Jazz, funk, and soul pianist, guitarist, and singer-songwriter Bee Taylor will bring her eclectic music to the Lowertown Arts & Music Festival stage this Saturday evening. Austin Carter speaks with Taylor ahead of her performance about how she created her current musical set-up, her influences, and what audiences can expect at her upcoming show.
"Previous to playing piano, I played guitar and blues harp for about 13 years," Taylor begins. "I just happened to move into the top of a studio that had a piano there, and I had not been living in a place that had one available. It's just the fact of it being there and being around and me being able to sit down whenever I want — granted, I had no idea about anything about the piano. Shortly after that, I found Dr. John and the New Orleans style of piano."
"It got my heart. It got my soul," she continues. "I told myself, 'Listen, I don't know anything about this instrument, but I want to learn how to do that.'" Taylor says that after she made up her mind about learning to play the piano, she collected her last $100 on June 6, 2019, and bought her first piano. "On the way home is when I got a phone call that Dr. John had passed away, and I was so devastated."
"Since that time, I've just been spending time on the keys. When I found piano, it was like finding out there were more colors to paint with and work with. It really just opened up my world of music even more than it had been." Taylor says she struggled to find someone willing to teach her the New Orleans style of piano playing she aspired to create, so she settled on teaching herself.
"Thankfully, I had a few months where I could sit down and get a handle on some things. But when I started writing [on piano], it just took off. A lot of it, you gotta wing it, especially in the moment. If it's your turn to take a solo, and you don't have any idea what you're doing, but you walk out on that tightrope anyway, you might mess up, but who cares? You're still learning and giving a real performance that's coming from a place of authenticity instead of, 'Hey, I know everything that I'm doing.' Because that's never going to be true, you know? At least, I hope not. I hope I'm always going to be learning something. But I would say it definitely took me to a level of expression on stage that I had not previously experienced."
In addition to Taylor on piano and guitar, she will be performing at LTAMF with a drummer, bassist, and saxophone player. Taylor and her band perform on Saturday, May 13, at 7 pm. For more information on Bee Taylor, visit her website.
Visit the Yeiser Art Center's website for more information on the Lowertown Arts & Music Festival.
