Artist: Neil Ardley
Title: Mike Taylor Remembered
File: Jazz
“He looked like a bank clerk, but acted like a mystic”. Obituary – Melody Maker, February 15th 1969
“You’ll be returning to this for eons to fully unlock its genius.” Record Collector
“From the eerie opening sounds, like an orchestra tuning up, through a searing chord, and then into the frantic countermelody under long brass on Brown Thursday, and the baleful march-time of Land of Rhyme in Time, Taylor’s audacity is plain.” The Guardian
British jazz composer, pianist, songwriter, Mike Taylor died tragically young, leaving just two albums, as well as co-writes with Ginger Baker for Cream’s Wheels Of Fire album, to his name.
In 1973, under the direction of Neil Ardley, several of the performers who had worked with him recorded an album of Taylor’s surviving orchestral music, jazz tunes and songs as a memorial to him and to preserve his work as a composer and song writer for posterity.
Ardley, as leader of the New Jazz Orchestra directed performances of his orchestral music; Jon Hiseman and Barbara Thompson knew Mike intimately and worked on much of this music with him; Ian Carr, who originally introduced Mike Taylor to Denis Preston, recorded two albums by Mike Taylor; Henry Lowther and Dave Gelly featured Mike’s music with their own bands; and Norma Winstone was one of the few singers able to sing his extraordinary songs.
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Taken from Ardley’s master tapes, this is their critically-acclaimed tribute to a master of his art by friends and colleagues, themselves representing a cross-section of the cream of modern British jazz talent of the day.
Tracks
- Half Blue/Pendulum
- I See You
- Son of Red Blues/Brown Thursday
- Song of Love
- Folk Dance No 2
- Summer Sounds
- Land of Rhyme in Time
- Timewind
- Jumping Off The Sun
- Black and White Raga