John Taylor (pianist)

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John Taylor (2008)

John Richard Taylor (born September 25, 1942 in Manchester , † July 17, 2015 in Angers , Maine-et-Loire , France ) was a British jazz pianist . Until the summer of 2007 he was professor for jazz piano at the Cologne University of Music and Dance .

Career

The only formal class in John Taylor's life, according to himself, was weekly piano lessons when he was ten years old. His father was a self-taught pianist and his sister, who was 15 years older than him, was a classical pianist, so that he came into contact with this instrument a lot from the start. Bill Evans ' album Explorations made a big impression on him, as did Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, and later Keith Jarrett . He began his musical career in a dance band before moving to London in 1964, where he did an office job. The jam sessions in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club had a practical influence , but also first appearances with Marion Montgomery , Mike Gibbs and John Dankworth .

Taylor's career as a professional jazz musician began in 1969 with the collaboration with saxophonists John Surman and above all Alan Skidmore , in whose quintet he played until 1973. At the same time he began to lead his own trio and sextet with Kenny Wheeler , Chris Pyne , Stan Sulzmann , Chris Laurence and Tony Levin . He then worked as an accompanist for the singer Cleo Laine and a member of the Ronnie Scott quintet . In 1977 he founded the Azimuth trio with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler , which recorded several albums and performed in Europe, the United States and Canada. Since 1972 Taylor was married to Winstone; the two sons also became musicians.

In the 1980s he worked in bands under Jan Garbarek , Enrico Rava , Gil Evans , Lee Konitz , Ron Mathewson and Charlie Mariano and in a duo with Tony Coe and Steve Argüelles . In the 1990s he recorded albums in a trio with Peter Erskine and Palle Danielsson . In 1996 he played the organ in John Surman 's Proverbs and Songs .

In 2000 he performed with the Trio Azimuth at the Weimar Festival and recorded the album Verso with Maria Pia De Vito and Ralph Towner . Since 2002 he has worked in a trio with Joey Baron and Marc Johnson . For the composition The Green Man Suite , which was performed by the Creative Jazz Orchestra , he received the BBC Jazz Award for Best New Work in 2002 .

In 2004, Taylor's second wife Diana de Courcy, whom he married after divorcing Winstone, died. That year he recorded Where Do We Go from Here? with Kenny Wheeler and Nightfall with Charlie Haden and performed with both at the Montreal Jazz Festival . In the same year he also founded a new trio with Palle Danielsson and Martin France . He also worked in a duo with the singer Diana Torto . He married his childhood friend Carol, née Weston, as the third wife.

Taylor died on 17 July 2015 after being at a gig with the band of Stéphane Kerecki on the Saveurs Jazz Festival in Segré ( Maine-et-Loire a) heart attack suffered.

Discography (selection)

  • Decipher , with Chris Laurence and Tony Levin, 1972
  • Norma Winstone & John Taylor In Concert , 1988 (rec .; 2018 ed.)
  • Tango and Company , with Henning Berg , 1997
  • Rosslyn , with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron , 2003
  • Insight Sketch , solo album, 2003
  • Songs & Variations , solo album, 2004
  • Angel of the Presence , solo album, 2006
  • Whirlpool , with Palle Danielsson and Martin France, 2007
  • Phases , solo album, 2009
  • Patience , 2011, with Stéphane Kerecki

Lexigraphic entries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Taylor obituary. In: The Guardian , July 19, 2015 (English). Retrieved July 20, 2015.
    Freedom and empathy. Obituary for John Taylor in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 20, 2015. Accessed August 20, 2015.
  2. ↑ Students and Masters An interview with the pianist John Taylor , cover story of the jazz newspaper 2008/05, accessed September 12, 2012.
  3. ^ Saveurs jazz festival. John Taylor victime d'un malaise cardiaque . In: Ouest-France (French).
  4. ↑ Death report at France 3
personal data
SURNAME Taylor, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Taylor, John Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester , England , UK
DATE OF DEATH 17th July 2015
Place of death Angers , Maine-et-Loire department , France