高音爵士萨克斯手Paul Taylor保罗·泰勒在年轻一代的Smooth Jazz乐手中当数佼佼者,个人作品每经推出都可以拿到前10名甚至前5名的成绩,因此他还成为了各大Smooth Jazz电台追捧的对象。保罗·泰勒出生在科罗拉多丹佛市,在他六岁的时候开始学习萨克斯的演奏,从小他就喜欢黑人灵歌Soul Music, 而在他大学毕业以后的演奏生涯当中,他也非常喜爱把Soul、Funk以及Jazz融合在一起来演奏,在他未成名之前他曾和Jeff Lorber合作过,而对于他来说职业生涯的转折点是在1994年,Jeff Lorber邀请他和他一起参加了在Catalina岛举办的著名的Jazz Trax爵士音乐节。在那里由于保罗·泰勒出色的表演,被日本钢琴家Keiko Matisui松居庆子和他的制作人丈夫Kazu Matsui松居和所发掘,然后保罗·泰勒便参与Keiko Matsui的专辑录制,这一来就是两年。在这两年当中,保罗·泰勒学到了很多,而且很快也在Smooth Jazz领域找到的自己的位置,随后他开始了他独奏的生涯。1995年-2000年他在N-Coded唱片公司旗下发行的三张专辑都获得了很大的成功,无论在billboard还是在Smooth Jazz Radio都有很骄人的成绩。随后在2000年,Russ Freeman邀请他加入现代爵士名团The Rippingtons, 并随队一起巡回演出,后来保罗·泰勒更是转投到Russ Freeman自己所创建的厂牌Peak Records。
by William Ruhlmann
Paul Taylor grew up in Denver, where he took up the saxophone at the age of seven. He played in school bands, and in high school joined a Top 40 band called Mixed Company. Jazz keyboardist Keiko Matsui and her husband, producer Kazu Matsui, discovered him playing at the Catalina Island Jazz Festival and hired him to play in their band. He spent two years with them, and then Kazu Matsui produced his 1995 debut album, On the Horn, which reached the jazz charts and spawned a radio hit in Til We Meet Again. Pleasure Seeker, his second album, followed in 1997 and was equally successful. Taylor released his third album Undercover on Peak/N-Coded Music in February 2000.