NEW ALISON BURNS & MARTIN TAYLOR CD

January 21, 2008, 12:30 pm

Monday 16th June is the release date of "1.AM" the new CD by Alison Burns and Martin Taylor. This intimate recording is made up of 14 tracks of vocal and guitar duets and includes several songs from the 30's and 40's, as well as more recent compositions by Stevie Wonder and James Taylor. Also included is a new version of Martin's composition TRUE with lyrics by Alison. Available at www.p3music.com

MONTREAL GUITAR FESTIVAL - 28TH JUNE 2008

February 16, 2008, 9:33 am

Martin will be playing a solo show in Montreal, Canada on 28th June 2008 as part of the Montreal Guitar Festival. This prestigious event attracts some of the best guitarists from all over the world and covers many styles of music.

This will be Martin's second trip to Canada this year. In January he played a very successful show with his group "Freternity" at the Toronto Convention Center and was also presented with a International Association For Jazz Education Award for "Outstanding Service to Jazz Education"

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR PLANNED - FALL 2008

February 16, 2008, 9:19 am

Good news for Martin's fans in North America as a tour of the USA and Canada is being planned for October/November 2008.

The first half of the tour will see Martin playing a series of solo concerts plus a very special night of virtuoso guitar playing at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburg is planned for 17th June when he's joined on stage by the great STANLEY JORDAN. A show not to be missed!

For the second half of the tour he will meet up with guitarist MARTIN SIMPSON for duo concerts on the the west coast, mid-west and British Columbia.

"I'm really excited about this tour. My US agent Herschel Freeman tells me that there has been tremendous interest from promoters across the country and more dates are being confirmed every day"

MARTIN'S MYSPACE

August 6, 2007, 10:53 am

Martin Taylor now has a MySpace site which includes video clips of Martin playing solo as well as a clip from a 1990's TV show in Nashville with Chet Atkins and an early 1980's clip with Stephane Grappelli in California. The site has only recently been set up, but more video clips will be added over the next few months.

Here's a video filmed by Martin Holmes for the UK's GUITARIST magazine where Martin plays and talks about his very popular tune DOWN AT COCOMO'S.

If you are a MySpace subscriber Martin would be delighted for you to be a MySpace Friend. www.myspace.com/martintaylormusic

MARTIN WINS BBC JAZZ AWARD, BRITISH JAZZ AWARD and LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

July 19, 2007, 12:20 pm

P3 Music artist Martin Taylor has recently recieved three awards. The BBC Radio 2’s ‘Heart of Jazz’ Award was presented to him at a star studded ceremony held at London's Mermaid Theatre. Martin was presented with the prestigious award by ex-Rolling Stone’s bass player Bill Wyman during an evening which also saw Madeliene Peyroux, Ricky Lee-Jones, Richard E Grant and Curtis Stigers take the stage.

Two weeks later he was given a Lietime Achievement Award for his "Contribution to Jazz Guitar Worldwide" from the North Wales International Guitar Festival and in September was voted Best Guitarist in the British Jazz Awards for the eleventh time.

Martin Taylor, who has been described as “The Acoustic Guitarist of his generation” by The Times, released his latest album and DVD ‘Freternity’, filmed on the Isle of Man, at the start of the year to rave reviews. The awards are the latest of many awards and honours he has recieved over his 35 year career. In the 1990’s he won the British Jazz Awards a record nine times and has also been awarded with an honourary doctorate and an MBE for services to music.

Commenting on his awards Martin said:

“It’s a great honour to be presented with these awards and I’d like to thank all the people who voted for me. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to tour the world playing and recording the music I love.”

Freternity Goes Into Top 10

April 17, 2007, 5:15 pm

Martin Taylor's new album 'Freternity' has gone straight in at Number 10 in the official UK Jazz Charts. The album, which is Martin's first band recording in a number of years, has been getting rave reviews and there is also a live DVD of the same group on sale now. The CD and DVD will be released in North America and Asia soon.

Freternity DVD

March 26, 2007, 10:56 am

I've already reviewed the CD issue of this performance which I greatly enjoyed but I got even more pleasure from seeing it on screen. This is the guitarist's latest and newest group with some of the very finest musicians in trumpeter Guy Barker and keyboard player David Newton plus Ewan Vernal on bass and Steve Brown on drums and also introducing singer Alison Burns on two tracks.

It's a straightforward presentation with no gimmicks, just virtuoso performances, clearly filmed and well recorded. Besides the quintet tracks there are fabulous guitar solos on Stella By Starlight and Hymn A L'amour, and a delightful duet for trumpet and guitar on Li'l Darlin'. The DVD has two bonus tracks and a very enjoyable conversation between old friends Martin and Guy.
Peter Bevan, The Northern Echo

Martin Taylor - Freternity

March 22, 2007, 8:50 am

You're not wrong - that is a blimmin' awful pun. Thankfully the jazz virtuoso more than makes up for it with the sheer quality and class of his first band project since Spirit Of Django. Collaborating with long-time friends, trumpeter Guy Barker and pianist David Newton, Taylor is in rare old form - deftly weaving basslines, comp chords and melodies with playful abandon and with no worries about who's leading who at any given point.

All this fun is hardly surprising, really, when you take into account the tracklisting, which boasts some of his all-time faves, including Hoagy Carmichael's Skylark and Hefti/Cahn's The Odd Couple. The reworking of Taylor's Chez Fernand really stands out among the many high points; originally written in an old Django Reinhardt haunt, it shows the right way to honour your musical ancestors without being browbeaten or consumed. Guitar And Bass April 2007