Over his five-decade career in music, Martin Taylor has solidified his reputation as one of the world's foremost jazz guitarists, known particularly for his solo guitar virtuosity.
Since 2008, KNKX has been lucky enough to have Taylor in the studio several times. During these in-studios, Taylor has shared insight into the roots of his illustrious career, including his musical upbringing, natural attraction to improvisation, and early break as the guitarist in the touring band of Stephane Grappelli, pioneer of Hot Club-style jazz.
Born in southeast England in 1956, Taylor could've been a rock n' roller — but it was jazz that had his attention from a young age. He came by it honestly.
"I'm actually the third generation of jazz musician in my family. My dad was a jazz musician, and my great uncle was a jazz saxophone player in the '20s," said Taylor. "I grew up with this music."
The more Taylor was exposed to jazz, the more his passion for this time-honored American tradition grew.
"This was a time so over 100 years ago now, when, for the first time, really people from all over the world, from different groups, racial mixture of people, from Europeans and Africans that were together, living in a very small place together. And from that evolved this music," Taylor said. "It's very much American music, and it couldn't have happened anywhere else any other time."
Taylor was especially drawn to improvisation. Early on, as he tried his hand at rock and blues music with a childhood friend, he'd add his own creative flourishes.
"We'd play blues, but I would then start putting little alternative chord changes in there, and then [my friend] would go, no, don't jazz it up. Don't jazz it up, you know. But I couldn't, just couldn't help myself. I'm an improviser, really, because there was no way that I could play anything the same twice," Taylor said.
In 1979, Taylor was offered the chance to play with dazzling jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. In the 11 years Taylor performed with the legend, Taylor's prodigious chops and melodic improvisational sense shined, as did his obvious respect for the many "flavors" of jazz music.
When jazz was born, Taylor said, "something very spectacular happened in New Orleans during that time. And really what happened was as it spread around the world, first of all, it spread around American and it changed. It's constantly changing, and as people have, have taken jazz almost as their own wherever, wherever you are in the world, it's taken on another flavor."
Grappelli represents one of the first zesty spin-offs of American jazz: Hot Club Swing, which originated in Romani, or so called gypsy communities, in the early 1930s. Along with legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt, Grappelli is a progenitor of this unique jazz style. Taylor, who has Romani heritage, grew up idolizing them both.
"I was sitting in Django Reinhardt's chair for for 11 years, and Django Reinhardt was really the reason I started to play the guitar," said Taylor.
Grappelli rarely gave Taylor pointers on his playing, but Taylor gleaned much valuable wisdom from his stint with the masterful fiddler.
"He would only work with musicians that he liked as people, as well. It's something I always kept in mind. You've got to get on with people," Taylor said. "And I think when you have that kind of feeling amongst musicians, where you you respect each other, and you enjoy the company of everyone, then that really helps with the music, and it makes it fun. And the kind of telepathy builds up between you when you've been playing for a while, which is what we we have to do in this music."
Dig back through the KNKX archives for more about Martin Taylor's career, distinctive approach to jazz guitar, and on-going impact as a performer and teacher.
