Editor’s Note: Since 1996, more than 320 teenage musicians have been transformed by the Vail Jazz Workshop. Many have become professional musicians, including six returning to Vail this Labor Day weekend to perform as the.
Editor’s Note: Since 1996, more than 320 teenage musicians have been transformed by the Vail Jazz Workshop. Many have become professional musicians, including six returning to Vail this Labor Day weekend to perform as the.
Vail Jazz
Curtis Taylor performs in a previous Vail Jazz Alumni Quintet featuring Greg Ward, Adam Arruda, Raviv Markovitz, and James Francies.
Jack Affleck / Vail Jazz Festival
When you think of some of history’s greatest jazz trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis you might wonder: Was their ascension to greatness destined to be? Would jazz sound different today if these trailblazers had never picked up a trumpet in the first place?
For Vail Jazz Workshop alumnus Curtis Taylor, fate seems to have played at least a supporting role in his development as one of his generation’s leading jazz trumpeters. Taylor was the trumpet chair on acclaimed vocalist Gregory Porter’s Grammy-winning album “Liquid Spirit” in 2014 and more recently joined in recording the soundtrack to a documentary about Porter, “Don’t Forget Your Music.” Taylor has also performed, recorded and toured worldwide with the bands of saxophonist James Carter, bassis