Mike Taylor (musician)

Taylor's gravestone, inscribed "I dive from a springboard into cool clear water and yet I furnish my springboard with my experience so that my life is more than my action".

Ronald Michael 'Mike' Taylor (1 June 1938 - 19 January 1969) was a British jazz composer, pianist and co-songwriter for the band Cream.

Born in Ealing, West London, Taylor was brought up by his grandparents in London and Kent, and joined the RAF for his national service. Having rehearsed and written extensively throughout the early 1960s, he recorded two albums for the Lansdowne series produced by Denis Preston: Pendulum (1966) with drummer Jon Hiseman, bassist Tony Reeves and saxophonist Dave Tomlin) and Trio (1967) with Hiseman and bassists Jack Bruce and Ron Rubin. They were issued on UK Columbia and are among the most challenging and powerful jazz recordings of their time. Original pressings are now extremely rare and expensive.

Despite his brief recording career, Taylor was a prolific and much-respected composer, several of whose pieces were played and recorded by his contemporaries. Three Taylor compositions were recorded by Cream, with lyrics by drummer Ginger Baker "Passing the Time", "Pressed Rat and Warthog" and "Those Were the Days", all of which appeared on the band's August 1968 album Wheels of Fire. He was also much admired by the members of Neil Ardley's New Jazz Orchestra, whose September 1968 recording Le Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe features one original Taylor composition "Ballad" and an arrangement by him of a Segovia piece "Study".

Mike Taylor drowned in the River Thames near Leigh-on-Sea, Essex in January 1969, following years of heavy drug use (principally hashish and LSD). He had been homeless for three years, and his passing went almost entirely unremarked. Taylor is buried in Sutton Road Cemetery, Southend on Sea, grave 23588.

In summer 2007, independent record label Dusk Fire Records released for the first time Mike Taylor Remembered, a 1973 tribute to the musician recorded by Neil Ardley, Hiseman, Ian Carr, Barbara Thompson amongst other major modern British jazz names.

See also

• Graham Bond
• Pete Brown
• Janet Godfrey

External links

• Mike Taylor's page at All About Music
• Review of the Trio album by John Fordham in The Guardian 9 July 2004.

Persondata
Name	Taylor, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1938
Place of birth
Date of death	1969
Place of death

This article on a songwriter is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: 1938 births 1969 deaths British songwriters Cream (band) Deaths by drowning Songwriter stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат Popular education Rescue Dawn Look at other dictionaries: Mike Taylor — may refer to: Mike Taylor (basketball) (born 1986), basketball guard Mike Taylor (cricketer, born 1942), English cricketer Mike Taylor (cricketer, born 1944), English cricketer Mike Taylor (musician) (1938–1969), British jazz pianist and… …   Wikipedia Mike Taylor (musicien) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Mike Taylor.  Ne doit pas être confondu avec Mick Taylor. Ronald Michael « Mike » Taylor (né en 1938 à Ealing, West London mort fin janvier 1969) était un compositeur et pianiste de jazz, co auteur …   Wikipédia en Français Mike Compton (musician) — Mike Compton (born February 29, 1956 in Meridian, Mississippi) is an American bluegrass mandolin player and former protege of the Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe. He is considered a modern master of bluegrass mandolin.[1] Contents 1 Biography 2… …   Wikipedia Mike Campbell (musician) — For other people named Mike Campbell (including another musician), see Michael Campbell (disambiguation). Mike Campbell Background information Born February 1, 1950 ( …   Wikipedia Dennis Taylor (musician) — Dennis Taylor (November 13, 1953 – October 17, 2010) was a Nashville based musician, arranger and author. Taylor had recording credits on saxophone (alto, tenor and baritone) as well as clarinet, and as an arranger. Contents 1 Career 2 Critical… …   Wikipedia Dean Taylor (musician) — This article is about the rock guitarist. For other people with the same name, see Dean Taylor (disambiguation). Dean Taylor is an American indie rock guitarist. Contents 1 The Brian Jonestown Massacre 2 The Mandarins/Tokyo Raid 3 …   Wikipedia Mike Bryan — For the jazz guitarist, see Mike Bryan (musician). See also: Bob and Mike Bryan Mike Bryan Country …   Wikipedia Mike McGear — Birth name Peter Michael McCartney Born 7 January 1944 (1944 01 07) (age 67) Liverpool, England Genres Rock Pop rock …   Wikipedia Mike Dirnt — Background information Birth name Michael Ryan Pritchard Also known as Mike Dirnt …   Wikipedia Mike Varney — Genres Instrumental rock, hard rock, progressive metal, shred guitar, speed metal, blues rock, blues, jazz, jazz fusion Occupations Musician, producer In …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2025 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”