Martin Taylor‘He out-shred’s all of us put together….I’ve never seen anything like it’ – Jeff Beck

Martin Taylor is a multi-award winning guitarist, composer, educator and innovator whom Acoustic Guitar magazine calls ‘THE Acoustic Guitarist of his Generation’. 

Reading his biography is like a musical who’s who. He returns to Australia for his first solo tour of the country in five years, where he will perform works from The Great American songbook as well as tunes from his latest album with Tommy Emmanuel.   Taylor is a master concert performer and dazzles audiences with a signature style that artfully combines his virtuosity, emotion and humour with a strong, engaging stage presence. 

He is renowned internationally for his masterful arrangements for solo jazz guitar, concerts, recordings, and collaborations with musicians from many different musical genres.

JK: What can Australian audiences look forward to in this visit?

MT: My solo shows are a mixture of my original compositions, interpretations of some of the familiar and not so familiar jazz standards, and also reworkings of some well known contemporary songs. I consider playing music as a form of storytelling so I try to communicate and entertain through the music. I've been playing the guitar since 1959 and have been a professional musician for 42 years, so I have lots of anecdotes of my life in music that I like to intertwine between songs.

JK: What do you like about playing as a soloist?

MT: There's a lot of improvisation in what I do, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants a lot of the time. When I first started to play solo I missed the interplay and interaction that happens in a group setting. The way I overcame that was to only have the bare bones of an arrangement for everything I play, then force myself into musical corners and see where it would take me. It definitely fires up the creative juicing doing that, and keeps things really interesting for me and the audience.

JK: What artists are you listening to at the moment?

MT: I don't listen to guitarists very much. I've always been more influenced by pianists. The way I play the guitar is more akin to the piano playing approach. I'm a big fan of the jazz pianist Brad Meldau and have been listening to him a lot lately. I'm trying to incorporate some of the phrase shifting that he does with the right hand phrasing behind the beat while the left hand plays in solid time. It's incredibly difficult to do on the guitar, but I'm having fun with it.

I'm really looking forward to playing in Australia again.

THE AUSTRALIAN JAZZ AND FINGERSTYLE GUITAR SPECTACULAR

MAY 17th to  MAY 30th  2014 – details below

World’s foremost exponent of Solo Jazz and fingerstyle Guitar Playing Dr MARTIN TAYLOR MBE  (UK)

with Guest Associate Artist,  Matthew Fagan (AUS).

Martin Taylor is one of the most awesome solo guitar players in the history of the instrument. He’s unbelievable – Pat Metheny

On his 2014 National Tour, Martin will be offering Performances in Sydney, Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Masterclasses at The University of Sydney, UTAS Conservatorium of Music, Hobart, The Street in Canberra and in Melbourne.

TOUR DATES

MAY 17 & 18.THE BASEMENT SYDNEY, NSW ALSO with GUEST GUITARIST STEVE FLACK 1300 438 849 www.thebasement.com.au

MAY 20………..NORTHERN RIVER ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Wangarratta (03) 5722 4899(03) 5722 4899  info@nram.org.au  

MAY 22………..DOWN SOUTH JAZZ CLUB , CLUB SAPPHIRE, Merimbula (02) 6495 9853(02) 6495 9853              

MAY 23………..WODONGA JAZZ, JAZZ BASEMENT, WODONGA, VIC 0438 623 4620438 623 462 jaztek@bigpond.com

MAY 24………..CANBERRA THEATRE, CANBERRA, ACT  (02)6247 1223(02)6247 1223 www.thestreet.org.au

MAY 25………..THE GOVERNOR HINDMARSH HOTEL HINDMARSH, SA (08) 8340 0744(08) 8340 0744 www.thegov.com.au

MAY 27………..UTAS CONSERVATORIUM OF MUSIC, HOBART, TAS ..Performance Booking (03) 6234 5998(03) 6234 5998

MAY 28………..MILANOS TAVERN, BRIGHTON, VIC (03) 9593 3900 www.ronleighsmusicfactory.com.au

MAY 29………..BENNETTSLANE, MELBOURNE, VIC .(03) 9663 2856(03) 9663 2856 www.bennetslane.com

MAY 30………..MEENIYAN MECHANICS INSTITUTE, MEENIYAN, VIC   Also with Guests John Rees (Men at Work) & John Northmore

1300 762 5451300 762 545 www.oztix.com.au

 SOCIAL MEDIA

MARTIN TAYLOR

 

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