I first heard Steve Fidyk play when he came to Washington, D.C. to be the drummer for The Army Blues. I remember thinking then, What a swingin drummer! A few years later I had been considering doing a recording of my charts and out of the blue after a gig Steve approached me and said, What do you think about recording a CD together? I immediately replied, You get the band and Ill bring the charts! So in April and August of 2002 we went into our favorite studio, Bias Recording, for 2 nights of recording the debut CD of The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band!
This band is made up of some of the best players in the D.C. area and I couldnt have asked for a better performance of my music. The energy in the studio was amazing and from the first note to the last this band came out swinging! Of course as any big band fan knows you need a great drummer to make that happen and Steve took charge from the start. Many thanks to Steve, Bob Dawson, and the band for a writers dream come true!
Mark Taylor
A Perfect Match" represents a journey that began over 20 years ago when I was first introduced to the music of Mark Taylor. An alumnus of the arranging staff of the Stan Kenton Band, Taylor contributed two big band anthems to his library: Samba Da Haps and Granada Smoothie.
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Mark on a daily basis as a member of The Army Blues Jazz Ensemble. As a colleague, I slowly began to understand the intricacies of accompanying and shaping his music. Like Kenton, his writing is harmonically and rhythmically innovative with an emphasis on "the groove."
It is my distinct honor and privilege to share the leadership duties with Mark on this recording. The music for this project was thoughtfully chosen and represents his finest work. I hope you agree.
A big thanks to all my friends... I just went over 10,000 listens on my player. I've added a fifth tune to my player, an arrangement of Scott Henderson's "Harpoon", the leader and guitar player of Tribal Tech.
