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The minute we radio folks heard Paul Taylors debut single “Til We Meet Again” back in 1995 we knew this was an artist who was going to be a star. The longevitiy of his career has proven that he has staying power as well as star power. Over 25 years and 12 albums later he’s one of the most entertaining, innovative, and on-demand musicians in the CJazz/Smooth Jazz genre.
Taylor grew up in Denver and started playing sax when he was 7 years old. He played in school bands as well as pop rock bands when he was in high school and beyond. His first “break” came when Keiko Matsui and her then husband Kazum Matsui saw him at Catalina and hired him. He spent two years with her and was also featured on her hit “Safari.” What followed is a series of chart topping singles and albums, a guest artist stint with the Rippingtons during their heyday, and lots of touring and festival gigs both as a solo artist and in package tours like Gentlemen of the Night, Sax in the City (love that name), and recent gigs as Sax to the Max with Michael Lington and Vincent Ingala.
A true survivor in the constantly shifting currents of the 21st century music business he has recorded for multiple labels and even used the word “Tenacity” as the title of the album he released in 2014. His music is characterized by his multi genre influences and ability to push the smooth jazz boundaries by bringing in ultra contemporary, experimental high tech influences from EDM, pop dance music, rock, and R’n’B while delivering fun, catchy songs in the process. His latest release, And Now This, is a collaboration with long time friend and DJ/artist/producer Dino Esposito who you may remember for his streak of dance pop hits in the late 80s and early 90s. It continues his evolution as an artist always seeing fresh new ways to create music and connect with his always growing fan base.
His website is paultaylorsax.com
heres a spotify playlist with some of his hits and some you might have missed.
Keiko Matsui’s music will transport you. It may even transform you. Her albums are more than collections of songs. They are experiences, journeys, time captures of who sie is and what she is feeling musically and spiritually at that point in time. Euphoria, her 30th album, was released last March. Like her previous releases it is accessible, adventurous and original. “This album is about the hope that we all carry inside of us,” She says in her bio press release“I have this dream where we can each cherish our own happiness and learn to accept and care for one another. At the core of this album is beauty, strength, energy, love, and hope. These are all the things in life that we need to move forward on a new path. This music is dedicated to a new era.”
Matsui grew up in Tokyo and started piano lessons when she was five. Japanese tradition holds that a child who is introduced to lessons at this time will continue in those studies for a long time. The tradition held true for Matsui, who was classically trained in the beginning but began add jazz and pop artists like Stevie Wonder and Chick Corea to her classical influences as she began composing while in her early teens. She says she would create little motifs inspired by day-to-day experiences kind of like a diary but in music. She attended Japan Women’s University surprisingly not as a music major. She says that at the time she didn’t even think of becoming a professional musician. After gradution she moved the the prestigious Yamaha Music Foundation in Tokoyo. It was there that she formed a “new age” group called Cosmos that recorded four albums. Her first solo album, A Drop of Water, featuring a number of future CJazz stars was released in 1987. She was signed to MCA records and released two albums – Under Northern Lights and No Borders. This was the beginning of a career that has spanned over three decades and delivered multiple chart topping singles and albums. Her body of work covers a plethora of influences, from classical influences to jazz, orchestral, meditative, electronic, and everything in between. She is currently wrapping up her U.S. tour in support of the new album and has already posted some 2024 dates on her website.
Visit Keiko’s website www.keikomatsui.com
Here’s an excellent interview from Jazziz.com podcast
Listen while you read – here’s a playlist. She has such an extensive body of work that it is difficult to represent everything she has done. Also several of her early 90s albums are not available but this is over an hour of exciting emotional music. Enjoy.
London based guitarist Roberto Restuccia is making a name for himself in the smooth jazz world and bringing an eclectic collection of influences in the process. He started out in what he calls the “University of Slash,” learning to play with videos from rockers like Guns’N’Roses and Pearl Jam. Then he started gaining recognition through a series of YouTube videos that were mostly solos for rock and blues guitar competitions. This is the sound that shines through even on the more traditionally smooth side of his work. You can hear references to two generations of Jeffs – Jeff Golub and Jeff Beck as well as CJazz players like George Benson, Ronny Jordan, and Chuck Loeb. In his bio he also mentions Robben Ford – an original member of the Yellowjackets and Tom Scott and the LA express who is equally influential in jazz, rock and blues.
The fascinating thing is that he is largely a self taught guitarist. While he was playing along with videos and listening to a lot of music he was also a gifted painter and intended to go into a university arts program. When that fell through he went for the music and enrolled in the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford (England) where his teachers included Guthrie Govan (a shredder who toured with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai) and Pete Callard, whose touring credits include Lionel Richie.
So we see more diverse influences. He spent a year there then left and began teaching. Some life events led him to pull back on his then overwhelming teaching schedule and get serious about getting his work out there. He created more popular videos and released two albums independently.
The indie albums sound solid but he felt they were not quite where he wanted to be, but as they often do
when you put in the work serendipity intervened. He met keyboardist Oli Silk at a live gig, gave him one of the albums and told him he was working on some new material. They hit it off. Restuccia started sending tracks to the keyboardist and their creative relationships blossomed from there as the tracks that evolved into With Every Turn came together. The two live about an hour’s drive from each other on the outskirts of London.
Silk introduced him to Trippin’ N Rhythm records. He was signed and began work on his label debut With Every Turn. That album came out in 2021 and delivered several chart climbing singles including “Love Crazy” which has over 1 million spins on Spotify so far. His new one, Lounge Katz was released in April with two singles so far – the funk/blues/cjazz jazz “Stand Up” and “1979” – a collaboration with super-producer and keyboardist Michael Broening that mixes the smooth jazz vibe with rockin’ electric guitar work. It’s definitely one of the most exciting tracks in the genre so far this year.
Visit his website here
Listen to the interview he did for the Jazziz Podcast here