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Sam Taylor

Patiently and lovingly devotes himself to the song…Nothing but rapt attention to the song, to melody, to the way a great artist can make us feel” – Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives

Hailed by All About Jazz as "wise beyond his years" and "remarkable" by Toronto Music Report, saxophonist Sam Taylor lives and performs in New York City. A Philadelphia native, Taylor is a recording artist on Cellar Live, with an upcoming 2022 release featuring trumpet great, Terell Stafford. In support of his previous recording, Taylor lead his group on a five concert tour of the Pacific Northwest and Canada in January of 2020. Past performance highlights include leading The Sam Taylor Quintet for two nights at The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2018; performing at jazz legend James Moody's 80th Birthday Celebration; touring Europe as a guest soloist with The Noord-Nederlands Conservatorium Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. Taylor is the recipient of New York Foundation for the Arts City Artist Corps Grant 2021, and a recipient of a New Artist grant from The Netherland America Foundation. Additionally, Taylor serves as artistic director for The West Harlem Jazz Festival. Taylor can be found playing throughout the week at steady engagements in Hamilton Heights, Harlem and Midtown Manhattan.


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“Patiently and lovingly devotes himself to the song…Nothing but rapt attention to the song, to melody, to the way a great artist can make us feel” – Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives

Sam Taylor’s true jazz education began during his three years at Philadelphia’s High School for Creative and Performing Arts. Immersed in the deep tradition of Philadelphia’s jazz community, Taylor studied and performed with Chris Farr, Matt Levy, and Len Murphy. Dedication and love for music extended into the summer months, where he participated in distinguished programs: The Tanglewood Institute, Berklee College of Music Summer Jazz Workshop, The School for Improvisational Music, and Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts. After receiving The Dennis Sandole Foundation Jazz Award, publishing in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and performing with exclusive ensembles in all major venues of Philadelphia, Sam left at the age of seventeen for New York City.

In 2001 Sam began his studies at Purchase College State University of New York. The next four years proved crucial to Sam’s development, with classroom and bandstand mentoring from Todd Coolman, Ralph Lalama, Jon Faddis, Javon Jackson, Pete Malinverni and John Riley. Quickly recognized for his talent and dedication, Taylor was given an opportunity to perform in Groningen, Holland as a guest soloist with the The Noord-Nederlands Conservatorium Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. Other performance highlights included an awards ceremony for Dave Brubeck at The National Arts Club, premiering his compositions with Jon Faddis at the Central Presbyterian Church of New York City, and performing in an eightieth birthday celebration for James Moody at The Performing Arts Center. This performance with James Moody was particularly exciting, playing to a packed theatre with saxophone legends Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Joe Lovano, Steve Wilson, Mark Turner and Ralph Lalama.

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7
Album Review

Sam Taylor: Let Go

Read "Let Go" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Presenting his third offering from the Cellar Live record label, Harlem-based and Philadelphia native, saxophonist Sam Taylor unleashes an exciting bop-filled package of contemporary jazz covers, making a superb job of interpreting the music of composers such as Benny Golson, Hank Jones, Jule Styne and Jimmy Van Heusen and laying down sturdy new treatments of oft-recorded and ageless classics. The goal of this project is best described by the saxophonist himself in the liner notes when he states: “Fill the ...

7
Play This!

Sam Taylor: Let Go

Read "Sam Taylor: Let Go" reviewed by Edward Blanco


A very tasteful and swinging version of the Jimmy Van Heusen classic standard “Here's That Rainy Day," from tenor saxophonist Sam Taylor on his third album as leader entitled Let Go featuring trumpeter Terell Stafford and an all-star rhythm section of pianist Jeb Patton, bassist Neal Miner and drummer Willie Jones III. The quintet sets out to send a clear message on the title track and this piece is but a glimpse of how good they sound when they all ...

3
Album Review

Sam Taylor: Let Go

Read "Let Go" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Tenor saxophonist Sam Taylor is a man with a purpose. He is committed to sharing the joy music brings him with like-minded listeners. For this album, he brought together a number of his heroes including trumpeter Terell Stafford, pianist Jeb Patton, bassist Neal Miner and drummer Willie Jones III at one of jazz's most iconic recording studios, the Van Gelder Studios at Englewood Cliffs NJ, on January 31, 2022, under the guidance of engineer Maureen Sickler. ...

7
Album Review

Quinn Sternberg: Cicada Songs

Read "Cicada Songs" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


On Cicada Songs, bassist Quinn Sternberg paints a dreamy portrait of a languid summer evening at home, a visit to a comfortable front porch full of snoozing dogs, meandering cats, and the natural summer serenade of its title track. The first Cicada song is “June," Sternberg and company's collective musing about what Sternberg's beloved dog named June might dream about. “June" opens with a shimmer of cymbals, like you're passing through the gossamer curtain of sleep and are ...

6
Album Review

Sam Taylor: Along The Way

Read "Along The Way" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On almost half of the nine tracks on Along the Way, tenor saxophonist Sam Taylor's close-knit quartet is actually a quintet thanks to the emphatic presence of the renowned Philadelphia-based tenor, Larry McKenna. Taylor's impressive visitor, two months shy of his eightieth birthday when the album was recorded in May 2017, keeps on playing with the sort of enthusiasm and awareness usually ascribed to musicians many years his junior--as, for example, Taylor, for whom McKenna has been an exemplar and ...

11
Album Review

Sam Taylor: My Future Just Passed

Read "My Future Just Passed" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


In jazz, whether right or wrong, instrumentation carries associations. If you put saxophone, trumpet, bass, and drums together, a portion of jazz fans will automatically think of Ornette Coleman before they hear a note; if you bring together clarinet, vibraphone, piano, and drums, many listeners will immediately move toward Benny Goodman; and if you build a brass ensemble bolstered by drums, you're bound to get thoughts of Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy. Those artists who got there first, did it best, ...

4
Album Review

Sam Taylor: My Future Just Passed

Read "My Future Just Passed" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


One spin of saxophonist Sam Taylor's debut CD, My Future Just Passed, and it's not hard to tell where he's coming from, influence-wise. He's a traditionalist with a muscular sound, and you hear Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and bringing things forward in time, perhaps Dexter Gordon, and on this particular trio affair at hand, Sonny Rollins certainly comes to mind in terms of concept. Hawkins and Webster for their rich, robust tones; Gordon for his blowing power, and Sonny Rollins ...

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"An old soul...a mature musician who's wise beyond his years. Taylor just dishes it out straight and honest." ​- Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz "Patiently and lovingly devotes himself to the song...nothing but rapt attention to the song, to melody, to the way a great artist can make us feel." -Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives "Taylor is wonderfully elegant, poised and witty...His playing is always magnificent and he gives real character to the melodies he brings to the table imbuing each with a wonderful elegiac quality....a remarkable release." ​- Raul da Gamma, Toronto Music Report "A traditionalist with a muscular sound...you hear Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster..." ​- Dan McClenaghan, ​All About Jazz

SoSaLa
saxophone, tenor

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Cicada Songs

Mind Beach Records
2022

buy

Let Go

Cellar Music Group
2022

buy

Along The Way

Cellar Live
2017

buy

Love Me or Leave Me

From: My Future Just Passed
By Sam Taylor

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