Mark Taylor is one of only a handful of performers to successfully integrate the notoriously difficult French Horn in jazz and improvised music, and is currently the only artist on the international jazz scene bringing new life to the long forgotten mellophone as a solo jazz instrument.
Taylor's sound has been described as "rapturous" and "golden" (Coda Magazine); "as fluid and limpid as (the) flute, and as gnarly as (the) alto." (JazzTimes). His innovative style has won him recognition by such legendary artists as Max Roach, who said, "Mark Taylor is a virtuoso instrumentalist...there is no one dealing with the french horn or the music the way he is."
A native of Chattanooga, TN, Mark has performed and recorded with an array of modern giants including: Max Roach, McCoy Tyner, Abdullah Ibrahim, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, and as a featured soloist with Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus with whom he toured the United States, Europe and in Asia. As a member of George Schuller's post-modern big band, Orange Then Blue, Mark participated in a State Department tour of Turkey, Cyprus and Syria. As leader of his own groups he has performed at jazz festivals in Tampere, Finland, Ljubljana and Maribor, Slovenia, at a number of clubs in Germany, Austria and New York City, including Birdland, the Zinc Bar and the Knitting Factory and has recorded and released two CDs as a leader, QuietLand on Mapleshade Records and Circle Squared on his own taymons music label.
Mark has also been commissioned to compose for theatre and dance, placed two songs in the Dollface Productions independent feature film "The Girl", scored Camille Billops' documentary, "A String of Pearls", completed the score for “9/11: The Forgotten Underdogs”, a new documentary about the difficulties faced by the deaf and hard of hearing during emergency situations, and done music, sound design and audio post for “Zero Down O.A.C.”, a dark comedy by Canadian filmmaker Aaron Moseson about the adventures of two used car salesmen in rural Alberta. Mark is currently working on a series of transcriptions of music associated with seminal jazz bandleader James Reese Europe’s 369th “Hellfighters” military band for the Brooklyn Repertory Ensemble.
