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Ep. 9: Michael Taylor: "Music is an Addiction for Which There is No Cure"
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, Philadelphia bassist Mike Taylor, has played with some of the people that have played with some of the people that are the epitome of musical royalty. He has performed or recorded with such musicians as Glen McClelland (Ween), Pete Kuzma (Lady Gaga), Freddy Berman (Amos Lee) and Justin Falkner (Branford Marsalis).
These relationships have resulted in performances such as headlining the 2005 Antigua Jazz festival with the Joe Ashlar Trio, multiple appearances in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, countless gigs of varying styles with jazz, Brazilian, Cuban, American folk groups, and dozens of studio recordings. This culminated with the 2006 recording with the legendary saxophonist Odean Pope (To the Roach).
However, this is truly a two part story as Mike took a 6 year hiatus from playing music. In 2009, Mike decided to quit playing music professionally after a year-long existential battle with being a working professional bassist. After years of work and study for an alternative to making a living at music, he found new passions in media like food, technology and model cannon building. During this time, Mike worked cooking in some of Philly’s fine restaurants studying under acclaimed chefs Josh McCullough, Sean Magee and Dave Hentz. All the while he was teaching himself IT hardware and software trouble shooting.
The passion for music never left him though, and, in 2016, Mike was back out and playing bass again. Bart Miltenberger, a wonderful trumpet player and longtime compatriot of Mike’s, coaxed Mike out of his house to come play again. Bart, being the Dr. Frankenstein to Mike’s monster, reanimated his dead musical corpse by asking the simple question, “Hey man, I have a gig. Don’t worry that you haven’t been playing. It will be fun. Can you do it?” Once the words” fun” and “music” were put together so poetically, Mike hasn’t looked back.
Currently, Mike is working a full time job as an IT Technical Analyst to support his “cosmopolitan” lifestyle of paying bills on time and having health insurance. At the same time, he is manning the full time bass duties in the John Byrne Band and the Reverend Chris quintet, as well as the occasional mercenary gig. Both are very active groups with notable performances such as the as the 2018 Philadelphia Folk Festival and the 2019 Wallingford Community Arts concert series, as well as upcoming studio releases.
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Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, Philadelphia bassist Mike Taylor, has played with some of the people that have played with some of the people that are the epitome of musical royalty. He has performed or recorded with such musicians as Glen McClelland (Ween), Pete Kuzma (Lady Gaga), Freddy Berman (Amos Lee) and Justin Falkner (Branford Marsalis).
These relationships have resulted in performances such as headlining the 2005 Antigua Jazz festival with the Joe Ashlar Trio, multiple appearances in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, countless gigs of varying styles with jazz, Brazilian, Cuban, American folk groups, and dozens of studio recordings. This culminated with the 2006 recording with the legendary saxophonist Odean Pope (To the Roach).
However, this is truly a two part story as Mike took a 6 year hiatus from playing music. In 2009, Mike decided to quit playing music professionally after a year-long existential battle with being a working professional bassist. After years of work and study for an alternative to making a living at music, he found new passions in media like food, technology and model cannon building. During this time, Mike worked cooking in some of Philly’s fine restaurants studying under acclaimed chefs Josh McCullough, Sean Magee and Dave Hentz. All the while he was teaching himself IT hardware and software trouble shooting.
The passion for music never left him though, and, in 2016, Mike was back out and playing bass again. Bart Miltenberger, a wonderful trumpet player and longtime compatriot of Mike’s, coaxed Mike out of his house to come play again. Bart, being the Dr. Frankenstein to Mike’s monster, reanimated his dead musical corpse by asking the simple question, “Hey man, I have a gig. Don’t worry that you haven’t been playing. It will be fun. Can you do it?” Once the words” fun” and “music” were put together so poetically, Mike hasn’t looked back.
Currently, Mike is working a full time job as an IT Technical Analyst to support his “cosmopolitan” lifestyle of paying bills on time and having health insurance. At the same time, he is manning the full time bass duties in the John Byrne Band and the Reverend Chris quintet, as well as the occasional mercenary gig. Both are very active groups with notable performances such as the as the 2018 Philadelphia Folk Festival and the 2019 Wallingford Community Arts concert series, as well as upcoming studio releases.