Mike Taylor (36)

Mike Taylor is a California-born musician who worked from 1959 to 1980 in Vancouver, Canada and since then at "Le Jazze", a club in Quebec City, Quebec. He should have developed a stronger national reputation than he has in that time - he's not an original but that alone hasn't held back this country's most popular jazz players. Mike Taylor is one of those solid 1940's jazz pianists, with a bricklaying left hand and a darting, dextrous right that fills all the remaining cracks. If it seems a little extravagant in light of all that has passed in jazz piano since, Taylor does it exceptionally well in this collection of piano solos. The pop songs are sensitive, and the blues full; both swing heartily.