Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Thank you for everyone for joining on the Tron podcast. This is Rashad woods, your host today. I have a very, very talented and world renowned guest today. He's considered America's greatest classical guitarist, Mr. Jonathan Taylor. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: And I don't know about that. That's Philadelphia Inquirer saying I'm the leading classical guitarist.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Right.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: But I want to say that I'm enjoying meeting you, Sean.
And and you're there in Detroit, Michigan and I'm here in cow and Southern.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, and the thing is about it is that the Internet has obviously connected us to where we're almost talking right next to each other. And it's beautiful and you know, it's crazy how times evolve. I remember when I was a kid and you know, you just had a little rotary phone, right. And you had to pick up and you know, the big circle, I mean, and you live through it and you see it happen in real time.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Totally. The first time I was in Europe, I was in Paris and I called my mother and at that time they were using the transatlantic cable and it was so awfully that I could hardly understand. And I kept putting money in the paper, right. And tons of money in, in French France.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: And that's mind blowing. That's mind blowing. And so, you know, you have a very fascinating musical journey and career. And I was very, very intrigued and got a chance to listen to some of your musical pieces. And even though I come from a totally non musical background, I can recognize when somebody's great in their field of work. And it was really, really, really interesting to get immersed in your background and what you do for a living. So can you just give us some background and information on how you became, you know, a classical guitarist?
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Sure. And basically when I was about four, I started to four or five, I started to pick out tunes on a ukulele. So I was a natural musician. And then I got serious when I was 10. I heard Segovia when I was 16 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. And I changed my life. I said, my God, the beauty and the technical mastery. I mean, I couldn't believe his fingers were doing that. And as well as the beauty of music. And then I studied, sought out the greatest artist in the world, Christopher Parkening. I was in a master class with Pepe Romero. I studied at his house for five years, a private student of his and other notables, Frederick Note and so forth, and studied music and orchestration and all aspects of composition, meaning serious composition at Chapman College. It was not called Chapman Use of university back then. It was a private college with 850 or 800 students. And you actually had to know your.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Yeah, there's only 800. I can only imagine 800, you know, 815 people. I can only imagine. Very selective.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: Yeah. There. And it was, I was on scholarship. So, you know, the debt that kids are coming out with today, I go, where's your debt? I go, right, right, right. And I can't even believe some people are, I, oh, I owe a hundred thousand dollars. I go, that will not work.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And you know, I have a, I have an older dog, I have three daughters. My 11 year old daughter actually started playing the violin and. Yeah, it's beautiful to watch, you know, and she, she's in an orca, she's in orchestra in school and she just started playing the violin just in July. 11.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: How old is she? How old is she? 11. That's great.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: It's beautiful.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Takes a long time to get it in tune. There's a saying that it takes 10 years to get a vibe.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Oh, really? Yeah.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: Well, it's, I mean, that's an exaggeration. But you know, the guitar is, has frets, so you have a different way of knowing where to place it, but the violin does not. And so therefore it's harder to find that pinpoint and. But you know, each instrument has its difficulty.
[00:04:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it was beautiful watching her play a little piece for me because I kept telling her, I said, bring it home, bring it home, I'd like to hear you. And then she played just a little piece.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: And I was like, you know, I have no idea what else she needs to master, but I'm always picking her brain because that's something I never got to learn. Right.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Does she have private lessons as well as going?
[00:04:20] Speaker A: No, she's just learning it through school right now.
She's just in band.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: You might want to get, you might want to get a private teacher too.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Okay, I'll have to.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: Music at her age also, it expands the mind. You. They've proven that the intelligence level, 3 or 4% at least, improves the brain function because you're listening in a different way and expressing in a different way. I'll give you an example. So Glen Campbell gets Alzheimer's. Right. But not with the music.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Amazing.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: He couldn't remember, you know, anything. And then. But with the music, I go, yeah, but he knew the music. So it's in a different part of the brain that isn't.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Right. Right. So I, you've obviously traveled from around the world, and I managed to look up some information from some previous podcasts. Your grandmother used to play the organ from. For silent movies.
That's crazy. That's awesome. Like that. I mean, like that. That's crazy.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Yeah, she was. She knew all the greats of the day. And in her time, it was silent films. And then later, of course, talkies came in. She knew Jolson. Jolson is the first talkie film. And. But she played with the man of a Thousand Faces, which is Lon Chaney senior, and his son later became Junior, who was the wolfman in the film. And then she played with the cops, Charlie Chaplin. She was there at that LA premiere with Einstein in downtown LA at the Los Angeles theater owned by Sid Grauman. She also played many gigs with Harry Houdini.
