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.

BOOKINGS AT THE 606