Sax player making rare stop on home turf

By Jerry Fink

Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Serendipitous • an occurrence of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way

Egregious • outstandingly bad; shocking

Here’s an example using today’s vocabulary words: It’s serendipitous that smooth jazz saxophonist Paul Taylor, whose latest album is titled “Burnin’,” is performing a benefit for the Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Foundation this weekend. But it’s egregious that Taylor, a Las Vegas musician, rarely performs locally.

“I might perform once or twice a year in Las Vegas,” says Taylor, who moved from Denver more than 30 years ago to attend UNLV and never left. “Most of my concerts are on the road. This is a rare gig this year, actually playing in my hometown. I don’t have a place in the local scene where I can play every week.”

The sour economy has curtailed some of his time on the road too.

“Touring kind of mirrors the economic times,” Taylor, 49, says. “It’s depressed a little right now, so I’ve done a little bit less touring this year.”

Taylor began playing sax at age 7 and played Top 40, funk and Crusader-styled fusion in a high school garage band. He attended UNLV on scholarship, graduating as a music performance major. Even though he is based in Las Vegas, Taylor says he isn’t plugged into the local jazz scene.

“I’ve kind of lost touch,” he says. “But I agree, there could be more going on for the talent that’s here.”

He’s recorded eight albums. He hit No. 1 on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart with his 2007 album “Ladies’ Choice.”

The follow-up, “Burnin’,” reunites Taylor with veteran hit makers Barry Eastmond — who has worked with Al Jarreau, Peabo Bryson, Jonathan Butler, Anita Baker — and Rex Rideout — who has worked with Richard Elliot, Gerald Albright, Boney James and Najee.

“Burnin’ ” has a retro ’70s, old-school vibe. Although the album cover shows him playing alto sax, Taylor ended up playing tenor sax.

“The focus on the tenor happened by very happy accident,” Taylor says. “I thought it would be cool to bring my tenor along with my soprano and alto to the sessions that kicked off the project. When I got to the studio and opened up my cases, I saw that the soprano was damaged. It made sense to use both alto and tenor to start writing, and I really started liking the way the lower tones of the tenor sounded. We just kept rolling with it.

“It’s got a gutsier sound and as things turned out, lent itself to the retro ’70s soul sounds that naturally emerged. I always think back to that Junior Walker ‘Shotgun’ blast, and this was just my time to go in this direction.”