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T. TaylorBiography: Hey and hello. My name is T. Taylor. You can call meTaylor. I was born in Southern California and I spent most of my early life there. I play the tenor saxophone and my main focus now is to create situations where I can improvise deeply while retaining a connection to the listener. I have been a part of too many performances where the audiences go from "wow" to "what the hell?" because they couldn't make the same connections as the performers, from movement and sound to movement and sound. With the inclusion of words, mixed-medium performance not limited to dance, film and paint, and different types of guided improvisation I am trying to avoid that loss of connection. Of course it goes without saying that I will instantly and passionately improvise freely with any human willing and capable. I have studied privately, continue to do so, and have been exposed to deep insights through the wisdom of some very talented and creative humans. From Steve Adams of ROVA I learned the importance of ear training, of hearing intervals. He also taught me about making every sound WORK, whether intended, emotional, intellectual or accidental. Not to mention straight saxophone technique and the benefit of time, just time, with the instrument. From multi-wind instrumentalist and composer/band leader Vinnie Golia I was shown the sheer torture of doing excercises at 60 BPM. I was also shown different altissimo attacks. Gianni Gebbia shared his thoughts on the in-between sounds, the subtleties. Also the power of playing a "beautiful" line in the middle of a sick and dissonant free session. From Ellery Eskelin I was made aware of different philosophies on reed selection and choice as well as a really cool sub-tone kind of breath thing that moves into a harmonic squeek! Jeff Kaiser reminded me of and then reinforced the absolute truth about wind playing, which is: AIR is the energy and force that drives the instrument. Give it-playing loudly or softly. Nick Rail, professional good-guy, instrument repair doctor supreme and music store owner has divulged his secrets of the trade, (the ones that I could handle), and always offers pertinent advice and information about the saxophone. Mitch Triplett convinced me that diligent practice DOES get you to your musical goals, be they one month or 10 years away. He also instilled in me the need to be musical in an improvisation, whether playing a groove, dropping rice onto an unsuspecting bass pick-up or torturing a poor instrument with an electrically generated rotary tool. I am a fan of, and pretty much a fanatic about, PRACTICE, and seeing as I am so often moving from here to there and back, I have had to practice wherever I could find a space or a neighbor without an itchy phone finger or a ready supply of aimable produce. I have practiced under a circling hawk in a warm but windy field just outside the University of California, Santa Cruz. From a music room INSIDE the university I have squawked happily away while gazing through a window at the Pacific Ocean as an actual family of deer ate grass in the foreground. I must mention now that I was never a STUDENT at UCSC and the only proof that I was ever there is a few broken reeds and a few more confused members of the music department. In Valencia, Spain I praticed in a room housing paint thinner and other deadly chemicals plus sharp cutting utensils that I couldn't exactly figure out a use for. There was a nice window, though, and I was able to watch people amble to the Mediterranean shore. An abandoned and partially destroyed bar on a kibbutz outside of Tel Aviv, Israel was my practice home for two months. Of course I have spent too many hours ear-abusing members of the family home and I have practiced where people were house-sitting and baby-sitting, (sorry, Junior). I have also practiced in; A trailer in a ravine in Ojai, California; posh rehearsal rooms in Los Angeles; smoky rockstar rooms in Salzburg, Austria; a room across from a tourist hotel off of Placa Real, Barcelona, Spain, (partial nudity included); and an ACTUAL and REAL LIVE WOODSHED in Malmo, Sweden! I have played to and for the holiest of rivers, the Ganges, from a rooftop in Varanasi, India. On a different rooftop I played for a launderer while I choked on the pollution thick air of Katmandu, Nepal. I have played for unimpressed ones in Los Angeles and Ventura County bars, cafes, theaters and clubs plus their continental counterparts throughout western Europe. I have played for hundreds at art and music festivals in Stockholm, Sweden where people said deeply kind and thoughtful words right to my face. I have played for thousands in the streets of Spain and France, where people have touched me, purchased my C.D.'s, given me money, food and kindness OR sneers, trash, cigarette butts, (some still lit!), unadulterated aggression and the lovely phrase, "You're SHITE, mate!" I spend more time in Europe than I do in the States, but that could change-TOMORROW! Sometimes I get paid, sometimes I get laughed at, sometimes I go COMPLETELY BROKE...but...I continue to play because I have to and I love it and I am certain that occasionally I play for people who, with deep compassion and understanding, LISTEN! My name is T. Taylor. You can call me Taylor. I play the tenor saxophone and I am an artist. You can contact me at- hornspeak@yahoo.com CDs on which T. Taylor appears:
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