Hailed by Downbeat magazine for his “adroit lyricism and gift for complex, imaginative composition,” composer, trumpeter, and synthesist Taylor Haskins is a musical artist who has distinguished himself as a leader of groundbreaking ensembles as well as a venturesome composer.
Early in his career Taylor was mentored by the great Clark Terry, toured briefly with trumpet hero Maynard Ferguson, and in 2005 he won a Grammy™ award playing lead trumpet with one of his earliest musical inspirations, bassist Dave Holland (on Overtime in 2005). Taylor has also played a vital role in Wilco guitarist Nels Cline’s Lovers orchestra, the Grammy-nominated Alan Ferber Orchestra, Peter Herborn’s ‘Large’, the JC Sanford Orchestra, Joel Harrison +19, the Michael Leonhart Orchestra, and many others. He inspired international audiences for years while touring extensively with the dynamic Richard Bona Group, and has been a member Guillermo Klein’s Los Guachos for over 25 years.
His most recent albums include the hard-hitting progressive opus Interstellar Phoenix, the plaintive and evocative ambience of Solo Solstice, the jazz-electronica hybrid Gnosis and the disarmingly melodic The Point by a quintet called ‘Green Empire’, which features Haskins exclusively on the rare Steiner-Crumar analog EVI (electronic valve instrument). His five previous releases, dating back to 2003, are Fuzzy Logic (Sunnyside Records), Recombination, American Dream (Sunnyside Records), Metaview, and Wake Up Call (Fresh Sound Records).
