Interviewed by Shannon West

It's been a good year for Paul Taylor. His seventh CD, Ladies Choice, debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart and he is featured on two songs in the top 10 on the radio airplay chart - the title track from his own CD and "Black River" from Keiko Matsui's Moyo. I caught up with him a few days after my Jaguars beat his Broncos so after a little bit of gloating and trash talk we settled in to talk about the music.

SV: Congratulations are in order, your CD debuted at #1 and one of the tracks from it is in the top 10 on the radio chart.
PT: I'm so happy about that. It's my first #1 record so now I can say I have one (laughs). Mark Wexler, one of the executive producers gave me a call while I was doing a Starbucks run and told me we were #1 and was in my car by myself and gave a big shout. I was so happy about it. And I have a song with Keiko on the radio chart too.

SV: Is this really your first #1 album?
PT: It's the first one to go #1 in Billboard. I've been close several times, up to #2 or 3 but this is the first #1.

SV: That's surprising since you've had so many hit songs. So Ladies Choice is the charm. How did you come up with the title.
PT: The first producer I wrote with was Barry Eastmond. We were fiddling around with a few tunes and while we were working on the song that was to become "Ladies Choice" I felt like it had kind of a 70s disco feel and it reminded me of when you would be at a club and the DJ would say "It's ladies choice" and the ladies would get the guys out on the dance floor. When I told the record company they thought it was cool and suggested that we should get some ladies on it so we brought in some female vocalists.

SV: How did you end up with this particular group of ladies?
PT:  I got some help from my management and record label. Regina Belle and LaToya London were on the label. Terry Dexter and Lauren Evans are up and coming singers. I was delighted to have such high quality singers to work with.

SV: You've had vocalists on your CDs before but not this many songs or this many different singers. How is it different to record when you are actually more of the sax player behind a vocalist instead of being the lead instrument that carries the song?
PT: It's different but similar because you are playing melodic lines but if the vocal is the front lead you have to take a sideman approach and let them dominate while you pick and choose your spots. But you can go together too and that's the art of it. You pick and choose your spots and the magic of it is picking those spots then going together for a while and make the best music you can.

SV: Do you plan that out interactively or does it come to you in the session. Or do you record it then they come in later.
PT: In this case it was my CD but with LaToya I was in the studio with her and we did all her parts first, then I came in and followed her and put in more of my parts. With the other ladies it was pretty much the same thing. Regina did her parts first and I came in and overdubbed mine. A lot of it was overdubs.

SV: If you're coming in and overdubbing after the vocal you can be inspired by what the singers are doing.
PT: Exactly. Their parts are pretty much laid down then I can have fun with it and be inspired by what I hear and elaborate on that then if Rex or Barry like it we can go with that, or we can go in and do something else. I can just pick up my sax and really have fun and get into it.

SV: You did some live gigs with Regina Belle too, didn't you?
PT: I was so pleased with that, we did two engagements. One was a big outdoor festival for the station in Detroit and the other was a festival in California. When my Hypnotic CD came out I got to play with Phil Perry and now I got to work with her live, that was really cool.

SV: You were recording with Keiko around the same time. How does doing a session for another instrumentalist compare with recording your own projects?
PT: With Keiko we go way back and through the years we tried but it didn't work out and I was really glad that it finally did. Keiko has grown as an artist even considering that I was in awe of her back when I first started playing with her. She was producing herself and just going for it. She would tell me exactly what she needed, she had everything written out and gave it to me ahead of time so it was like a continuation of before. I guess the main thing with this was that she was the producer and the artist and had everything set up. With my own sessions it's a minimal situation, just me with maybe the producer on the other side of the glass in the studio and I can have free rein and do as many takes and try as many things as I want. That's the ultimate freedom that you get when you are doing your own project.

SV: Do you come up with things out of the top of your head while you are in the studio and end up using them?
PT: Absolutely. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they can be shot down a little bit because
at the time it seems fantastic then you step back and decide to leave things the way they were.

SV: Do you usually go in with things pretty much laid out when you are working on a new CD?
PT: With the last few I haven't been doing that. On my earlier ones I had things really laid out going into it but now I guess with more experience I've learned to trust my instincts. I'll bring in some of my own melodies but it's not this rigid thing that we are going to do this song, then this one, and that's the way it is. I'm more open to going with different ideas. What it boils down to is I'm writing with different producers and the best tunes win. You submit as many songs as you can and the record company lets you know what they like too and you try to get the best ones in.

