About Dylann
Dylann Taylor is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and business owner. Since starting out on piano at the early age of three years old, Dylann has been passionate about the creation, the perfecting, the advancing, and the sharing of music. Her father, a jazz guitarist and college instructor, raised her on the sounds of Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Bill Evans, all artists that made a huge impact on the way she hears and creates original music. She was lucky enough to grow up around the finest musicians of the areas surrounding Los Angeles, getting to sit in with and learn from Roger Gillespie, a Los Angeles session drummer and Ludwig artist, Mark Mancina, the renowned film composer, Marshall Hawkins, jazz bassist for Miles Davis, and bands such as ZZAJ, the contemporary jazz group still performing today.
After spending years on various instruments, studying with great educators and performers, she decided to seriously study the upright bass in college. This was, of course, after hearing Avishai Cohen, the revered Israeli bassist known for playing with Chick Corea, Mark Guiliana and Shai Maestro. During this time, there was a need for a revamped local jazz jam, where musicians could play with and learn from each other. She took over the role of hosting and managing the Jazz Jam in Riverside, California, where she brought in incredible musicians from Los Angeles, New York City, and San Diego to perform for the public. She was passionate about including women in the jazz music industry, so she also founded Women in Jazz, which gave women from all over Southern California the chance to play together on a monthly basis. It also led to a great network where women could talk, ask questions, and feel supported and encouraged.
In 2018, Dylann was chosen as a featured artist in the Young Artist Showcase at the Washington Women in Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C. and performed her original music with her all-female quartet. She has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Lincoln Center in New York City, and Wang Theater in Boston with groups such as the National Philharmonic and the Bulgarian National Folklore Ensemble.
Dylann has had the great honor of studying with many musicians she has looked up to for so many years; upright bass with Darek Oles, Or Bareket, and Rick Shaw, composition and arranging with Norman Ludwin at UCLA, classical vocal performance and conducting with Dr. Tom Miller, jazz and classical guitar with Richard Sumner and Jodie Fisher, flute performance with Sara Andon of University of Redlands, and piano performance with Joel Paat and Dr. Erin Kirk. She received her Associate’s Degree in Jazz Bass Performance in 2019.
In early 2020, Dylann took over a music education business, now called Wrightwood Education Studio. Her and her husband, Kris Sveen, have transformed the studio into a thriving and inspiring educational center where hundreds of students come every week to learn how to play instruments, produce, write their own songs, and record. Her and Kris also co-own Mood Guitars, a company that specializes in making and restoring unique sounding guitars. Dylann just released her debut album, “Her & the Trees” featuring an eclectic collection of nine songs, available on Bandcamp and streaming platforms.