bossa nova jazz, a mixture of cool jazz and Brazilian rhythms, the most famous recording being The Girl from Ipanema from 1963 to call.

From 1967 to 1969 he finally worked for A&M Records , for which he founded the sub-label CTI ( Creed Taylor Inc. ) in 1968 . In 1970 CTI became independent from A&M and the sublabels Kudu (1971) and Salvation (1972) were founded, and Motown took over distribution . The CTI period was marked by shooting with Wes Montgomery , George Benson , Grover Washington, Jr. , Chet Baker , Yusef Lateef , Stanley Turrentine and others. In addition to Taylor's signature, the cover photos by Pete Turner also became a trademark of CTI, the name Rudy Van Gelder stood for the sound quality. CTI achieved the greatest success with Eumir Deodato's debut album Prelude from 1972. However, Creed Taylor failed in the late 1970s when trying to build its own sales network, so that CTI went bankrupt . After the demise of CTI, the rights to the recordings were bought by Columbia (CBS).

Taylor initially disappeared from the scene in order to venture a new attempt with CTI in the early 1990s, with which, however, he could not build on the previous successes. Taylor currently runs an internet catalog of his recordings under the name CTI Jazz (as of 2007).

Recordings (selection)

As leader of The Creed Taylor Orchestra (& chorus) and producer
  • 1958: Shock (ABC-Paramount)
  • 1959: Sound of New York: A Musical Portrait (ABC-Paramount)
As a producer
  • 1955: Chris Connor Sings Lullaby of Birdland (Bethlehem)
  • 1955: East Coast Jazz, Vol. 6 ( Urbie Green , Bethlehem)
  • 1956: This Is How I Feel About Jazz ( Quincy Jones , ABC-Paramount)
  • 1960: Out of the Cool ( Gil Evans , Impulse!)
  • 1961: Genius + Soul = Jazz ( Ray Charles , Impulse!)
  • 1961: The Complete Africa / Brass Sessions (John Coltrane, Impulse!)
  • 1961: The Great Kai & JJ (Kai Winding & JJ Johnson, Impulse!)
  • 1963: Getz / Gilberto (Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, Verve)
  • 1963: The Individualism of Gil Evans (Gil Evans, Verve)
  • 1964: Getz Au Go Go (Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto, Verve)
  • 1964: The Cat ( Jimmy Smith , with arrangements by Lalo Schifrin , Verve)
  • 1965: Got My Mojo Workin '/ Hoochie Cooche Man (Jimmy Smith, Verve)
  • 1967: Sweet Rain (Stan Getz, Verve)
  • 1970: Gula Matari (Quincy Jones, A&M)
  • 1972: Prelude (Eumir Deodato, CTI)
  • 1973: Body Talk (George Benson, CTI)
  • 1974: She Was Too Good To Me (Chet Baker, CTI)
  • 1978: Baltimore (Nina Simone, CTI)

Awards

Especially during his time as the head of Verve, several productions by Taylor were awarded the US Grammy Music Prize. First and foremost, of course, is the album Getz / Gilberto , which received four awards in 1964. Taylor was the first producer to have both the “Album of the Year” and the “Record of the Year” ( The Girl from Ipanema ). In addition, Taylor's productions have received several awards as “Best Jazz Album”. Five recordings were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chris M. Slawecki: Creed Taylor, Incorporated: The AAJ Interview. In: AllAboutJazz.com. July 5, 2004, accessed June 23, 2007 .

    Since it was a very powerful station, I got it really loud and clear and I used to listen until two or three o'clock in the morning then get up to go to school at six o'clock. That was my indoctrination.

  2. ↑ a b Chris M. Slawecki: Creed Taylor, Incorporated: The AAJ Interview. In: AllAboutJazz.com. July 5, 2004, accessed June 23, 2007 .
  3. ^ Creed Taylor - Discography. In: AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 23, 2007 .
  4. ↑ Interview with Marc Myers in the Wall Street Journal 2011
  5. ↑ Verve. (No longer available online.) In: JazzEcho.de. Archived from the original on June 14, 2007 ; Retrieved June 23, 2007 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jazzecho.de
  6. ^ Scott Yanow : Creed Taylor - Biography. In: AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 23, 2007 .
  7. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame. In: Grammy.com. Retrieved June 24, 2007 .
  8. ^ The Best in Recording Arts & Sciences. (No longer available online.) In: CTIJazz. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007 ; Retrieved June 24, 2007 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ctijazz.com

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Taylor, Creed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American music producer and founder of the jazz label Impulse! and CTI
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Lynchburg , Virginia