Paul Taylor - Steppin' Out (2003) [Peak Records, PKD-8516-2]

Posted By: v3122

Date: Dec. 5, 2010

Paul Taylor, the sexy saxman of smooth/urban jazz, is back with his fifth solo recording titled Steppin' Out, his second outing on the Peak Records label. Ripe with old-school moods and pop-oriented flavors, Taylor's accompanists bring out the best of his smooth sax work on soprano and alto, his sax harmonies, and his vocoder on three tracks. Produced by Rex Rideout and Barry J. Eastmond, two of smooth/urban jazz's most acclaimed producers, the set jumps off with the radio-friendly single "On the Move," which immediately sets the tone for the remainder of the all-star project. The lovely, reassuring vocals of Sharon Youngblood are both soothing and captivating on "Someone Watching Over You." She provides an excellent foil for the beautiful soprano sax voice of Taylor, who provides delicate background complements. On "Enchanted Garden," Taylor plays a highly imaginative soprano sax and vocoder and captures the listener's imagination with fragrant flourishes and delicate lines. The smooth program is interspersed with a soulful urban bebop-style composition called "Speakeasy" and ends with a bonus track titled "Get Up." And that's exactly what you'll want to do to express your gratitude for this marvelous set.

~ Paula Edelstein, All Music Guide

Paul Taylor:

Born: 1972, Denver, CO
Active: 2000s
Genres: Jazz
Instrument: Sax (Soprano), Sax (Alto), Keyboards
Representative Albums: "Greatest Hits", "Legends, Vol. 2: Jazz"
Representative Songs: "Avenue", "Pleasure Seeker", "Exotica"

Paul Taylor grew up in Denver, where he took up the saxophone at the age of seven. He played in school bands, and in high school joined a Top 40 band called Mixed Company. Jazz keyboardist Keiko Matsui and her husband, producer Kazu Matsui, discovered him playing at the Catalina Island Jazz Festival and hired him to play in their band. He spent two years with them, and then Kazu Matsui produced his 1995 debut album, On the Horn, which reached the jazz charts and spawned a radio hit in "Til We Meet Again." Pleasure Seeker, his second album, followed in 1997 and was equally successful. Taylor released his third album, Undercover, on Peak/N-Coded Music in February 2000. Also in 2000, he toured as a special guest artist with the Rippingtons. Subsequent albums Hypnotic (2001), Steppin' Out (2003), Nightlife (2005), and Ladies' Choice (2007), all issued by Peak Records, figured high in the contemporary jazz charts, with Ladies' Choice going all the way to number one. Peak released Taylor's eighth album, Burnin', in 2009.

~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Paul Taylor - Steppin' Out (2003):

Tracklist:

01. On The Move [04:24]
02. Steppin' Out [04:37]
03. Long Way Home [04:20]
04. Someone Watching Over You [04:23]
05. Night Rider [03:58]
06. Cantina [04:44]
07. Let's Go Out Tonite [04:32]
08. Hacienda [04:37]
09. Enchanted Garden [04:36]
10. Speakeasy [04:52]
11. Runaway [04:32]

Personnel includes: Paul Taylor (soprano saxophone); Paul Taylor (alto saxophone, vocoder); Nicholas Lane (trumpet); Lee Thornburg (trombone); Rex Rideout (keyboards, programming); Dwight Sills (guitar); Michael White, Ronnie Garrett (bass); (drums); Luis Conte, Dave Charles (percussion); Darcy Alrdridge (background vocals).

EAC

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 3 from 28. July 2007

EAC extraction logfile from 14. May 2009, 8:29

Paul Taylor / Steppin' Out

Used drive : TSSTcorpCDDVDW SE-S204N Adapter: 6 ID: 4

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : H:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %s -o %d

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:24.37 | 0 | 19836
2 | 4:24.37 | 4:36.65 | 19837 | 40601
3 | 9:01.27 | 4:19.58 | 40602 | 60084
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6 | 21:42.67 | 4:43.28 | 97717 | 118969
7 | 26:26.20 | 4:31.72 | 118970 | 139366
8 | 30:58.17 | 4:37.23 | 139367 | 160164
9 | 35:35.40 | 4:35.37 | 160165 | 180826
10 | 40:11.02 | 4:52.13 | 180827 | 202739
11 | 45:03.15 | 4:32.02 | 202740 | 223141

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\TTT\Paul Taylor\2003 - Steppin' Out\Paul Taylor - Steppin' Out.wav

Peak level 98.8 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 092F0858
Copy CRC 092F0858
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [10FF11F3]
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [E36DE3CC]
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [0EC676BD]
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [45D1C75B]
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [201066EF]
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [958922EF]
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [2A18B405]
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [1586483F]
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [D4D764F8]
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [76A0BF98]
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 4) [FC4721AB]

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

Audiochecker

AUDIOCHECKER v2.0 beta (build 457) - by Dester - opdester@freemail.hu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-=== DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE! ===-

Path: …\2003 - Steppin' Out - FLAC

1 -=- Paul Taylor - Steppin' Out.flac -=- CDDA (100%)

146182612

Accurip(CUETools

[Verification date: 29.11.2010 9:00:02]
[Disc ID: 00143121-00af5d41-860b9f0b]
Track [ CRC ] Status
01 [10ff11f3] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
02 [e36de3cc] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
03 [0ec676bd] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
04 [45d1c75b] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
05 [201066ef] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
06 [958922ef] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
07 [2a18b405] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
08 [1586483f] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
09 [d4d764f8] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
10 [76a0bf98] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1
11 [fc4721ab] (06/06) Accurately ripped as in pressing(s) #1

Track [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– [092F0858] [F57F377B] CRC32
01 [650E7C61] [4331BE6F]
02 [740E5AA2] [33F99607]
03 [0A9B2DE5] [B9B2624C]
04 [7D9B5EE0] [9130A125]
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09 [595AF3DC] [8C9D025C]
10 [191C32BF] [82BFAD66]
11 [204AA9D3] [3E8FF658]

All thanks go to the original releaser …