And, you know, she was in the Pacific Northwest and actually in Michigan, too. And their. Tiori's orchestra, I think, used to do a national broadcast from St. Paul, Minnesota, and then somewhere in Michigan in that region. And that was like a big deal to have an actor.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: I can only imagine.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Yeah, so. Yeah, so I had that in.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: That's fantastic. So she's playing the organ. So how did you end up that you. It became the guitar for you? I mean, like, how did.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: I don't know that the. To answer your question honestly, I've said this before. I go, what is it that makes one person a happy listener? They're listening somebody singing or playing violin or piano, whatever it is, and the other person is drawn to become it and to express it. And. And that, I guess, is an unsolvable mystery. You could say repetition. I go, my mother never had any musical ability, but her mother did, you know, so what is the reason? I go, who knows? It can't be repetition because she was around it since she was a little girl. She'd sit on that bench next to her mother while she was playing a silent film that Lon Chaney was in fact.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Right. And you would think, like. But you would naturally gravitate over. Well, it's, it's, it's. It's funny you say that because, you know, I gravitated towards athletics, you know, and I do martial arts, right? But my daughters, you know, my daughter. My daughters do soccer and ice skating, and I never did soccer and ice skating. Right.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: And so, you know, so which type of martial arts do you do?
[00:07:30] Speaker A: They don't have it anywhere close near to me. But I've, you know, I've read the book, his book.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: I saw Bruce Lee do the demonstration there in Long beach in what, six? I don't remember what year I saw Bruce Lee do that demonstration and the one where he got his punch. Yeah, yeah. And I said, my God, I've never. I couldn't even believe a human being.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: So I do. I have a black belt. It's actually dark blue, but it's first on. I do Chuck Norris's style that he came when he came from Korea. It's called Tung Soo Do. So I have a black belt in that, and then I have a brown belt in Taekwondo, and I'm currently taking a Brazilian jiu jitsu and Muay Thai. So, you know, I. I'm a sponge for martial arts. You know, music wasn't my repertoire, but I would hate.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Yeah, everybody who. Why has somebody become a chemist? You know, they're interested, they see a chemical reaction and they go, my God, why?
[00:08:23] Speaker A: Exactly, Exactly.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Yeah. So everybody's different. And I go, that's the beauty of life, that variety.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: And, you know, I found myself, you know, when it came to your background, so I don't want to get this information incorrect. So you had 32 albums in touring. Am I. Am I saying that correctly?
[00:08:41] Speaker B: I have 32 albums. I'm actually with a new company starting here next week.
I have one of my albums, Guitar Chronicles is out with Warner Brothers and Hit Lab. And that's so that, you know, you can do separate deals. Right. And then my other albums are actually going to be going with another company, even though they've been with other companies. You know, there's licensing, for example, you know, fish films and videos and commercials and streaming and. Yeah, sure. Yeah, so. So, yes, I recorded. I have over 300 tracks, as a matter of fact, the past couple days, I've been organizing things for the new company. That's what I've been doing. Yesterday also on Thanksgiving, I pretty much.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: You know, that's your living. And so unless somebody actually knows, you know, you're in, that's what you do. So, you know, I can only imagine, like, that's your time to where some people will be watching a football game. And that's one of the reasons I created this show, was because we talked earlier, before the camera started rolling, that people can only see the world that's in front of them. And so for a long time, and the Internet has helped, but it also. You still have to talk to people. You can't just be in a chat box or on a message board or, you know, watching comments. Comments are great. Thumbs up or thumbs down are Great. But having the time to actually interact with you is more, is better than any experience in a chat box or totally.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: And people are meant to be in, to socialize. A man is a social animal and they're meant to touch each other and to hug and, you know, all that. I, I go, but if you're so far removed, I go, well, that's not good. You can have some of it, but not a full dose, you know.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: So, you know, one of the questions that I wanted to know was first of all, so in 78, you became kind of a full time musician. So what is the lifestyle of a full time musician if they're not making.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Out, touring and then going back to home base with me? I've grown up in Southern California. I was born in Santa Monica at St. John's Hospital and I grew up in Southern California all my life, but I've been so many places. What do you do? I go, well, I. You have to, sometimes you have to make a choice. Is it going to be a tour or is it going to be recording?
