Martin Taylor’s Spirit of Django

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If you can imagine the ideal soundtrack to driving through the scented country roads of France on a hot lazy summer’s day then it would be the music of Martin Taylor’s Spirit of Django. To mark the 100th Anniversary of the birth of one of the founders of European jazz Django Reinhardt, Martin Taylor reformed his award winning group Spirit of Django after a 15 year hiatus for the new album, ‘Last Train to Hauteville’.

Martin Taylor first came to prominence in the 70’s through his work with violinist Stephane Grappelli and as such is able to trace his musical lineage back to Django Reinhardt and the original Quintette du Hot Club de France.

In 1994 Martin formed Spirit of Django to re-explore his own Gypsy roots.  Their first album reached No.1 in the UK Jazz Charts with their version of Robert Palmer’s ‘Johnny & Mary’ becoming familiar across Europe as the theme the successful ‘Nicole-Papa’ TV adverts for Renault Clio.  They were voted Best Small Group in the BBC Jazz Awards and went to the top of the US Gavin Jazz Charts.

Award winning guitarist MARTIN TAYLOR has established a unique musical career as an internationally acclaimed musician. As well as being a true guitar innovator, he is also a master concert performer, dazzling audiences with his solo shows, which combine virtuosity, emotion, humour, with a strong stage presence. As well as his solo concerts and recordings, he has also collaborated with musicians from many different musical genre including, Stephane Grappelli, Jeff Beck, Gary Burton, Chet Atkins, Bill Wyman, George Harrison, Dionne Warwick, Diane Schuur and Jamie Cullum. He spends much of the year travelling the world, playing in concert halls in Europe, North America, Japan, Asia, and Australasia as well as presiding over the uniquely innovative Martin Taylor Guitar Academy online.

www.martintaylor.com

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Bio:

Late 2010 saw the world premiere of an exciting new work for guitar, orchestra and big band with the creation of ‘The Spirit of Django Suite’ by two of the biggest names in jazz, guitarist and composer Martin Taylor MBE and composer and arranger Guy Barker.  Guy Barker came up with the idea of basing the Suite around some of the themes that Martin Taylor had already written for his award-winning group Spiritof Django by creating an orchestral piece featuring Martin Taylor, Spirit of Django, the Guy Barker Big Band, and a full orchestra.

The Spirit of Django Suite was composed to ‘reek of nostalgia’, with many elements of Django Reinhardt and Debussy coupled with the sounds of black and white films of summers in France.  In fact France would also be the home of another key element to the piece, the great Jaques Tati, and this is reflected in a comedic almost cartoon like section in the piece.  The 54-minute orchestral suite is a very rare settingof a full symphony orchestra, a big band plus a small group and Martin Taylor.

Award winning guitarist MARTIN TAYLOR has established a unique musical career as an internationally acclaimed musician, and his inimitable style has seen him recognised as the world’s foremost exponent of solo jazz guitar playing.  As well as being a true guitar innovator, he is also a master concert performer, dazzling audiences with his solo shows, which combine virtuosity, emotion, humour, with a strong stage presence.  In addition to his solo concerts and recordings, he has also collaborated with musicians from many different musical genre including, Stephane Grappelli, Jeff Beck, Chet Atkins, Bill Wyman, George Harrison, Dionne Warwick, Sacha Distel, Bryn Terfel and Jamie Cullum.  He spends much of the year travelling the world, playing in concert halls in Europe, North America, Japan, Asia, and Australasia as well as presiding over the uniquely innovative Martin Taylor Guitar Academy online.

GUY BARKER is an award winning musician/composer and arranger.  As a trumpet player he has performed with many great artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra, Sting and Lena Horne.  His composing and arranging credits include The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kurt Elling, Jamie Cullum, Paloma Faith, Melody Gardot plus many large orchestral projects for the BBC and the London Jazz Festival.  He has also composed music for films including The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Number One Ladies Detective Agency.  Two of his solo albums were nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize.

www.martintaylor.com

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