Jazz pianist composer and teacher John Taylor is not short of trophies, but his latest achievement is purely digital: the day he played this set, he had made the Number One spot on iTunes' jazz pages.
And no wonder: he is one of a handful of people who have defined the sound of both British and European jazz, typically through his work as a sideman or collaborator. Elegant and at times impressionistic, Taylor stalks a song, following its trail with allegory, and then pounces, revealing its meaning through masterful use of tension and release.
John Taylor first came to the attention of the jazz audience in 1969 when he partnered saxophonists Alan Skidmore and John Surman. The 1980s saw John working with groups led by Jan Garbarek, Enrico Rava, Gil Evans, Lee Konitz and Charlie Mariano as well as performing in duo contexts with Tony Coe and Steve Arguelles. John has been professor of Jazz Piano at the Cologne College of Music since 1993 and became a Lecturer in jazz at York University in 2005.
Hayden Chisholm first met John Taylor in Germany, while John was Professor for Piano at the Cologne Musikhochschule. Over a decade later, they have formed a trio and reunite for their second concert at the Music at Plush festival in Dorset. "Since first hearing John all those years ago in Cologne I had always dreamed of playing with him," he recalls. "We had often spoken of putting something together but never had a chance, so when Adrian [Brendel, the festival's director] approached me to play at Plush in 2007, the perfect opportunity arrived. Last year's concert in Plush with John and Matt was a first encounter and one we all cherished."
The trio's second outing highlights Hayden Chisholm's signature microtonal sound, achieved over ten years of experiment and research, and the hyper-accurate extemporisations of bassist Matt Penman. The strength and clarity of Taylor's compositions give the session its fire. Everyone can feel when a band lifts off, when it rises above the merely very good, when that spirit of invention which fires jazz takes over a group of musicians. No longer three separate players, at that point they have become a separate entity; it is the mind of the trio that drives them then, not those of the individuals involved. This happened during Taylor's final solo, and the roar that greeted its finish indicated that everyone there appreciated that magic had made its presence audible.
Ethan Ames, 2008
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