About John Taylor

There are at least three musicians with this name: 1) a Scottish singer/songwriter 2) a British bass guitarist 3) a British jazz pianist 1) Scottish acoustic singer/songwriter John Taylor was born and raised in Glasgow where he played in many bands before going solo as a singer/songwriter. John Released his first album "Bring the stars alive" in 2009, "A place called Paradise" in 2010 and "Sorrow and Sunshine" in 2011 and plans to release his fourth album in 2012. John's song "Pull you through" was placed in Golden Globe and Emmy winning show "Californication" which sent the song into the itunes singer/songwriter charts around the world including number 1 in Sweden, top 5 in Canada, France, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands and the top ten in Germany, Spain and Switzerland and no 12 in the USA. After the show John also received over 100,000 hit's on youtube. John has opened for many artists from all over the world such as Stacey Earl ,Sam Carter, Annie Keating, Madison Violet , Eddie Reader, James Grant, The Magic Numbers and most recently opened for successful American songwriter Kim Richey, on her Scottish tour. 2) John Taylor (born Nigel John Taylor on 20 June 1960) is an English musician who is best known as the bass guitarist and co-founder of Duran Duran. Duran Duran were one of the most popular groups in the world during the 1980s due to their revolutionary music videos that played in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV. Taylor was one of Duran Duran's most popular members. Taylor played with Duran Duran and its changing lineups from its founding in 1978 until 1997, when he left to pursue a solo recording and film career. He made a dozen solo releases (albums, EPs, and video projects) through his company "Trust The Process" in the next four years, had a lead role in the movie Sugar Town, and made appearances in half a dozen other film projects. He rejoined Duran Duran for a full reunion of the original five members of the group in 2001. Taylor also founded two supergroup side projects: The Power Station and Neurotic Outsiders. 3) A British jazz pianist, born in Manchester (25th September 1942) and first came to the attention of the jazz audience in 1969 when he partnered saxophonists Alan Skidmore and John Surman. He was later reunited with Surman in the short-lived group Morning Glory and in the 1980's with Miroslav Vitous's quartet. In the early 1970s he was accompanist to the singer Cleo Laine and started to compose for his own sextet. John also worked with many visiting artists at Ronnie Scott's club and later became a member of Ronnie's quintet. In 1977 John formed the trio Azimuth, with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler. The group was described by Richard Williams as "...one of the most imaginatively conceived and delicately balanced contemporary chamber-jazz groups'. The trio made several recordings for ECM Records and performed in Europe, the USA and Canada. The 1980s saw John working with groups led by Jan Garbarek, Enrico Rava, Gil Evans, Lee Konitz and Charlie Mariano as well as performing in duo contexts with Tony Coe and Steve Arguelles. Composing projects included a commission for the English choir Cantamus with Lee Konitz and Steve Arguelles and pieces for the Hannover Radio Orchestra with Stan Sulzmann. John is currently a member of Kenny Wheeler's quartet and large ensemble and performs in duo and quartet settings with John Surman - their recording of 'Ambleside Days' on ahum won critical acclaim. In 1996 John played organ on John Surman's choral work 'Proverbs and Songs' from Salisbury Cathedral, later released on ECM Records. During the 1990s he made several recordings also for ECM with Peter Erskine's trio with Palle Danielsson on bass. In 2000 John made a new collaboration with Azimuth and the Smith Quartet for the Weimer Festival. Also in that year he recorded 'Verso' with Maria Pia De Vito and Ralph Towner. John celebrated his 60th birthday year in 2002 with a Contemporary Music Network Tour in which he presented his new trio with the drummer Joey Baron and Marc Johnson on bass. The tour also featured the Creative Jazz Orchestra playing John's composition 'The Green Man Suite'. In July 2002 John received the BBC Jazz Award for 'Best New Work' for this suite. His trio recording with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron was released early in 2003 and September 2003 saw the release of his solo CD 'Insight' on Sketch. In 2004 John recorded 'Where do we go from Here?' in duo with Kenny Wheeler and 'Nightfall' with bassist Charlie Haden. They subsequently performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Also that year John formed a new trio with Palle Danielsson and Martin France. They performed at the Vancouver Festival and recorded 'Angel of the Presence' for CAM Jazz. This recording was released in January 2006 to coincide with their UK tour and has received critical acclaim. John has been professor of Jazz Piano at the Cologne College of Music since 1993 and became a Lecturer in jazz at the University of York in 2005.