Paul
Taylor took up the saxophone at the age of seven. Though the Denver native has
lived and worked primarily in Las Vegas since graduating as a music performance
major from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the proximity of his adopted
hometown to Los Angeles gave him many opportunities to vibe with R&B and
contemporary jazz producers and artists. In 1994, Jeff Lorber asked Taylor to
play with him at the Catalina Island Jazz Trax Festival.
Another popular
keyboard player, Keiko Matsui, and her producer/husband Kazu liked Taylor's
charismatic performance and offered him an audition with their band. He
recorded and toured with the Matsuis for two years (appearing on
"Sapphire" and "Dream Walk"), and Kazu Matsui eventually
co-produced his debut album "On The Horn" (1995), which spawned the
#1 radio hit "Till We Meet Again." Although Taylor has since been one
of the genre's most popular live attractions as a solo artist, he eagerly
accepted Russ Freeman's invitation to tour with The Rippingtons as a special
guest artist in 2000.
He later toured as a featured performer with the all-star
"Groovin' For Grover" lineup (including Lorber, Richard Elliot and
Gerald Albright). Over the past few years, Taylor has also been part of two of
the genre's biggest summer tours, Gentlemen of the Night (with Marion Meadows
and Warren Hill) and Sax and the City (with Meadows and Vincent Ingala). Long a
mainstay among the most popular and elite artists, Taylor has been on one of
the most exhilarating upswings of his career over the past seven years,
starting with "Ladies' Choice" (2007), which marked his first ever #1
on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz. "Burnin'" the title track from
his 2009 album, "Push To Start" from "Prime Time" (2011)
and "Supernova" from his latest release "Tenacity" (2014)
hit the pole position on the Smooth Jazz Songs chart. The albums itself
respectively reached the Top Ten on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
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