About this project
Hi everyone. Mark Taylor here - again.
I'm still looking to finish my third CD as a leader, and I thought I'd run another Kickstarter project (with a few tweaks) and get things rolling. The project is titled "At What Age" and It features my new quartet with some special guests contributing poetry and other instruments and lots of new music by yours truly. I'm even bringing out the Mellophone on a couple of pieces! You know you don't want to miss that!
I've got the majority of the material recorded, then it'll be time for mixing and mastering, duplication and promotion and I'd like to invite everyone to contribute to the completion of this album. Just donate the dollar value of your choosing to the At What Age Project. Then sit back, relax and look forward to receiving a sweet little package from me next fall.
Here's the plan: I'm attempting to raise $5,000 by May 22 (my birthday!!) to complete, duplicate and promote "At What Age" and there are many ways you can join me. And, of course, the more you give the more you get. Just take a peek at all the goodies to the right. Go ahead. I'll wait...
See? I told you!
Why am I doing it this way? Well...
1. even with all the advances in computer and recording technology, the process of recording and releasing a new album is costly;
2. I want to put every available resource in to making this collection of my music a fantastic as it can possibly be;
3. all of you, the people who support and encourage this crazy habit of composing and playing jazz and improvised music on the french horn (and mellophone!), who come out to the gigs and buy the CDs, are the reason for my past successes so it only makes sense to involve you in my next great adventure from the start;
4. a great partner like Kickstarter that makes funding the project surprisingly easy and painless (I get 100% of the money raised, minus the fee Amazon charges to process credit cards). The more help I can get, the more I can guarantee that this thing will be done right: from recording, mixing, and mastering, to pressing amazing looking CDs, to making music videos, to hiring a publicist to really get the album out there.
Here's the catch (yes, you knew there would be one, right?): "At What Age" will only be funded if we meet the $5,000 goal. If we fall short, your pledges will be returned to you (free of charge) and I will end up with nothing. Nada, zip - you get the idea.
SO... Let's get started and if you would please pass this info along to anyone else who might be interested, I'd greatly appreciate it. You know, all those jazz french horn obsessed people out there...
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
22
Backers
$1,390
pledged of $5,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on May 22, 2010.
Pledge $10 or more
$10.00 — 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
$25.00 — Get an autographed copy of the new CD, plus the digital bonus track and the At What Age poster.
Pledge $50 or more
$50.00 — 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
$100.00 — 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
$200.00 — 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
$500.00 — All of the above, plus an Associate Producer credit in the album liner notes.
Pledge $1,000 or more
$1,000.00 — 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!
Project By
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.
