"Jazz Monthly Feature Interview" Paul Taylor

Smitty:  Well, I am extremely excited about my next guest here at JazzMonthly.com.  Trust me, he is no one-hit wonder.  He is a mega hit machine.  In fact, if his music was a cell phone number, he would be in my five.  (Both laughs.)

Paul Taylor (PT):  All right!

Smitty:  His great new record is called “Ladies’ Choice” and it features a fantastic cast of musicians! Please give a warm welcome for Peak recording artist, the incredible Mr. Paul Taylor.  Paul, how ya doin’, my friend?

PT:  I’m doing well.  Thanks so much, Smitty.  Glad to be here with ya.

Smitty:  Yeah, man.  I am excited about this new record Ladies’ Choice.  Man, when I first heard the title, I said oh, this is gonna be some hot stuff here!  (Both laugh.)  Now, I wanna thank you too for remembering the seventies, my friend.  (Laughs.)

PT:  Right on.  Yeah, definitely.  It’s kind of a little homage to the seventies, I mean Ladies’ Choice, because I think the term, not that it’s a seventies term, but I think it was born in the seventies when we were out at a house party or at a disco club back then in those days, everything was going well and then all of a sudden the DJ goes “All right, this dance is ladies’ choice.”  So if you’re lucky enough to get called for a dance, it was kind of a cool feeling.

Smitty:  Yeah, man.  I remember that.  I got a charge when I saw that, Ladies’ Choice.

PT:  (Laughs.)

Smitty:  And you know what?  You’ve got some great tunes on here for the ladies to dance to as well.  These are some great tracks.  In fact, I really like Track 3, “Here We Go.” It’s got that real upbeat vibe.

PT:  Thanks a lot. Yeah, we got the multi-tracking, the saxes in there, and the feeling I get when I play that is just a great feeling, definitely, like “Ladies’ Choice.”

Smitty:  Yeah, and “Overdrive” is a great dance tune, Track 10, which is really cool.  And my favorite track—I’m a little torn on Track 8 and Track 5.  Now, Track 5, “Streamline”…

PT:  Mm-hmm?

Smitty:  I’ve hit the repeat button quite a few times on that one.  (Laughs.)

PT:  All right!  Yeah, that’s got a really heavy duty mix on that one, a really aggressive mix.  I like that

Smitty:  Yeah, man.  That one is really cool, and I gotta tell ya, I’m in love with Lauren Evans.  (Laughs.)

PT:  All right!  (Laughs.)  “A Love of Your Own.”

Smitty:  Yeah, what a track, man.

PT:  Yeah, that came out really nice with Rex Rideout and we dug out an old AWB [Average White Band] tune, so “A Love of Your Own” is a really nice song I wanted to do.

Smitty:  Yeah, it brought back some memories, man.  (Laughs.)  And speaking of that, man, you got a couple of great cats in Rex Rideout and Barry Eastmond.  Man, you couldn’t do any better than that.

PT:  No doubt, I’m in good hands all the time, so I’m really fortunate.

Smitty:  Yeah, those are two great cats.  I don’t think people sing their praises enough because they’re sort of behind the scenes, but what they put out front for us to hear is just totally incredible.

PT:  No doubt.

Smitty:  Yeah.  So, now, talk to me a little bit about what made you remember the seventies, man, to do the ladies’ choice thing?

PT:  Well, you know, Smitty, it really started as going into the studio on this project, pretty much open minded, letting it kinda follow wherever it went, so when I got together with Barry, he was the first producer I worked with, and I think the first day we did what was “Ladies’ Choice,” and so I stepped back and listened to the vibe of it and he goes “Man, this sounds like ladies’ choice.  This is the jam.”

Smitty:  Yeah.

PT:  And so he liked that and then I submitted it to the record company, the record label, and they liked it, and so then basically it just kinda took on a life of its own and we started getting songs, different songs, and Andi recommended—that’s my manager—she recommended having more vocal songs on it, maybe getting some Urban/AC airplay as well. So it just kinda took off from there.  We’ve got Regina Belle on there, LaToya London.

Smitty:  I know.  Terry…