Martin Taylor and Guy Barker
Spirit of Django
London Premiere at the BBC Proms
Friday 31st August 2012
“Guy Barker, one of the UK’s best jazz trumpeters”
The Guardian
“Apart from being a phenomenally good guitarist, Taylor writes the catchiest tunes imaginable”
The Observer
Martin Taylor and Guy Barker Celebrate 40 Years Of Playing Together With Specially Commissioned Performance At BBC Proms
It’s been quite a journey for both Martin Taylor and Guy Barker. Friends since their schooldays, they are now two of the most respected musicians working today; Guy is a globally revered composer and arranger and also one of the leading trumpeters in jazz who, alongside his solo projects the Guy Barker Quintet and Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra, has played with an incredible range of musicians including Ornette Coleman, Frank Sinatra, Wham!, The Moody Blues, Sting and Mike Oldfield; Martin is recognized as the world’s foremost exponent of solo jazz guitar who has also collaborated with a varied selection of musicians including Stephane Grappelli, Jeff Beck, Chet Atkins, George Harrison and Jamie Cullum. Guy and Martin first met in 1972, when they both played in the Harrow Youth Jazz Orchestra, and this year, the 40th anniversary of their first performance together, sees the London premiere of their first collaboration The Spirit of Django.
Originally commissioned for the 2010 International Guitar Festival, The Spirit of Django is an orchestral suite composed by Guy Barker, based on themes by Martin Taylor, that combines, as Guy puts it, “elements of Django Reinhardt, Claude Debussy (who Django greatly admired), soundtracks of summers on the French Riviera, and the comedic touch of the films of the great French comic and director Jacques Tati.” The long creative process of turning Taylor’s themes into an orchestral piece which would feature his group Spirit of Django, the Guy Barker Big Band, and a full orchestra, took place during the summer of 2010. At a studio session in Martin’s home in Scotland, Martin handed Guy a hand-written manuscript of six themes he’d created, along with a biography of Django Reinhardt. Over the next three months, Guy used these themes as a foundation to compose the piece, constantly meeting up with Martin to show him how it was progressing. Guy would bring sample recordings with him on his laptop so that Martin could play along and introduce new ideas, occasionally breaking to listen to Django Reinhardt records and watch Jacques Tati films. Guy has since said that “writing this piece was one of the happiest summers I have ever had.”
A collaboration 40 years in the making, the piece is a fitting tribute to the music of Django Reinhardt and to the friendship and mutual appreciation that two of the UK’s finest musicians have for each other. For Martin Taylor The Spirit of Django is “undoubtedly the most important project of my musical life and I’m sure it will continue to be performed not only by Guy and myself, but by future generations of musicians for many years to come.”
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