Garden Kuti Blessing

On 20th October (my 53rd birthday) my Garden Meditation Kuti was blessed by Venerable Sri K. Rewatha - Sangha Nayaka of Great Britain.

"Bhante" presented me with a traditional Sri Lankan Buddha statue as a birthday present which is now the centre piece of the kuti.

Liz, James, Alison and I spent a wonderful two days with Bhante and were able to show him some of the spectacular Highland scenery near our house.

Royal Albert Hall, London

I played the opening set of the PRS Charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall with my band "Spirit of Django" last Sunday.

We played the title track from our new CD "Last Train to Hauteville" and then launched into "La Mer" with Alison Burns on vocals.

Robin Nolan joined me on stage after that, and we played a tune for his new son who was born just minutes before we went on stage!

I was invited to play the show by my old friend Bill Wyman. Bill was there with his band The Rhythm Kings and other artists on the show were Ronnie Wood, Mick Hucknell, Melanie C, Kiki Dee, Rick Wakeman, Georgie Fame....

A FREE download of "Last Train to Hauteville" is now available from my website www.martintaylor.com

This photo was taken backstage after the show with Bill Wyman, and the rhythm guitarist from "Spirit of Django", John Goldie.

Home

Enjoying some time off at home........

TV Documentary

I'm back in the studio today doing a short piece for a TV documentary.

Spirit of Django

The new Spirit of Django CD has now been mixed and mastered.
On October 25th we play on a big chartity concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London which will be a sneak preview of the new recording.

The CD will be released in April 2010 and will be followed by the band playing concerts and festivals throughout the year.

This is the best Spirit of Django recording yet. I'm very proud of it and look forward to touring with the band again next year.

The band lineup is: Martin Taylor (gtr), Jack Emblow (acc), Alison Burns (voc), Alan Barnes (clarinet & sop sax), James Taylor (perc), John Goldie (rythm gtr), Terry Gregory (acc bs gtr)

By the way...the photo at the top of this blog isn't the album cover! It was in my dressing room at one of my recent concerts in Germany and I just liked it.

Gypsy Festivals in Germany

I've spent the last 3 weeks chilling out at my house in France.
During that time I also went to Germany to play 3 shows with my old friend the Gypsy pianist Jermaine Landsberger.
The first show was in Landau, then we played at the Birdland Jazz Club in Neuberg.
The last show was in Mannheim at the "Romano Keir", a cultural centre for Sinti and Roma Gypsies.
They also asked me to give a talk about Django Reinhardt, my years working with Stephane Grappelli, and my own British Gypsy family heritage.
Jermaine and I were joined by Davide Pettrocca on bass, and Sebastian de Krom on drums.

New Spirit of Django Recording

I've been working on my new Spirit of Django CD for the past month and haven't ventured much outside the studio during that time except to play a few concerts in Norway and Scotland.
The record is now mixed, and will be mastered next month.
The release date is around April/May 2010, but the exact date hasn't been decided yet.
I wrote 8 of the 12 tracks, which meant quite alot more work for me, so I'm relieved it's all finished now and I don't have anymore sleepless nights worrying about things like ideas for resolving middle 8 sections and codas!
I'm delighted with the results and look forward to the album launch and touring with the band again in 2010.