Mike Taylor Remembered
Mike Taylor was a British jazz composer and pianist, and song writer. He died tragically young in 1969, leaving very little music behind him. In 1973, several of the people who had known and worked with him recorded an album of Mike 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. These included Jon Hiseman and Barbara Thompson, who knew Mike Taylor intimately and worked on much of this music with him; Ian Carr, who originally introduced Mike Taylor to Denis Preston, who recorded two LPs by Mike Taylor; Neil Ardley, who as leader of the New Jazz Orchestra had directed performances of his orchestral music; Henry Lowther and Dave Gelly, who featured Mike Taylor's music with their own bands; and Norma Winstone, one of the few singers able to sing Mike Taylor's songs.
Denis Preston kindly funded the project and the memorial album was successfully recorded and mixed, but it was never issued. However Neil Ardley kept a copy of the master tape, and this has been transferred to CD to make this characteristic collection of Mike Taylor's music available for the first time.
Tracks [Total time 45.14]
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
Collective Personnel
Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Henry Lowther, Ian Carr (trumpets, flugelhorn) : Chris Pyne, David Horler (trombones) : Ray Premru (bass trombone) : Barbara Thompson (flute, alto flute, soprano sax) :
Ray Warleigh (flute, alto sax) : Stan Sulzmann (flute, alto sax, soprano sax) : Bob Efford (oboe, tenor sax, bassoon) : Dave Gelly (bass clarinet, clarinet, tenor sax) : Bunny Gould (bass
clarinet, bassoon) : Peter Lemer (piano, electric piano, synthesizer) : Alan Branscombe (vibraphone) : Chris Laurence, Ron Mathewson (bass, bass guitar) : Jon Hiseman (drums, percussion) : Neil
Ardley (director) : Norma Winstone (vocal)
