Name: James Taylor
Nationality: British
Occupation: Hammond organ player, songwriter
Current Release: James Taylor Quartet play at The Barbican, London on April 2nd with a full live orchestra. James has also reunited with his band The Prisoners for a reunion show at The Camden Roundhouse on 24th May 2024. (Tickets to both events on sale now)
Recommendations: Abbas Kiarostami; Beethoven's opus 111, the second movement ‘arietta’

If you enjoyed this James Taylor interview and would like to stay up to date on his music with the James Taylor Quartet and The Prionsers, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.

For the views of the drummer of his second band The Prisoners, read our Johnny Symons interview.
 


Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?   

These things are all in the mix.

Pain and suffering are the key elements in creativity. It’s a process whereby the difficult awful stuff in life is transformed into the beautiful and numinous. Humans can do this odd thing!

Creativity comes from a deep sense of lack within me. I can validate myself by producing work in whatever form, can be music.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

It's nice to have an idea in mind and then take the time to develop it whilst doing something else like walking or gardening, strengthening the idea and then collecting different melodies to go with it, then going to the studio to execute the composition.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

It's odd, if I tidy the house and everything is neat I got more chance of thinking clearly, then I can play and write music better.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating?

I know when I can and can't write. I love being in writing mode but it doesn’t last very long and then I need to switch that part of me off and wait.

I know the feeling of having a tune inside waiting to come out ...  It’s a beautiful feeling.  

What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?     

Exercise for sure. It's very important to be fit and strong to write well.

Caffeine can definitely be involved but it's also very cool to be relaxed and write. Especially classical music needs a calm approach, rock n roll is more caffeiney!

What do you start with? And, to quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

Well there is a sense that all art is just the process of uncovering something that already exists.

With the truly great composers like Mozart the music has a feel to it as if it has always been deep in the human psyche but needed him to uncover it.
 
Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Absolutely, that’s why I love it so much.

It comes from elsewhere, I oversee its birth and try to get out of the way of the process consciously.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

Experience tells me which to keep and which to ditch. You have to hold a lot of ideas and possible routes in mind to synthesise a new tune, it's tiring and takes a lot of concentration.

When I’m knackered I stop and answer interview questions!

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

It's completely spiritual for sure. As is everything.

The creative state is an attempt to get closer to the infinite.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on?

Yes it's hard to tell straight away. Time is good for this  

How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece?

Can come back to revisit ideas maybe years later, it's all ok.

What does this process look like in practise?

In general I’m impatient. But as I get older I can stay with ideas over longer and longer time and let them develop.

I'm sure I would be diagnosed with ADHD if I was to allow it. But the impatience is also useful because you need to be stimulated by your work and then you might be able to reach others with it.

When you're in the studio to record a piece, how important is the actual performance and the moment of performing the song still in an age where so much can be “done and fixed in post?“  

Ah the band makes it happen. So this is very important.

You can only fix techncal things you can’t produce a beautiful human chemistry of players with a computer.

Even recording a solo song is usually a collaborative process. Tell me about the importance of trust between the participants, personal relationships between musicians and engineers and the freedom to perform and try things – rather than gear, technique or “chops” - for creating a great song.  

Trust is pretty important, going into the collaboration in a trusting, open and respectful way.

It takes courage to allow the other to see you and to be seen. Can be tricky!

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?

I’m not so bothered about all this. But luckily my colleagues are so I leave it to them.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Waiting.

Music is a language, but like any language, it can lead to misunderstandings. In which way has your own work – or perhaps the work of artists you like or admire - been misunderstood? How do you deal with this?   

Just keep trying to hone the work until it connects more completely with the listener.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Making good coffee is definitely an art, one that the British have yet to master.Writing good music is a gift from god, it's not really up to me. If I’m lucky he’ll be generous with me!

But it helps if I’m generous with others, like maybe making them a good cup of coffee!