Because you can't be traveling all over in a plane and all that and do that much recording. So, and especially when I first started recording, you had to, you paid 200 for a hour in, you know, for sure. Yeah, it's different now. Now you can record everything. I mean, it's on a laptop.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: It's funny you mentioned that because that was going to be one of my segue questions. But I wanted to make sure to give enough, you know, information about your background when you toured, how you toured. But since you brought that up, how is technology helped or hurt the profession a professional musician?
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Okay, so, so here's my kind of standard rap. So back in the day, analog recording tapes reel to reel. Most people don't know sergeant Pepper was recorded on a fortress.
Yes. It was not this big thing. I go, no. The whole orchestra, you know, had this one and there's four tracks. And so in those days, tape hiss and.
But the warmth of the analog sound, that was the technology. Then along came digital. I'll talk about digital for a minute. I knew that that was the wave of the future. And I don't believe in trying to live in 18th century America if you're in 24. In other words, you and I don't wear powdered wigs and you're not a lot of, you know, we, we have to laugh. We have to live in the era of what we live in. And so I would have musicians that say, Jonathan, digital is so metallic and coal And I go, you're right, but what does that matter?
I go, this is the way of the future. If you don't. I knew musicians that were tremendous artists would refuse to record digitally. I go, you. You're an idiot. Because that's like where the world is going. And this is how it works. So I immediately started recording in the 90s. When did you saw.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: You placed it early.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: The. The Internet's 95, really. Right. And so I started to compile and to learn pieces and make arrangements and do transcriptions and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And so that is what I did because I knew I had to create a catalog. And the first record deal I had was with Mark 56 Records. Actually, before that, I had records in all the Tower tapes in all the Tower records. And Sam Goodies.
Yeah, those are. But then, you know, it is. I go, God, every second it changes. Now we've got tapes now we've got eight tracks. Now we've got other tapes now we've got DVDs. Now we. And CDs. And now we. You know what I'm saying? In other words, on and on and on. And some of them hit and some of them remember, the Beta Max was going to be big. And it did not. It did not work. And I go to people, I go, well, you never know what it's going to work. But some things catch on. Like the Betamax didn't catch on. The Edel card didn't catch on. And other things. Do people have been trying to make electric cars for. I don't even know. I think the first one was electric.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: I saw a documentary on when they did the Hoover Dam and they said that they were trying. Because so many people of the workers were dying from the smoke inhalation when they were trying to blast the rock inside the Hoover Dam. And they actually brought. And I was shocked. And they were like, oh, yeah, they brought this electrical vehicle from Europe. So. And that was like, you know, I mean, I wish I could remember off the top of my head when the Hoover Dam was created, but it sure wasn't 30 years ago or 10 years ago.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: It was created in the. I was there about two months ago.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: I was there about two months ago.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: Okay. And so that tells you that it's always been the electrical vehicles have always existed. So I mean, it just depends on the time and era when things are more prudent for.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Right. And look what happened. I mean, Elon souped it up and put the battery, the whole undercarriage, right? And so I'm just saying that you never know what's going to catch on. So back to the digital catalog. I said, well, I knew that digital was going to be it for the planet, at least for a while, I didn't know how long.
So I started to come back from tours and I spent more time recording than touring. And the reason why is I go, well, once the music is out there on a tour, it's gone. Right, right. It's in the atmosphere.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: And what was interesting. So, you know, we talked about the transition into digital and you've done a really good job of, obviously you've done this for a very long time. And one of your expertise is also self branding. How did you as a solo guitarist be able to, for lack of better term, make a lifestyle out of this and make this your living?
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: And I'm just curious.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. So. So you know, Rashad, the standard classical repertoire, which I have done for decades, is to master those pieces and attain the skills necessary to master those. And at the same time, and this was predicted more 40 years ago, 30 years ago, that I knew I had to add to the repertoire. And what do I mean by that? I knew that to get people to listen to classical music, some people only listen to Spanish guitar, but they wouldn't listen to, let's say, Bach or they wouldn't listen to a jazz, for example. And I said, but what I found growing up and learning all the masterpieces, once I had learned them, and I was pretty young, I was in my early 20s, and I had literally played almost every masterpiece in existence, you know, the Chiffon, the Grand Overture, Leanda, all of these, the Grand Hotel. And so I said, but I'm an American, right?
