Album review: TAYLOR’S UNIVERSE – Worn Out

Marvel Of Beauty Records [Release date: 2013]

There was time many years ago when Jazz-Rock was a new, vibrant and exciting musical form and north European countries provided some of the leading talents of the genre. It’s perhaps no big surprise then, to stumble on Danish multi instrumentalist, composer, arranger and band leader Robin Taylor. What is doubly pleasing is to discover that he’s managed to bottle the jazz-rock genie, and imbued it with a progressive feel as part of his own ambitious Taylor’s Universe.

Formed in 1993 Taylor’s Universe explore an adventurous musical landscape full of the joys of layered sounds, in a prog-rock tinged jazz-fusion environment.

Robin certainly doesn’t make life easy for himself, preferring to focus on the moment rather than aiming for the bigger picture. He’s not big on accessibility, though as he says,Taylor’s Universe is much more accessible than his solo output.

He’s also a record label owning pioneer for a style of music that reaches back to the artistic freedom of the early 70’s in its search for true progressive rock. ‘Worn Out’ neatly fits into Taylor’s preferred niche market, with elements of jazz fusion, prog rock, fleeting ambient landscapes and plenty of instrumental virtuosity.

No surprise then that his band features several of Denmark’s leading jazz rock figures, including soprano and alto sax player Karsten Vogel and trumpet and flugel horn player Hugh Steinmetz, both of whom were in the ground breaking Burning Red Ivanhoe. Then there’s Jakob Mygind on soprano and tenor sax, the powerful drummer Klaus Thrane from the King Crimson/Zappa influenced Danish jazz-rockers Coma and the mellifluous toned guitarist Jon Hemmersam.

Taylor’s Universe is a strictly studio outfit that boasts 12 cd’s as well as Robin’s own 9 solo albums. He also claims to be musically unschooled, perhaps explaining his finely layered and intuitively honed aural landscape, full of shifting time signatures and interwoven sounds. His music is born with an improvisational heart, where feel and creativity beats with a passion.

‘Worn Out’ is a big vista project that encourages the listener to open their minds to several inspired moments when everything somehow comes together. Not everything works though, as evidenced by the overreach of ‘Jens in Afghanistan’. The military drum and fife led composition test the patience with its experimental voice collage, synth groove and repeated bass motif resolution.

Happily it’s a blip on an otherwise impressive album that feels like a suite of music comprising six pieces. But a search for a thematic tread or a linear progression is futile – save for the climactic finish to ‘Sergeant Pepperoni’ – as Robin is more interested in micro tonal combinations than grandeur.

The focus is on incremental layered sounds, such as the ascending sax lines of ‘Munich’ which evokes the jazz-rock feel of afore mentioned Burning Red Invanhoe, while the backwards sounding tape synth squalls and the closing refracted groove is a real highlight.

Jon Hemmersam also adds an 80’s style Zappa tone to his solo on the fusiony ‘Imaginary Church’, alongside an interwoven combination of sax pulse and synth solo.

‘Sergeant Pepperoni is the most satisfying piece of all. It opens with a sonorous soprano over an Eno style ambient sound loop and is punctuated by extravagant cymbal splashes, a portentous synth line and intricate guitar and trumpet interplay. The prog tinged link piece feeds into a cacophonous mid-section before the drums lead the ensemble back into a tightly wrapped groove

‘Worn Out’ may be routed in a 70’s jazz-rock feel, but Taylor’s contemporary sounds successfully unlock those rich, intense and emotive moments beyond the norm, where the term progressive once held sway.

**** (4/5)

Review by Pete Feenstra

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