Mike Taylor - Mike Taylor Remembered

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4...according to our Mingus on Fri 21 Sep, 2007.

Mike Taylor: 'Remembered' (Trunk) Another never released before British jazz LP for fans of the curious history of this island's form. You'd have to read the very extensive sleeve notes by Dave Gelly to fathom the whole context to this collection. From what I can gather Mr Taylor was something of a maverick and throughout his piano leads most of these compositions for voice and a huge collective line up that nods towards a kind of big band post-bop style. It's funny how I always get the job of writing the jazz reviews, not because of my vast knowledge (it is in fact very limited, as you may well have gathered), but because I maybe the only one to appreciate it's finer points up here at the towers.

Originally recorded in 1972 as part of the long standing Landsdowne jazz series, this remarkable session was shelved and NEVER ever issued. Now available thanks to Jonny trunk for the first time ever on vinyl, 1000 copies only for the world.
Recorded over two days in those famous studios, with a sublime line up of the top musicians of the day, this
represents a stunning but forgotten tribute to one of the UK’s great lost artists - Mike Taylor.
Little is really known about Mike Taylor, an inspiring, unpredictable piano player he recorded two super-rare albums for EMI Columbia, and later three of his compositions were recorded by Cream on their Wheels of Fire album.
Taylor’s music is like no one else’s. It has a strange mystery, a strong and prescient feel, it’s full of darkness, light and poetic jazz phrasing.
Mike Taylor’s 1965 trio would find themselves regularly banned from London jazz venues. Their live shows were extraordinary LSD fuelled affairs, unlike anything else on the scene at the time. Taylor enjoyed and experimented heavily with drugs, and succumbed to mental illness in the latter half of the 1960s. Homeless and broke he
deteriorated quickly, his body eventually washed ashore in the Thames Estuary in late January, 1969.
He left behind a number of musical manuscripts he’d thrown away, they’d been rescued by a good friend from the bin. It’s these compositions that form the basis of this album. There really is nothing quite as extraordinary or cohesive in the entire British jazz canon.
PACKAGING INFO: This LP release looks beautiful, using an authentic and rare photo of Mike Taylor in rehearsals at Ronnie Scotts, in the late 1960s. Comprehensive notes by heavyweight jazz critic and historian Dave Gelly.
ARTIST INFO: We’ve already learnt about Mike Taylor - but the artists on this tribute represent the cream of progressive British jazz artists of the late 1960s, early 1970s period: Neil Ardley, Norma Winstone, Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, Alan Branscombe, Bunny Gould, Barbara Thompson and more.
TRACKLISTING: SIDE ONE Half Blue / Pendulum I See You Son Of Red Blues / Brown Thursday Song Of Love Folk Dance No 2 SIDE TWO Summer Sounds, Summer Sights The Land Of Rhyme In Time Timewind Jumping Off The Sun Black And
White Raga

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