Los Angeles-based musician Ted Taforo is a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, who is known for his powerful saxophone sound, versatility, and unique compositions. Ted's saxophone playing has appeared on Grammy and JUNO award nominated recordings, advertisements for Lexus and Sprite, and in film/TV shows on Netflix. He has worked as a saxophonist and/or horn arranger with a ...
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Los Angeles-based musician Ted Taforo is a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, who is known for his powerful saxophone sound, versatility, and unique compositions. Ted's saxophone playing has appeared on Grammy and JUNO award nominated recordings, advertisements for Lexus and Sprite, and in film/TV shows on Netflix. He has worked as a saxophonist and/or horn arranger with a variety of artists including Spoon, Telemakus, Efajemue, Chino Corvalán, David Tranchina, Jeff Bernat, Duncan Thum, Tyler Sabbag, Tyler Strickland, Noah Kwid, Steven Van Betten, Superet, Johanna Samuels, Maxim Ludwig, Lauren Baba, and others.
Recent performances include the 2023 Montreal International Jazz Festival and the 2023 Toronto Jazz Festival with Efajemue, Gold Diggers in Los Angeles and The Black Cat in San Francisco with Telemakus.
Ted is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where he studied jazz and saxophone. In 2012 he arrived at CalArts where he started fusing that background with influences from other genres such as Javanese Gamelan, funk, and electronic music. Since graduating from CalArts with an MFA in Jazz Reeds in 2014, Ted has worked in Los Angeles as a saxophonist, composer/arranger, woodwind doubler, and educator.
Ted has been releasing albums under his own name since early 2016. He has released two recordings of original music with the LA-based Future Gods label and has produced five original albums, which were self-released. Ted's latest duo project with drummer/producer Efajemue (Efa Etoroma Jr.) was released in 2023 on Urban Waves Records. His compositions Until It's Real and IAT have been featured on several Spotify Editorial playlists including Fresh Finds Jazz Best of 2022. His latest solo project Soulmate is set to release in September of 2023 on Revolver Records, UK.
"Ted Taforo is a fantastic saxophonist with a vision of the future of improvised music. Keep your eye on him."
- Charles Pillow
"In my opinion Ted Taforo is one of the bright shining lights in the current crop of young creative musicians in the new millenium. He possesses all of the intelligence and technical wizardry found among his peers plus a profound sense of humanity. Notes are not wasted, there is a story that is central to his improvisational excursions, and most importantly, he always lets his heart govern his choices."
- Larry Koonse
"Ted is one rare flowering plant in the arid landscape of the desert chaparral. His open spirit allows him to experiment and flourish in a number of improvisational contexts. That's hard to find."
- Mark Ferber
"Ted Taforo has immense talent that manages to push almost every boundary."
-Emily Perlman, Open Ears Music
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