Some Martin Taylor appreciation - and a wish

[jaco1]

Saw Martin with Tommy Emmanuel...great show. Also did online lessons and found his insights very helpful. Recently picked up a used Fibonacci Ambassador here in the states. Pretty rare from my searches in the USA. It is an outstanding guitar and will be my number one when I resume gigging. (replaced shoulder surgery)

[David B]

Taylor and Lagrene stopped in at KNKX on their current US run:

[sgosnell]

More of those two greats on YouTube. Various posters have videos of them. Bireli is playing a Benedetto on this tour.

[Oscar67]

Taylor and Lagrene stopped in at KNKX on their current US run:

Both get a really great archtop tone IMHO. Awesome sounds. Martin uses a pick on one tune, haven’t seen him do that in a long time. Billy uses all sorts of techniques including sweeping. And Martin’s solos are so musical and in the pocket, like songs within songs. Next-level stuff.

[RLetson]

First heard Taylor backing Grappelli (maybe on the same tour that Tom Wright mentions, but in Minneapolis), and while I have quite a few of MT's recordings as soloist/leader, I think I'm most impressed with him as accompanist/partner--he's a player whose presence in the credits will get me to buy a recording. (Bucky Pizzarelli--or John--has the same effect on me.)

On edit: Rummaged around and found the program book for the 1980 Minneapolis Orchestra Hall concert, signed by Grappelli, Taylor, and with an impressively illegible scrawl that is either bassist Jack Sewing or guitarist John Etheridge. My only memory is that we sat pretty far back in the hall. Fortunately, I have pretty much every record that came out of that period of Grappelli's career. (In fact, I have a decent chunk of his recordings--about 65 so far, not counting the QHCF material. Color me obsessive.)

[AKA]

[QUOTE=David B;1288940]Taylor and Lagrene stopped in at KNKX on their current US run:]

Yes officer - these are the two guys! They came into town with these fancy wooden sticks with strings that they used to completely captivate me, take my breath away, and then left me spellbound! It was definitely them.

[AndyV]

Martin may be less on the adventurous side in terms of more outside harmonies and more angular melodic playing but he is a very complete and orchestral player in the mainstream jazz idiom. I think when he's pushed by a duet partner, he can truly play some amazing stuff. His basic concept for chord melody playing is built - like stride piano - around the 10th interval with moving inner voices. There is, at times, a sense of pastoral elegance to his playing that's somehow in the British Isles tradition. I agree he is deserving of more accolades than he seems to get. My own limitations tripped me up but he was a kind and insightful teacher.

[Oscar67]

Well put!