[00:17:15] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: In other words, where is the American music? Well, you had great Americans like Duke Ellington, who my grandmother knew, by the way, and you had great Americans like Duke Ellington or Satchimo. Right. Louis Armstrong or, or many other, let's say jazz artists. So I knew I had to adapt different styles of music to the classical guitars. This is going to answer your thing. How do you brand like that? And so what I wanted to do is to become what I call a crossover artist. Is that person classical? Yes and no. Are they playing jazz? Yes and no. Right. In other words, they're a compilation of, you know, many things.
So I adapted pieces from psychedelic era. I adapted pieces from American 19th century folk songs from, as I said, the jazz era. I adapted pieces from, let's say Polish folk songs. I adapted, in other words, it's a big, vast panorama here. It's a vast tapestry. And so my catalog has albums that are as diverse as, let's say, American pop music of the Caesar 70s. And then a album of Italian, shall we say, adapted aria.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: That's amazing. That's, you know, and I talk, you know, because just like anything I said this to a gentleman that's a pianist and he plays eight different instruments that he's also in Los Angeles area as well too. He's an actor as well. And I said this, I'm saying this to you even though I do an art, which is martial art, and you do music. It's always amazing. And obviously your confidence far exceed mine than I can accomplish in martial arts. It's always cool that I think that something that's been around forever, wherever you go, you know, you're a part of that. Right? So when you, if I go into anything that's somewhat martial arts related, I know what people are talking about. I can relate to it. There's a language that you speak amongst yourselves. So your background in music is phenomenal. Like, absolutely phenomenal. And so for you to be able to say, I can go to an opera, I can go to a jazz show, or I can listen to this jazz musician or any other piece of music, your ear is more fine tuned than the average person, you know, because of years and years of expertise, your accomplishments, how to speak for themselves. But knowing that particular part of the world and music is everywhere. Martial arts is a bit niche, but it's in movie trailers. It can make or break a movie, it can make or break a show.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: So, you know, John, Steven Spielberg said there would be no Indiana Jones, there would be none of his films without John Williams.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, you're talking down the list. You're talking, you know, you know, when James Horner was around, you know, you know, just amazing.
Oh, you mean he did some phenomenal pieces. You know, phenomenal pieces. Phenomenal pieces. And again, this is just from the guy who's just sitting there just soaking it in like, this is dope. This is really cool.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: So I'll give you an example about a piece that I did not adapt but is a, in a way a crossover, even though it was common at the time to do this, an 18th century piece called Variations on a Theme by Mozart. Mozart wrote an opera called Die Zauber Flute, which means the Magic Flute. And he revealed freemasonry secrets in the scenes and that. And the Masons were kind of upset with him because he was amazing and. But then a Contemporary of his, a known classical guitarist named Fernando Soar took one of those themes and did a set of variations on it and it became a famous masterpiece. So that's kind of the history of that masterpiece, right? And that's a person in that era living at that time doing kind of what I'm doing. And so as you're talking about something that's, you know, attaching to something eternal. I'll bet the Asian martial arts go back a thousand years or more. Some of the, with some of the disciplines like you said, Taekwondo or I know Jeet Kune do is not because Bruce Lee, it's be like water, water adapter.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: There used to be a style in South Korea called Tyken, right Back before the Japanese occupied. I mean this is that, that a lot of the martial arts got kind of lost their name in certain countries because of occupation during World wars and things kind of be were pushed aside and they became more of an occupation style that they had to lose some of their style or it got lost in, in war. But some of these styles are like you said, centuries old. And it's, it's, it's knowing that in some obscure world, I'm in a little, little small corner that says, I know that that's a part of the world that I live and that's something that's priceless. I'm not going to be remembered. I'm just another guy that took it up. But it's always nice to know somewhere.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: I'm wondering if some of that evolution of like let's say Taekwondo, the Korean body type is a little more heavy and squat or you know, more beefier than let's say a Japanese person would be just by the genetics, regional sizes.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: I'm not privy to the details on that as much. You know, as opposed to just like how the lineage is worked and things like that. You know, there's a.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Right. So I'm saying that because I'm wondering if their body type of that culture had anything to do with, you know, I'm going to do this type of maneuver or whatever and that if you're either let's say Japanese or Chinese or that it's any different and whether it had an impact on it. I don't.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: Yeah, there's, there's lots of books and I'm actually reading, listen to an audiobook right now. The author's name escapes me but it goes back to how it all actually started. And you know, there's, there's, there's a really well known artist I'm sorry, author. It's out of England that. That I'm listening to on audio right now. I'll have to see if I can send you the name of it. I'm about. It's eight hours worth of listening. I'm like an hour into it right now, so. But it's very fascinating because even I. As I'm learning to. I'm sure you. You love the history of what you are into. You know, you always.
