Jazz Articles

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Martin Taylor: Double Standards

by John Barron
September 30, 2008

In a career spanning more than thirty years, guitarist Martin Taylor has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Stephane Grappelli, Chet Atkins and Jeff Beck, as well as recording extensively under his own name. Double Standards finds the Scottish guitar virtuoso in a duo performance with none other than himself. By recording two separate tracks, Taylor pulls off a set of familiar standards as though he were playing alongside the likes of Joe Pass, Herb Ellis or Barney ...

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Steve Howe/Martin Taylor: Masterpiece Guitars

by Robert R. Calder
April 6, 2005

The so-called Great Guitars was a touring trio of jazz masters: Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, and Barney Kessel. Ellis jokingly called their title “modest," but it was accurate, and it remained so when Martin Taylor, a naturalised Scotsman a generation younger, filled in after Kessel was incapacitated.

Taylor's here, but the title's especially precise because it refers to the instruments that he and Steve Howe play. Howe's background might be partly in rock, but it's wholly in an obsession with ...

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Steve Howe & Martin Taylor: Masterpiece Guitars

by Ken Hohman
January 4, 2005

Truly a guitarist's guitar recording, Masterpiece Guitars is a showcase for the vintage guitar collection of curator and collector Scott Chinery, brought to life by the duo of formidable British acoustic guitarist Martin Taylor and Yes lead guitarist Steve Howe.

While you might be expecting to hear an acoustic version of “Roundabout" or “Starship Trooper" more than any jazz songs, Masterpiece Guitars offers just shades of the former and quite a few of the latter. Throughout an eclectic program, a ...

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Steve Howe/Martin Taylor: Masterpiece Guitars

by John Kelman
October 30, 2004

The story of Masterpiece Guitars is nearly as interesting as the music itself. Scott Chinery is a guitar collector--someone who just loves the look, the feel, the sound, everything about the instrument--in particular the acoustic or, at worst, hollow body electric variety. There's nary a Telecaster or Les Paul to be found in his collection, but you will find an incredible collection of D'Angelicos, Strombergs, Gibsons, Martins and more. Chinery asked Steve Howe, best known as the guitarist for the ...