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The James Taylor Quartet
Biography
Reportedly the band whose music coined the term acid jazz (when a British journalist struggled to describe it), the James Taylor Quartet has explored spy-soundtrack soul-jazz and funk since the group's beginnings in the mid-'80s. Originally playing the Hammond B-3 organ in the U.K. mod revival band the Prisoners, James Taylor formed his own jazz quartet in 1985 and began playing music similar to the rare-groove jazz-funk then in vogue around London. By the early '90s, that movement had spawned acid jazz and the James Taylor Quartet found itself at the forefront of a vibrant young club scene, even though Taylor was a decade-long veteran by that time.

The Prisoners had emerged from Kent in 1982, and released two albums, A Taste of Pink and The Wisermiserdemelza, before Taylor quit in the mid-'80s (the group imploded after just one more studio album). Taylor quickly formed a quartet around ex-Prisoner Allan Crockford on bass, drummer Simon Howard, and James' own brother David on guitar.

The James Taylor Quartet recorded for several small labels during 1985, but a 1986 session for Radio 1 DJ John Peel got the group signed to Re-Elect the President Records, which released a 1987 mini-LP of covers, Mission Impossible.
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