Michael J. Taylor, more commonly known simply as 'Taylor', has been teaching, performing, repairing and recording West African percussion since 1994. The Director of the Tam Tam Mandingue Djembe Academy - Chicago school of percussion, a
Tam Tam Mandingue Djembe Academy Senior Instructor and the founder and driving force behind
Holy Goat Percussion, he teaches, performs, imports, sells and repairs West African djembe and dunun drums. He has traveled to Guinea, West Africa 6 times to study djembe, and has done performance and/or teaching tours in China, Japan, Guinea, Brazil, Australia, England and Mexico so far. He has performed and/or taught with
Grand Master Drummer Mamady Keita in China, Japan, Guinea and Mexico as of 2019.
His specialties are the djembe and dunun, but he plays a wide assortment of other drums including bugaraboo, congas, frame drum, bongos, and doumbek.
Taylor has studied with a number of djembe/dunun luminaries, among them: Grand Master Mamady Keita,
Grand Master Famoudou Konate,
Grand Master Drummer Bolokada Conde,
Master Drummer Madou Dembele,
Master Drummer Michael Markus,
Master M'Bemba Bangoura,
Master Moussa Traore, Yaya Kabo, Master Gbanworo Keita, Master Laurent Camara,
Master Abdoul Doumbia, Minto Camara,
Arthur Hull, Yaya Diallo, and Jahamen Mobley.