Last Updated: 6.1.06
*ALL PHOTOS BY STEVE CZUBARA
unless noted otherwise.
*CLICK HERE to check out MP3's of Black Olive with Levin & Marotta!
| Black Olive is a dream that began long
ago in the the mind of Eric
"the" Taylor. It is a band,... and idea,... a vision that changes shape and form as time and space dictate. It presented itself to him, and he answered the transmission with glee. It has now grown beyond all expectations and is gathering speed with many mutations. |
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| Eric
The Taylor (keyboards), Alex
Kelley (guitar) and Jamie Bryce (drums)
began working under the name Black
Olive in December
of 2001. Early focus was on the original song The Rubber
Room and David Bowie's Ashes To Ashes.
Following a successful appearance at a local David
Bowie birthday concert at The Bug Jar (in Rochester,
NY), the trio works out more original compositions. During
the spring and summer months of 2002 the band went on hiatus
while Eric worked on visual art for the city of Rochester,
New York. |
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| During the summer months, Eric sought out the perfect female singer for the band. Enter Jennifer Kerner. Her vocal ability and background in theater proved ideal for the band's direction. | ||||||||
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| Jen'sfirst rehearsal in September of 2002 with the Black Olive also served as Jamie's last. Luckily, in the previous month, the appropriate drummer returned to Rochester. A Sunday night jam between Eric, Alex and Malcolm Moore complete the formation of Black Olive. One week later the four musicians convened to develop the final repertoire. | ||||||||
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| Approximately six weeks later, the new Black Olive plays it's first (and last?) public performance opening for The Tony Levin Band. | ||||||||
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The
band received a very positive response from the audience
and drummer Jerry Marotta (Tony
Levin Band, Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls). |
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Milestones-Rochester, NY
Milestones-Rochester, NY |
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| The band parts ways in February of 2003 for various reasons. Jen eventually moves to California to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, Alex delves head-first into becoming a member of the seminal guitar ensemble: The League of Crafty Guitarists originally started by Robert Fripp, Malcolm eneters a new path into becoming a Pentecostal minister at Elim Bible Fellowship in Lima, NY, and Eric focuses on his visual art, including appearing on the May 2004 cover of Insider Rochester Remixed. | ||||||||
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| More time passes by. Black Olive stay in touch. Eric continues work with Matthew D. Guarnere, Jamie Bryce and Jen on new and old Black Olive tracks. | ||||||||
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| Alex and Malcolm record
and perform under the name Seen
and Not Seen with and without Eric. Jen and Malcolm open up as a duo for Matthew D. Guarnere at Milestones. Eric and Malcolm record a new piece called Heal to commemorate the horrors of 911. Alex plays tracks on Malcolm's new project Sympathetic Echo. Then, there is a disturbance in the force... Eric places a call to Malcolm. |
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On September 24th, 2004, two minivans
leave Rochester for Woodstock, NY. Eric, Malcolm, Alex, and friends Steve Czubara, Carrie Zimmerman and Nithin Cherian set outfor an adventure. The following day, Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta lay down new tracks to the Black Olive original sessions that Eric converted from ADAT to Pro Tools at Jersville Studios! |
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The result is spectacular! Tony and Jerry transform
the songs by leaps and bounds while all present are simply spellbound!
At the end of the sessions, Eric presents each of them with some of his original paintings and they are respledent with joy. A good time was had by all and plans to reconvene are in the works for 2005. |
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Now, Eric is back
in Rochester, mixing the tracks for rough mixes to decide upon the
next step in Black
Olive evolution.
Malcolm is remixing some with Reason and Ableton Live,
some tracks will be for the Figure/Taylor project Doped The Horse, and some are as of yet unknown. Update-1.17.05 Eric (keys), Alex (guitar) , Matt (drums) , and Jeff (guitar from Figure band KMOM) start rehearsals at Eric's house for new Black Olive live shows. Eric also has been doing Prophet tracks for Malcolm's new band, Sympathetic Echo. Update-3.17.05 Jamie West-Oram of The Fixx and jazz vibrophonist Joe Locke have just recorded sessions for the Black Olive CD Above Water. |
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Update-3.21.05 Matt and Malcolm track dual snare drums for The Chase at Blackdog Studios in Rochester, NY. |
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Newly Californian mega-superstar Jen Kerner was
at Black Dog Studios in Rochester, New York this past December(2005),
recording new vocal and piano tracks for the Black Olive project under the awesome
supernatural guidance of Eric "the" Taylor and Engineer extraordinaire Calvin May.
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