Mike Taylor

Perhaps best known for his songwriting contributions to Cream's Wheels of Fire album, but a supremely talented jazz pianist in his own right, Mike Taylor was born in Ealing, West London, and was already a gifted player when he joined the Royal Air Force in the early '50s, playing in several ad hoc bands and determining then that he wanted to become a jazz musician. Taylor spent much of the late '50s in a succession of professional and amateur bands, and it was the early '60s before he branched out to form his own eponymous group, alongside trombonist John Mumford and trumpeters Chris Bateson and Frank Powell. The group earned instant attention; as fascinated by musical theory as he was actually playing, Taylor was forever hatching new musical ideas and notions that he was desperate to try out in public. Few were at all commercial -- many club owners simply refused to rebook the trio once they'd heard the music.