SIMON TAYLOR

I grew up in High Wycombe. I started learning music on classical violin at the age of 7, and studied music theory and piano at the High Wycombe Music Centre. It was during this time that my dad played me some records of Stephane Grapelli and Django Reinhardt, and I was captivated by Django's guitar playing. Frustrated with being limited to just reading from music, at the age of 15 I began teaching myself guitar with the aim of playing by ear and learning to improvise. I always liked taking the chords from my favourite pop songs and rearranging them to make up my own music - the beginnings of composing. Over the next few years I progressed as a player and composer... I after A levels, I started an art foundation course at the LCP, but dropped out to go to Southampton University to study Engineering Acoustics! This was lucky for my guitar playing as I met a number of musicians, and particularly guitarist Simon Jarrett who introduced my to the rigours of jazz. Simon Jarrett has since..