My sister-in-law Susan is an accomplished violinist who spent many years in the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, where she met my brother, the esteemed bassonist David Taylor. In 2015, she gave me the violin track to this beautiful piece and asked me to play around with it. This is what I came up with-bass, keyboard, drum set, and percussion parts.
Susan Taylor-violin; Gary Rollins-acoustic and electric guitar; Fred Taylor-bass guitar, keyboard, drums, percussion.
Violin recorded in Longview, WA by Brent Wilkinson; all other tracks recorded,
produced and mixed by Fred Taylor at Ivy House Studios-Mukilteo, WA and Rising Fawn Recording-Rising Fawn GA
This 2022 remix includes a revised bass part and adds the congas recorded in 2015.
Ken Cloud receiving an award from the AFM in Seattle 1990
Ken Cloud (1916-1999) was one of Seattle's most beloved bandleaders and musicians. He and my father went to the University of Washington together and performed in bands occasionally. My brother David also played saxophone in his band frequently. I had the honor of being the last regular drummer in his band, working Seattle Center and other venues for ten years. He's the one who taught me how to swing while watching a baton! These tracks are from our Christmas show at Seattle Center 12-12-89
I was introduced to Dehner Franks through Dr. Sanford J. Wright Jr., when I workd for him at the Everett Neurological Center in Everett, WA. Dr. Wright, a substantial patron of the arts, was a huge fan of Dehner's and gave his career several boosts while he was in the Seattle area. When Dehner needed a drummer for this recording session for the Nordstrom stores, Dr. Wright called me, I grabbed my kit and came to the studio, set up, and we did several tracks which became a soundtrack in Nordstrom's stores from Seattle to Los Angeles. I played many concerts with Dehner, featuring such stellar guest artists as Greta Matassa and Jay Thomas.
Over the course of about 25 years I performed with Seattle's premier vocalist Greta Matassa a number of times. At this 2001 concert, she and her husband, the fine bassist Clipper Anderson, participated in this very well-received performance.
This was a high-end wedding and party band, that specialized in
jazz, rock, and various types of ethnic music. Our demo consisted of
'short cuts'- excerpts of popular songs in our catalogue. Musicians
on this recording are: Jal Feldman-keyboards; John Guyer-woodwinds;
Eyvind Kang-bass, violin; Rick Azim-guitar and vocals; Diane Azim-vocals;
Fred Taylor-drums; an unknown old Italian guy-vocals
Recorded at North Seattle Community College's state-of-the-art studio by student engineers
in 2007 we did a session in New Jersey with my trio including Bob Ackerman and Rick Crane. My longtime musical partner Gary Rollins was in town, so we brought him along, too. Here are three unreleased tracks from that session, all written by Bob Ackerman.