[00:23:42] Speaker B: Sure. And, you know, I. When people say, how did you become what you became? And part of my answer is, I don't know. And the other part of my answer is I go, well, you know, as a little kid, my grandmother is playing that piano in a house after a long, distinguished career with all these notables of her time period. And so I go, it must have done something.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: You know.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: I mean, you know, I didn't learn, you know, I didn't learn Mandarin. I learned English because I was.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: So I gotta ask you a question, because especially somebody who's learned and, you know, has been so successful, what's your thoughts on AI Kind of in the. In the. In the avenue of creating music, making music, substituting musicians, there's gonna be a lot of loss. Okay.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: So even Drake, they stole something from Drake and he sued him. And I go, what do I think? I go, it's the greatest boon and insanely scary and evil. I go, you'll have robot armies. You'll have Arnold Schwarzenegger as Terminator. Could absolutely be real and not a film of the 80s, right. I go, it's absolutely true. On the other hand, the advances in medicine, it's insane. You can map a protein in 10 minutes and it takes a man five years.
Edward Teller was given. He wanted to work on his hydrogen bomb when he was on the Manhattan Project. And Oppenheimer gave him equations because they needed to solve certain things. And he said. He goes up, this will take me two weeks. And I go, those same equations.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's bonk. It's crazy. And so, you know, you start finding out. And the reason I asked, because obviously you're dealing with copyright issues. Obviously. And I don't. I don't even know enough about music to state this, but does it feel like. Like cheating in a way? Like when people, like, either, A, write music. B, may not seek out actual musicians to do certain.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: Well, now you don't have.
[00:25:51] Speaker A: That's what I'm saying. Right. Like. Like, that's like.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: And so your discipline and skill is thousands of hours to master taking somebody to whatever it is that you do. I go, whatever that skilled professional does. I go, you think it happened in a minute? My grandmother used to say, because she would not only do the silent films but she would do shows in that. So there would be dancers and because people don't realize worked for those dancers to get the routines right. I go, exactly. I go, have you ever seen Michael Jackson dance? He was a fanatic at it. I mean he'd be there at 3 o'clock in the morning doing his moon walk and you know, doing his stuff at home and practicing. I go, he was a consummate artist that wanted to perfect that. And look what he did. The style of dancing in that body.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Is that, I mean, it just blows your mind away. It really even have to isolate all.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: Those muscles properly and. Oh right, yeah. I used to have a dancer girlfriend and she'd always say, your diaphragm, oh my goodness. She'd know all the different movements.
[00:27:06] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. And that's, you know, that's, that's crazy because you know it. I only, I'll talk briefly just with martial arts with this, right? Keeping a base leg and then actually making a movement with the attacking or you know.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: It's not nearly as easy as people think that it is, right?
[00:27:23] Speaker B: No. Rub your head past your belly. Right?
[00:27:27] Speaker A: So I gotta ask, how many instruments do you actually play? Obviously you play classical guitar. Are there other instruments?
[00:27:33] Speaker B: So, so let me give you a little background on that. I used to play a little bit of five string banjo. I was going to be an opera singer as well, but I don't sing anymore and I don't play five scene banjo because to become a real master of an instrument, not a jack of all trades, takes tremendous dedication to that instrument. Remember, I know I studied composition, so I was a serious composer. I know all the instruments, I know how to compose for them. I don't know how to play them. I take the piano as my sound source. If I'm doing and I'm not composing right now, I'm transcribing and arranging for classical guitar. But I want a sound source where I am not a skilled professional at. When I have a buddy who's a master pianist, Jonathan, you do this. I go, bob, I don't want to know how to play the piano well. I go, I'm using this as a tool to ferret out the sounds. I go, if I become good, I don't want to become good, I don't want to become a pianist. And he understands that. I go, this is just to check myself. Okay. Is that correct? Yeah. Is that correct?
