'Quintessence is the result of a week rehearsing and recording in Hannover with the NDR Orchestra for a 1987 radio broadcast. Stan Sulzmann had a private copy which he sent to Jazz In Britain some four years ago, urging us to seek consents for its release. We finally achieved that last year and so here you have this remarkable recording which has sat unheard in the NDR archives for nearly forty years“ The piano is often referred to as an orchestra, a kind of overview of possibilities in a box. Stravinsky did all his writing sat behind one. John Taylor’s music has always had an orchestral scope to it somehow, and so it’s only right that this remarkable recording exists. His dense and emotional chords, the skittish melody lines, always suggested the colours and contrast drawn from turn of the century (20th!) classical composers, and so this luxurious setting for his music seems the logical choice. From this, as well as a lifetime’s experience in jazz, John Taylor spun something singular and completely himself. Whether playing in Johnny Griffin’s rhythm section or the revolutionary trio Azimuth with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler, Taylor could mix the elegance of logical construction with the mad dash for seemingly unplayable lines, moving from humour to pathos in the blink of an eye. As his duo partner on these sessions, Stan Sulzmann, points out ”it’s easy just to talk about the compositions, but actually it’s John’s playing as much as anything else, the way he fits in with all that orchestral sound.” Liam Noble." (album notes)