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Update #3: All Done!
Well, the Kickstarter Experiment is now officially over. My warmest thanks to those who pledged towards the completion of "At What Age". I really appreciate your support. I'm going to take a little time to decide how to improve on the various aspects of the Kickstarter experience - even down to whether the next attempt will be with Kickstarter or some use some other type of micro-funding model. I hope all of you will pledge again when the opportunity arises and I look forward to having you be an ongoing part of this project.
Thanks,
Mark
Update #2: The last 24 hours
Well, it looks like we're having a rally at the very end of the Project and I am pleased and heartened by everyone's generosity. Rest assured, if we don't meet the goal by tomorrow night, I'll be creating ANOTHER project with revised parameters and I hope everyone who has pledged with come back and do so again. Maybe just a smidge earlier, this time! :-D
Most likely, I'll focus the new project on one or two aspects of bringing At What Age to fruition. Areas like mastering, duplication or PR rather than trying to do it all at once.
So keep your fingers crossed for the next 22 hours or so, but please come back and join me for the next one, too!
Mark
photograph by Scott Friedlander 2009
Update #1: MarkMusiK November Newsletter
Hey everyone!!
Just sending out a little mini-newsletter to say hello and keep you up on the MarkMusik happenings!
Things have been really humming along the last few weeks with several gigs and recording projects just completed or happening in the very near future. In fact, the last few weeks have been spent in rehearsal for a very special recording project with Joe Daley. If you ever get the chance to hear Joe play tuba or euphonium, ESPECIALLY if it’s his own music, don’t miss it! We rehearsed a suite Joe has composed based on his interpretations of the “Seven Deadly Sins” and, earlier this week, spent two days in the studio recording it. The music is amazing and the band is an incredible aggregation of top-notch players as you’re likely to find anywhere. Besides, where else are you going to hear bass sax, CONTRA-bass sax AND contrabass sarrusophone on the same record? On October 16 the Mark Taylor Quartet performed a well received set on the AACM concert series here in midtown Manhattan. We played 5 of my pieces and my bandmates Keith Witty, Chris Dingman and Tomas Fujiwara really outdid themselves. With several of my heroes and mentors in the audience, I’m afraid I let my nerves get the best of me a few times, but we received and warm and appreciative response from those in attendance. Watch my YouTube channel for video clips from the concert.
The following night, I had the pleasure of performing at Iridium once again with the Jessica Jones Quartet. As usual Candace Jones kept the audience in rapt attention as the band performed a set of original tunes (mostly), many of which were written by Jessica especially for Candace.
Coming up on Monday November 9th, I have a concert at Local 269 with Warren Smith’s new brass project which we’ll repeat on Friday the 13th in Syracuse and the following night (Saturday the 14th) will be my second performance with the SWIPE Cartel Composer’s Collective at Ibeam in Brooklyn. We’ll be playing two of my compositions as well as several pieces by other members of the ensemble. Come on out to Brooklyn for this gig, folks and bring some friends! Ibeam is a fantastic, intimate room to listen to music and is another great example of musicians taking responsibility for creating opportunities to present their work. Also, December 3-5 I’ll be playing with Golden Boy – the Art Blakey Tribute at Iridium.
I know what you’re really asking, though. You want to know how the Kickstarter project is coming, right? Well, with just under 70 days left in the project we’ve raised $275 toward the $5,000 goal. So – if you haven’t pledged, drop by the Kickstarter page at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marktaylorproject/at-what-age-new-music-for-jazz-french-horn-and-mell and take a look at the project and the various participation levels and jump in with both feet! Also, please spread the word and let people know what we’re doing here. If you know people who are fans of creative, independent art, tell them about Kickstarter. It’s a great way for people who want to get directly involved to support the art and artists than move them.
I guess that’s about it for now. There are a couple of interesting things on the horizon for early next year, so check the website or my Facebook page if you just can’t wait for the newsletter to find it’s way to your inbox!
Thanks,
Mark
photography 2009 by Scott Friedlander
13
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Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on January 13, 2010.
Pledge $10 or more
You'll get a digital copy of the album one week before it's released (as long as you promise not to share), plus an exclusive digital bonus track not included on the CD.
Pledge $25 or more
Get an autographed copy of the new CD, plus the digital bonus track and the At What Age poster.
Pledge $50 or more
You'll get an autographed copy of the At What Age CD plus the bonus track and the pre-release digital download, the promotional poster and At What Age T-shirt. If you're a musician (or just interested in such things) you can also get access to pdf files of the music we perform on the CD!
Pledge $100 or more
At this level, you'll get At What Age (both the autographed CD and the pre-release download) and the bonus track, the promotional poster and T-shirt, an autographed copy of either QuietLand or Circle Squared - your choice (unless I've run out of one of them) and, for the musicians, access to scores and leadsheets and a Skype lesson with me (especially good for curious Horn players)! We can talk about improvisation, composition and arranging, low-carb cooking, whatever...
Pledge $200 or more
Get all of the above, plus have your name listed in the liner notes. You know that spot where it always says, "...the artist would like to give special thanks to...". Well, your name will go right there (along with anyone else who donates at this level).
Pledge $500 or more
All of the above, plus an Associate Producer credit in the album liner notes.
Pledge $1,000 or more
All of the above, except you'll be credited as an Executive Producer in the liner notes. Impress your friends! Your enemies will be green with envy!! Call now, don't delay!
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Connected as Mark Taylor (3218 friends)
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.