SV: You've used multiple producers on some of your CDs but this time you focused in on Rex Rideout and Barry Eastmond, who you've worked with before but this time it's just them. How did that happen?
PT: I did songs with both of them and submitted them to the record company. I was actually getting ready to do some stuff with another producer and they said we had enough material to go with already.

SV: You seem to be comfortable with getting input from your record company. Is it because you've recorded for independent labels.
PT: I've been fortunate to not have a record company that was in a big corporate environment. My first label was very into artists, they had Keiko at the time too. Then I did one for NCoded which was artist oriented and now I am with Peak.

SV: What if there is a song that you are really passionate about then you take it to them and they aren't into it.
PT: That's happened so many times. You write a song and you fall in love with it and think it's going to be so wonderful and the producer agrees with you then the label doesn't feel it the way you are feeling it. It comes down to not getting too attached to your song before it is all said and done. I've learned it because there are some I love that didn't make the cut, so they are sitting on some hard drive at my house or one of the producers.

SV: Do you try to sell them on it?
PT: I try my best! But sometimes you just have to get a thick skin about not having every song you submit be accepted.

SV: If you had to sum it up, what would you say sets "Ladies Choice" apart from the other CDs.
PT: Well, obviously, the vocals  It's got a dancy groove to it, kind of an old school danceable thing going on. A couple of the ballads have a retro feel. I did some of that in Steppin' Out and Nightlife but hopefully I've refined my sound. This one is more fine tuned. I used some multi-sax hooks before but I think we really tightened it up here with those.

SV: You were talking about Keiko and how she has grown as an artist. How do you think you have grown over the years?
PT:  One thing is what we were talking about, that I trust my instincts more during the recording process. I can adapt to different ideas and vibes on the spot.

SV: Does having success at a commercial level and having the audience respond to your performances help you in that context.
PT: No doubt, because seeing that they like the tunes I write gives me that confidence to trust my instincts and it inspires me to want to give them more like it. When it is time to make a new recording I have a lot riding on that, that I want to give them something they will really enjoy. So far my instincts have been good for giving them that so I can trust that process when I start working on new music.

SV: Writers kind of bat the word "infectious" around, probably because to keep from overusing the word "catchy." You write catchy infectious songs (laughs). You've got a real good ear for a hook and accessible melodies. When you are a sax player and you can solo how do you find that place where you are not overplaying but aren't staying boringly safe either?
PT: It is a thin line. That's part of the art of doing it, you have to know yourself or have others around who can guide you. There's a place where you don't want to have too much improvisation for the radio songs, you want to have a good strong melody or hook but when you're playing live  you want to show what you can do. It's one of those things that you just kind of know.

SV: What about when the input from the industry conflicts with what you are seeing your fans respond to.
PT: I try not to think about that. One of the best things about being a musician is getting to play live for people, like that time I played by the beach in Jacksonville in the summer and it was hot, humid and sweaty and we were playing our hearts out and going for it and the audience was giving us all that energy back. I live off that and I'm grateful to have that, I go with that moment and go to the next one.

SV: It's always humid here and you and the band are always welcome to come back and get sweaty with us. You've been doing some of the smaller things too, like instore gigs at Borders.
PT: Those are fun to do too. I've done some for Circuit City, Borders, and it's a lot of fun. You bring your instrument and a couple of tracks you can play to and set up with a PA system and the people there get to really see you up close and personal. It's a good way to get close to them and of course, to sell some CDs.

SV: You could pull hit tracks off this CD for radio probably for about two years but obviously we don't want to wait two years to hear new stuff, so what's next for you?
PT: I have a couple of things going, one really fun thing is an animation project that my friend Terrence Ball is doing that we hope will be getting out pretty soon. You can see a sample of his work on my MySpace page.

SV: I wondered where that fabulous artwork came from. It looks like high tech Peter Max.
PT: We are working on a cartoon that features me. Since I play smooth jazz my character is going to be called "Hard Notes." We are fine tuning it but my character will play music to save people in bad situations. We're using our imaginations to come up with a lot of cool ideas that we can work into it. I'm learning some computer animation myself, too. I also have a signature sax line in the works too. And there is always touring, writing and recording ahead.

SV: And several more hit songs from Ladies Choice in the near future. Thank you for talking to us and we're really looking forward to seeing you as an animated superhero!

Paul Taylor's website is www.paultaylorsax.com
See the cool graphic on his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/officialpaultaylorsax