The Blazing Fiddles

The Blazing Fiddles © 2010

Jeff Taylor

Violin

Jeff’s musical career began at the age of 7 when he began playing the violin. After seeing Isaac Stern on Sesame Street, Jeff asked his parents if he could take violin lessons. He had no idea what he was in for! About that time Jeff began singing in the local church choir (St. Stephen’s Anglican, Maple). After showing early talents, Jeff was enrolled in Royal St. George’s College, an all boys Anglican Choir School in Toronto. He became the recipient of the Duchess of Kent scholarship, and the St. Nicholas choral award, and began singing in the choir at St. James Cathedral. Jeff’s choral experience took him on tours to China, Germany, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. During this time, Jeff was also excelling at the violin, winning multiple awards and competitions. His first teacher, Jean Blanc taught Jeff the Suzuki method for ten years. Jeff then switched teachers to Eugene Kash at the Royal Conservatory, who taught Jeff for five years. In 1996, Jeff became the youngest ever member of the York Symphony Orchestra, and also began teaching the Violin north of Toronto. After graduating high school, Jeff enrolled at York University in the classical violin performance program. After one year he changed course and switched to Jazz performance, where he remained until he graduated in 2007. Being able to improvise led Jeff’s musical career in new and exciting directions. He began playing in a multitude of different projects and bands, including jazz bands, rock bands, fiddle bands, flamenco bands, blues bands and more.