1 Oct By admin

Martin receives Lifetime Achievement Awards

Last Saturday saw Martin receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ards International Guitar Festival.

The award presentation, took place at the end of his solo set, to a standing ovation from the packed house at the Queen’s Hall, Newtonards, Northern Ireland, and to the surprise of Martin.

“I was totally stunned to receive this award, I didn’t know anything about it” said Martin “So many great players have been recipients in past years, and I feel so honored to join them and be part of this wonderful guitar festival”

Past recipients of the Ards International Guitar Festival Lifetime Achievement Award…

1999 Norman Watson
2000 Davey Graham
2001 Henry McCullough
2002 John Renbourn
2003 Louis Stewart
2004 John Martyn
2005 Arty McGlynn
2006 Martin Simpson
2007 Eric Bell
2008 Gordon Giltrap
2009 Pat McManus
2010 Gerry Donahue
2011 Carlos Bonell

27 Sep By admin

Vote for Martin Taylor in the British Jazz Awards

The nominations have been announced for the 2012 British Jazz Awards, which is always a high point of the British jazz calendar. The 26th edition of the awards will, as always, recognise some of the best talent that the British jazz scene has to offer. Please take two minutes to give Martin your vote for ‘Best Guitarist’ by going to http://www.instant.ly/s/L6czWTvKoAA

Other nominations for the 2012 British Jazz awards are as follows:

Martin-Taylor-Guitarist-1 — Credit: Simon Murphy

Trumpet: Bruce Adams, Enrico Tomasso, Guy Barker, Henry Lowther

Trombone: Dennis Rollins, Ian Bateman, Mark Nightingale, Roy Williams

Clarinet: Alan Barnes, Julian Marc Stringle, Mark Crooks, Tony Coe

Alto Saxophone: Alan Barnes, Derek Nash, Nigel Hitchcock, Peter King

Tenor Saxophone: Bobby Wellins, Karen Sharp, Robert Fowler, Simon Spillett

Piano: Craig Milverton, Dave Newton, Kit Downes, Nikki Iles

Guitar: Dave Cliff, Dominic Ashworth, Jim Mullen, Martin Taylor

Bass: Alec Dankworth, Andy Cleyndert, Dave Green, Len Skeat

Drums: Bobby Worth, Ralph Salmins, Sebastiaan De Krom, Steve Brown

Miscellaneous: Alan Barnes (baritone saxophone), Christian Garrick (violin), Courtney Pine (soprano saxophone), Jim Hart (vibraphone)

Vocals: Claire Martin, Liane Carroll, Liz Fletcher, Val Wiseman

Rising Star: Amy Roberts, James Maddren, Jamie Brownfield, Lewis Wright

Big Band: Back To Basie, Beats and Pieces, NYJO, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

Small Group: Brass Jaw, Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen, The Great Wee Band, Tipitina

New CD: Derek Nash Acoustic Quartet: Joyriding (Jazzizit), The Great Wee Band: Light Blue (Trio), John Surman: Saltash Bells(ECM), Karen Sharp: Spirit (Trio)

Reissue CD: British Traditional Jazz – A Potted History (Lake), Bruce Turner: Accent On Swing (Lake), Stan Tracey: Leader And Sideman (Avid), The Joe Harriott Story (Proper)

5 May By admin

Festival de Guitarra with Martin Taylor

Martin will be playing at the Festival de Guitarra in the beautiful city of Santo Tirso in Portugal on May 26th 2012. Other guitarists performing at the month long guitar festival include

Anna Likhacheva

Dimitris Kotronakis

Pedro Jóia e Ricardo Ribeiro Quinteto

Roberto Aussel

Microtonal Guitar Duo

Wolfgang Lendle – Quarteto Solistas Artave

Full details on the festival including booking information can be found at www.festivaldeguitarra.org

5 May By admin

Martin Taylor at Singapore International Guitar Festival

Martin will be performing at this years Singapore International Guitar Festival on June 20th. The concert is at the RELC International Hotel Auditorium and details can be found by clicking here.

19 Apr By admin

Martin Taylor at the BBC Proms

We’re excited to announce that Martin Taylor will be performing his ‘Spirit of Django Suite’ at the 2012 BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall on August 31st. With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, this summer’s BBC Proms promises to be unlike any other. Over eight weeks the Proms welcomes a truly international line-up of leading orchestras, conductors and soloists from the UK and around the world. Every concert is broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and online, and many of them will be televised on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four. Tickets go on sale from 9.00am on Saturday 12 May via bbc.co.uk/proms, by telephone on 0845 401 5040 or in person at the Royal Albert Hall.The line-up for the special concert will be:

Martin Taylor guitar
Britten Sinfonia
Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra
Martin Taylor’s Spirit of Django (Alan Barnes, James Taylor, Karen Street, Mitch Dalton)
Guy Barker conductor

About ‘The Spirit of Django Suite’

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 Spirit of 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.

About 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.

About Guy Barker

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.