I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)Mark Taylor is one of a handful of talented performers carrying on the improvisational tradition pioneered by the great (french) hornist, Julius Watkins. Taylor's sound has been described as "rapturous" and "golden" (Coda Magazine); "as fluid and limpid as (the) flute, and as gnarly as (the) alto." (JazzTimes). His innovative style has won him recognition by such legendary artists as Max Roach, who said, "Mark Taylor is a virtuoso instrumentalist...there is no one dealing with the french horn or the music the way he is."
A native of Chattanooga, TN, Mark's broad musical background includes composing and arranging, performance and, most recently, sound design. Mark has performed and recorded with an array of modern giants including: Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, Abdullah Ibrahim, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, and Basie bandleader Grover Mitchell.
As a featured soloist with Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus he toured throughout the United States, Europe and in Asia. As a member of George Schuller's post-modern big band, Orange Then Blue, Mark participated in a State Department tour of Turkey, Cyprus and Syria.
As leader of his own groups he has performed at the Tampere Jazz Happening in Tampere, Finland and at a number of clubs in New York City, including Birdland, the Zinc Bar and the Knitting Factory.
As a composer, he has written for Max Roach, the Ebony Brass Quintet pianist Larry Willis and was a member of Max Roach’s So What Brass Quintet.
Mark has also been commissioned to compose for theatre, dance, CD-ROM, placed two songs in the Dollface Productions independent feature film "The Girl" and completed the score for Camille Billops' documentary, "A String of Pearls". Mark’s most recent film projects have been “9/11 Fear In Silence†for JadeFilms and he recently completed music, sound design and audio post on “Zero Down O.A.C.†for Canadian filmmaker Aaron Moseson.
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