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John Taylor (left) and Julian Argüelles (right) |
Saxophonist Julian Argüelles and pianist John Taylor will be performing together as a duo at the 606 Club on Thursday 26th February. Julian Argüelles’ latest CD, “Circularity”, which has just been nominated for a Parliamentary Jazz Award, also features John Taylor on piano. We interviewed Argüelles by email about the work of this duo:
LondonJazz News: When did you first meet John Taylor and what were the circumstances?
Julian Arguelles: I have been listening to John’s music almost from the time I first started getting into jazz. I think we both played together for the first time when i was 17, it was on a project by the composer Nick Purnell in about 1983. My brother Steve was already playing in various bands with John by that time.
LJN: John played on your first record, “Phaedrus”. How did that come about?
JA: I was playing with John from an early age, but I feel I got to know him better during Kenny Wheeler’s 60th birthday tour, the tour that produced the Small and Large Ensembles CD. Around that time I was starting to feel ready to make my first CD, I had been playing a lot around London and composing tunes that I enjoyed playing, but I wasn’t quite sure who to use for the recording. After Kenny’s tour we had a few get togethers to play through some tunes and it was soon obvious that John was the musician I wanted, after that everything else fell into place.
LJN: What you do enjoy most about playing with him?
JA: There are so many characteristics about John’s playing that I think are special, of course he is a great composer too. The first thing that strikes me about his playing is his sound on the piano, its incredibly powerful, i’ve never played with another piano player with such a beautiful sound.
LJN: As musicians, what do you and John have most in common? And are there differences in approach?
JA: I think we both like a certain amount of openness, space to naturally develope the music within an improvising ensemble. I think we both like to try new things, new ideas, even though we’ve both come from a similar jazz tradition. I’m finding it hard to think of significant differences in approach, we both have a huge love of melody, harmony and rhythm all framed within an emotional language.
LJN: Is there something in particular that you have learned from him, musically, professionally or personally?
JA: I think John is a true artist, which is surprisingly rare, so I find his whole life, musical and personal, a huge source of inspiration.
LJN: What music are you and John planning to perform at your 606 Club date?
JA: I’m not sure yet, we’ll probably both bring some originals, some new tunes some older. There’ll be some surprises which, of course, is the way it should be.
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Julian's CD Circularity – with Taylor (and an excellent Dave Holland on bass and Martin France in drums) is superb. I'd LOVE to see them in duo – another London gig I'm envious of!