Martin Taylor, George Benson and Ron Affif
Martin Taylor, George Benson and Ron Affif
Guitars and Caipirinhas at the Zinc Bar
During my time at Sony Music I signed the brilliant jazz guitarist Martin Taylor to Sony Jazz/Columbia. He made two records for the label and I love them both, but especially the first one, Kiss and Tell, which was recorded in New York and Nashville and released in 1999. We knew we had made a great album and hoped that the support of a major label could open doors for him in new markets, which is what happened in Japan where he quickly became a major touring artist. But we really wanted to get the US company behind the record which was always going to be tough, as they would rather spend resources and budget on their own releases. It was all very competitive, but with the encouragement of Senior VP Peter Asher at Sony Music US, I set up a formal introduction for Martin to the top label brass at 550 Madison Ave with an album playback, lunch and accompanying hoopla.
I met up with Martin in New York the day before the meeting, and that night we headed for the Zinc Bar in the Village, where guitarist Ron Affif held a long running regular weekly gig that I’d desperately wanted to check out. Affif had recorded a few albums for Pablo in the nineties which were terrific, especially Ringside (his father was a boxer, a jazz fan and a friend of Miles) and had a reputation as a real player’s player.
Martin and I descended into the smallish basement where the musicians were set up on the floor adjacent to the short bar with the audience sitting at small tables around the room. Ron Affif was playing with double bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, the cool New York audience seemingly paying little attention and carrying on with their conversations. Suddenly we hear a voice booming out, ‘Martin, Martin, over here’, and see George Benson perched on a bar stool waving at us. There followed much hugging and laughter, George and Martin are old friends and have played together many times. I’m introduced to George and he embraces me with a massive bear hug, the man is incredibly strong. George tells the barman to make us Caipirinhas which was what he was drinking and had recently discovered. I passed and asked for my regular Diet Coke while Martin and George started on the cocktails. He warned Martin that Caipirinhas can creep up on you, so to be careful.
As the drinks and the stories kept flowing, I was having a wonderful time and enjoying the incredible music right in front of me. George said he often came down to hear Affif who was one of his favourite players. A little later on, Ron offers his Gibson Archtop to a by now very relaxed George, who played some of the best guitar I’m ever likely to hear, digging deep for fierce jazz and the dirtiest, funkiest gutbucket blues. It was like hearing Charlie Christian, Jimi Hendrix and BB King all rolled into one. Martin and I were standing on barstools whooping and cheering, while the New Yorkers sitting around were still way too cool to pay any attention - they see this all the time!
After a while Grant Green Jr, the son of the great guitar player, came over and asked if we would come and hear him play at a club around the corner in a little while. George and Martin were game, but it was already late and I needed to get some sleep before the big meeting. The following morning Martin looked fresh as a daisy, while I was feeling the jet lag. I asked him how Grant Green Jr was and he replied that unfortunately the Caipirinhas had crept up on them and they both may have dozed off during his set! The Sony meeting went fine, the US company didn’t do much subsequently, but that’s the way things were.
Martin has continued to make great albums and perform internationally, run guitar retreats around the world, and collaborate with wonderful musicians. He’s a true virtuoso and one of the finest guitar players this country has produced and I was so fortunate to be able to work with him.