[00:28:47] Speaker A: It's amazing, you know? It's amazing, you know, and so I have to ask, when you tour, like, you've been all. Where. What places, what continents have you been to? Have you been all.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: I have been. I have been to not only North America and Europe, but I've also been to what I call all the strange places in the world. I've been. I toured all over India. I've toured, of course, Romania when it was just out of being dominated by Ceausescu, meaning Communists, but not part of the Warsaw Pact. And I've also been behind the Iron Curtain, when it was the Iron Curtain. And I've been to the Philippines. I've been to the Amazon, Brazil. All over Brazil. And Barbados. Meaning Barbados in the Caribbean, Not Barbados, Spain. Right. Barbados, the Caribbean island. And so. And many other places. So, I mean, those are more exotic places, right. To tour than Europe.
[00:29:41] Speaker A: Got it. Got it. So. And you're also. You've also taught, right, too, as well. Correct.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: So. So I represented America as America's musical ambassador. And I did master classes in Brazil, in Barbados, in various places. And so I taught and. Oh, here's a good Barbadian story about teaching. So I was teaching at night, and one of my students, you know, I just met him, and they. I found out that we were standing outside, it was like 9:00, and it was a break. I said, let's all take a break and we'll, you know, be right back. And so my. The sponsor, who I also introduced to his country is great flautist Hal Archer, who is. We've done two albums together. He's a great guy and my buddy. And he said, jonathan, this person here was in Jim Jones's Cult. And I said, what?
And said, yeah, he's the two brothers that ran into the forest and didn't die from drinking the Kool Aid. He was one of my students at that point.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: What do you even say? Are you kidding?
[00:30:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:59] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: Nope. And so. So how I said, what was it like? He goes. And the guy goes, I can't remember his name now. You can look it up on the Internet. You see him. And he go. He goes, well, we knew you crazy, John. And I go, freaking. He's crazy and he's evil. You know, telling people to kill themselves and drink the Kool Aid and all that. And what was it called? The People's Temple. And I started in San Francisco. He goes, that's where I Live Jonathan. I lived in San Francisco, you know, and said I got hooked up and then we flew down to. It was the French guy.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it was one of those two.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
And so. And so, you know, I have a thousand adventures.
[00:31:42] Speaker A: Unbelievable.
Sometimes we only get a chance to like hear the story about the person that's within our mile radius. And that's what made your background to me so fascinating. And we, you know, just being able to look you up, it was page after page and you know, classic musical piece after classic musical piece. And you have your own app and you have your albums on, you know, Spotify and your, Your world. You. You do world tours and you know, to. Where does a person start?
And this is kind of a question. I like that. I kind of just thought throw something on the wall.
So if somebody wants to get into classical music, like, what's the definition of it? Is it. Is it Italian? And if they say, I want to start doing classical music, is there a particular genre somebody has to go to?
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Just go and. No, just go on to the thing. And you want to get a teacher if you're a pianist or a violinist, whatever it is. And you will find plenty of people teaching classical music and you will find many instructors. You can go to schools. There are, you know, like a music school in your area, I'm sure in Detroit, in Michigan. There must be, you know, a few at least.
[00:32:53] Speaker A: Oh yeah, there's a couple right around the corner. I just didn't know if there's a specific genre that is called, like this is classical, but this isn't.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: Because it's classical is considered the compilation of all pieces from, let's be pre Renaissance to this present day Renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, contemporary. And those are the things that have the highest standards and have lasted the longest. Let's say the three ballets that introduced the 20th century. As Boulez said, the birth certificate. 20th century is the piece Le Sacre du Pan, the Bride of Spring by Igor Stravinsky. A ballet, one of the three early ballets. And so there are. If you just get on Google now, we have it so easy. In the old days, I'd be going to music libraries, right?
You know, but you know, why don't we do this? Can we schedule. Can we schedule another podcast? And what I'm going to do is tell you about touring stories. I have a series on my YouTube channel and on my app. If you just type Jonathan Taylor guitar into Google, you'll find tons. I did make sure, yeah, play. Make sure to say guitar. Otherwise there's a wonderful black football player that, you know, comes up. And even though I look like a black football player, I am not a black football player. And so. And he's so talented. And so if you do that. But let's schedule something for next.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: I would love that.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: And that.
And I'll talk about stories of my adventures in the Amazon and I'm going to die there, and stories that I was stalked in Indian, almost killed, all sorts of things. And remind me. And we'll do all that. And also, if you want the app, just go to. It's all free.
If you're on Apple, go to Apple Store. If you're on, like.
