Hanah Jon Taylor
Hanah Jon Taylor has received the critical acclaim of audiences and media throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the Americas and Asia Minor. His unique and lyrical persona on the flute, saxophone and wind synthesizer has warranted him as a true master of improvisation. With a career spanning over 40 years, Mr. Taylor has appeared as a bandleader and sideman with many noted jazz artists. Upon completing his studies at Southern Illinois University with a Master of Science degree in Music Therapy, he returned to Chicago to be inducted into the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Hanah became part of ‘Infinite Spirit Music’, with pianist Soji Adebayo, bassist Josef Ben Israel, percussionist Averyael Ra and woodwindist Light Henry Huff. In 1979, Hanah made his first appearance in Europe, performing with pianist Burton Greene in Holland (the Netherlands). While briefly residing in Amsterdam, Hanah performed at the BIMhuis with bassist Roberto Bellatalla, drummer Sonny Murray and met saxophone-master Archie Shepp. Returning to Chicago, Hanah joined the Colson Unity Troupe with Ade and Iqua Colson and in 1983, to then leave for a three-year union with the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (EHE), touring Europe, Scandinavia in trio with percussionist Kahil El-Zabar and multi-reedist Edward Wilkerson. During this time, Mr. Taylor began to also assemble his own trio, Everyday Heroes, with former- Coltrane bassist Donald Rafeal Garrett and percussionist Steve McCall. In 1986, Hanah co-led the first avant-garde jazz ensemble to perform at the 2nd Annual Peoples’ International Music Festival in Havana, Cuba. With the passing of both McCall and Garrett, the ensemble re- emerged in 1987 with pianist Calvin Coco Brunson, French bassist Cecile Savage and drummer Toby Williams. By the end of decade, Hanah, now performing more frequently overseas and making tighter alliances with other European jazz artists, appeared with the group Gibralter, featuring percussionist Denis Fournier; later to record with him in the group ‘Watershed’, a Franco-American ensemble, in 2012. As an educator, Mr.Taylor has worked in both private and public sectors of K-12, as an instructor and artist-in-residence. From 1991 to 1993, he was commissioned by the University of Chicago to organize and direct its first UC Improvisation Orchestra. From his research as a student at SIU, Hanah had nurtured the idea of offering organized music to communities-at-large, as a proactive activity. Moving to Madison, Wisconsin in 1993, offered him the opportunity to actualize a program called ’Musonics’, providing sessions and workshops with both youths and adults, still in operation. From 2003 to 2007, he co-founded and served as Curator for the Madison Center for Creative and Cultural Arts. Maintaining his career as both an artist and educator, Hanah taught courses in Contemporary American Music History and World Music at Madison Media Institute from 2007 through 2014. In recent years, he leads his latest ensemble, the Hanah Jon Taylor Artet and has appeared and/or recorded with bassist Malachi Favors, drummer Vincent Davis, flutist Nicole Mitchell, cellist Tomeka Reid, bassmaster Richard Davis, multi-reedist Roscoe Mitchell, French pianist Jobic LeMasson, drummer Reggie Nicholson and composer/pianist Joan Wildman and has performed in New York(US), Marrakech, (Morocco) and Istanbul (Turkey). Presently, Hanah is Owner/Operator of Cafe CODA, Madison’s only Jazz venue and Artistic Director with Kuumba Renaissance Ltd., a creative arts initiative and contractor of the ‘Culture Coach’, a mobile stage unit, commissioned with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE); Uptown United; the Chicago Park District and other Chicago non-profits such as the Poetry Foundation. Hanah Jon Taylor plays Henri Selmer (Paris) tenor and soprano saxophones, the Muramatsu EXIII flute, and the Yamaha WX11 Wind Controller. He is a recording artist with Tiger Fish Records (Chicago), Fish Eye Records (Madison), and Rogue Art Records (Paris).
