Albert Lee

I've met up a couple of times lately with my Gypsy cousin Albert Lee. Albert's on tour with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings at the moment.

We both played together in the Rhythm Kings when Bill first formed the band.

It was good to trade a few licks with Albert at the Royal Albert Hall in London then later at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.

Albert is one of the all time great guitarists. He's the Charlie Parker of country guitar playing!

Friends

I just wanted to share this photo with you that my friend Marcus Ford sent me.

It was taken in the dining room at my old house in Ayrshire around 10 years ago.

From left to right is Tom Torrance, me, guitar legend Ron Moore, Marcus, and my oldest pal Danny Godfrey.

The guitars and mandolins are an assortment of Gibsons, Epiphones, Martin's and Vandens. We had some great dinner parties in that room.

My Wish - Sri Lankan Charity

I'm patron of "My Wish" a charity that gives help and support to terminally ill children and their families in Sri Lanka.

We recently had our first charity fundraising event at the Killermont Polo Club in Glasgow.

The Killermont Polo Club is an Indian restaurant just around the corner from Scotland's Buddhist Vihara which is a central meeting place for Glasgow's Sri Lankan community.

The evening was opened by Venerable Rewarta leading a traditional lamp lighting ceremony, then after opening speeches from the charity founder Nelum Jayakody and vihara trustee Ian Paton, there was a short video presentation.

I played a set with guitarist Marcus Ford and Alison Burns. The music was followed by an auction which raised around £2,000.

It was our first fundraiser and we are planning more for the future.

Photo: Martin, Nelum and Marcus

Guitar Label Showcase

I played at The Guitar Label Showcase at the RSAMD in Glasgow last Sunday with Mili, Marcus Bonfanti and Clive Carroll.
It was really good to play a concert with all the guitarists from The Guitar Label.
www.p3music.com

Dundee Jazz Festival

I'm in Scotland for a couple of shows. Alison Burns and I have just played at the Dundee Jazz Festival and I'm playing at The Big Guitar Weekend in Glasgow tonight at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama.

"My Life in Five Songs" - BBC Scotland

I was at the BBC studios in Edinburgh recently recording a radio show with Phil Cunningham called "My Life in Five Songs" for BBC Radio Scotland.

The show is presented by Phil, and each week he invites a musician into the studio to talk about five songs that have been important in their lives.

The show will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland at 11.30am Tuesday 17th November, and repeated at 06.05 on Saturday 21st November. It will also be available online as a PodCast on BBCiPlayer for one week after broadcast.

It was good to be Phil's guest and talk about various times in my life and the effect music has had in my life.

Mentoring Sessions

I have a small group of guitar students that visit me once in a while for mentoring, advise, and help with various aspects of guitar playing and musical development.

They're all really excellent players, some of them have been playing guitar for a long time, and nearly all are already professional guitarists.

Most of the time I get them to look at music from a slightly different angle and free them up from any musical or technical difficulties that they are having.

I do this by freeing their minds from all the "stuff" that guitarists have to learn in order to play the instrument at a very high level and put it to one side.

I get them to play the guitar, rather than have the guitar play them, and develop a natural musical flow and close relationship with the instrument.

In a very short time I can get them to play all the ideas that come into their heads without that terrible block that comes halfway between the brain and the guitar.

I'm a kind of guitar analyst or "shrink" as most of the work we do together is to do with adjusting the mindset.

I always tell my students that "I make guitarists into musicians"

I have several really good young students. This photo is of Gary Mullins who braved the freezing cold November weather to fly up to Scotland from Aylesbury for a mentoring session at the studio. Gary has already embarked on a musical career and I'm sure his talent and dedication will lead him on to a very successful career in music.

www.martintaylor.com/mentoring

Remembrance Sunday

Please don't forget to pay your respects on Remembrance Sunday

"Sabbe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitatta"

London

I had a great time in London last saturday. I played a concert with Martin Simpson and Clive Carroll at King's Place which is a wonderful new 400+ seat concert venue near King's Cross. It's a great venue.

After the show I dashed across town to the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane where my good friend Pat Tarley was celebrating her 80th birthday with family and friends.

Pat and I used to work together in various West End venues in the 1970's. She's a wonderful singer and beautiful person.

Her son Russell was there with his band, so we managed a jam session at the end of the evening. Alison also joined us for a song. A really magic evening with old friends.

FREE Spirit of Django Download

Hi everyone...

Just to let you know you can now download the title track from the new Martin Taylor's Spirit of Django album "Last Train to Hauteville" for FREE exclusively from this link http://bit.ly/3Wblef

The album won't be released until next April, so this is just a little taste of what is definately the best Spirit of Django album ever.

If you like Spirit of Django, then you'll LOVE this!

Enjoy it...it's FREE!!!

Best Wishes
Martin