| The first time I hear Martin Taylor play is at the event organised by the British Council in Sri Lanka as a part of their 60th anniversary celebrations last month. His skill dazzles as he accompanies his daughter-in-law- the beautiful singer Alison Burns on his guitar, but it is when he plays solo, that he astounds. One can barely restrain the urge to stand up and check for the three other guitarists he seems to be hiding behind him. Playing the bass, chords and melody simultaneously, he fills in for the entire rhythm section effortlessly. When he plays “Down At Cocomo’s” he brings the golden sunshine of the Caribbean straight into the room, and when he and Alison perform a classic jazz song, you know it’s even more special because he has shared a stage with the original artist – Peggy Lee – herself.
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Though listed among the world’s most accomplished jazz guitarists, Martin began playing not on a guitar but on its diminutive cousin-the ukulele. The instrument’s size was a match for his own – Martin was only four – and he remembers the moment clearly. The red ukulele with the black coconut tree painted on it was a gift from his father Buck and it would kick-start an extraordinary career.
In the decades that followed Martin would see his many albums top the charts, collaborate with the likes of George Harrison, Stéphane Grappelli and Chet Atkins, and be honoured with an M.B.E from Queen Elizabeth II herself for services to jazz music – the first jazz guitarist to ever be recognized in such a fashion.
Jazz wasn’t really intended to be played by a solo guitarist, but Martin’s now iconic finger picking style gives the music a startling clarity and warmth. He never received any formal training, but because he started so young, he says that “the guitar has just become this extra limb” that he can instinctively bend to his will – something he’s been doing since 1964. Having mastered the basics with his father, a jazz bassist, Martin says that his first public performance came in the early 70s when at the tender age of 8 he was hired by music store owner Alan Summers. “I used to go there on a Saturday, and he would put me in the window, plug my guitar into this amplifier that he would then put out on the street.” Playing popular hits, like those of the South American band Los Paraguayos, a young Martin earned his credentials as an entertainer luring in unsuspecting shoppers.
By the time he was 11 he was playing with his father in a band; by 14 he was playing in jazz clubs with a band of his own; and by 17 he had opted out of school and decided to become a professional musician. “I knew my education was outside of school and that’s where I needed to be,” he says. It was at this point, that his group was hired to play on the cruise ship the QE2, sailing to America and the West Indies. “I was the youngest player ever to play on that ship,” says Martin, “and my band leader had to be my guardian because I was under 18.” But it was when he was 23 that Martin got his big break. Invited to join the band of the famous French violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Martin would forge a relationship that would span nearly 20 albums and 11 years and it was only when Grappelli became ill that Martin would be forced to take a long hard look at his own career...and to start selling his precious guitars simply to get by.
“Music is a funny thing, it’s not like most other professions...in music you just have to find your own way in the business, hopefully somewhere there’s a place for you. There’s a place you’ll fit in. At that time I couldn’t see anyplace I’d fit in. It was hard, it was very demoralising.” On his way to selling his last and favourite guitar, a 21st birthday gift from his mentor Ike Isaacs, Martin pulled over by the side of the road on impulse to just play a little...and rediscovered his desire to be a musician. “I decided then that I had to do something; that I had to pull myself together.” He chose to specialise, to perfect a sound that was “uniquely” his own.
“At first it wasn’t that easy, it never is,” he says, but after the release of his first album Artistry, Martin found that not only had his audience inside the jazz world grown, but added to their number were people firmly outside it. “It sort of transcended any particular music, and anyone that liked guitar music would get into what I was doing.” He was even more pleased when musicians that he had long admired, astonished him by returning the compliment. “I remember first meeting Ronnie Woods from the Rolling Stones. Ronnie came back stage and said ‘I’ve wanted to meet you for ages’.” The rock icon then described turning on the. T.V in a hotel suite, discovering Martin was playing, and then calling fellow band mates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards into the room. “And I had this vision of the Rolling Stones, all sitting at the end of the bed, watching me play the guitar on T.V,” says Martin. He pauses before adding, “It was simply surreal.”
Today Martin is the ultimate travelling musician. His packed schedule has taken him all over the world, and brought him to Sri Lanka no less than three times. All proceeds from his February concert are being channelled by the British Council into the Sunera Foundation, which supports people with disabilities.
As for Martin, he says that when he returns to his house in Scotland, he will continue to work with long standing collaborators, the band Spirit of Django. He also has big, but mysterious plans, for his Guitar for Schools programme, a charity which provides instruments and tuition for local schools.
He’s philosophical about his success, and believes that every musician inevitably has to ride out many peaks and troughs over the course of his career. Having been in the business for nearly five decades now, Martin himself is intimately acquainted with both; trusting in the end to his passionate absorption with his art to see him through.
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