Christopher Taylor

Christopher Taylor (1929-1982), also credited as Chris Taylor, was a woodwind musician, specializing in the flute and recorder. He was a featured soloist, with screen credit, on The Dark Crystal, playing the flageolet for Jen's pipe during the "Gelfling Song" and recorder for the "Love Theme." He also played flute on the score.

Taylor played with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and (on a more occasional basis) the London Symphony Orchestra, usually the flute, and on recorder with the London Baroque Orchestra. He performed with father Stanley Taylor and brother Richard Taylor as the Taylor Recorder Trio on BBC radio beginning in 1949, usually on programs spotlighting early carols, madrigals, or Elizabethan music. By the mid 1950s, he frequently performed solo parts in operas and radio plays (including one each by Harold Pinter and Jean-Paul Sartre). On records, radio, and concerts, he often played Bach and played under famed composer/conductor Benjamin Britten. With the Philomusica of London, he recorded a Vivaldi flute concerti in 1978.

Apart from classical music, Taylor was a busy session musician, playing with guitarist John Williams and even contributing as flautist on The Beatles' song "The Fool on the Hill." He was heard on the soundtracks of Franco Zefferrelli's Jesus of Nazareth and the Anthony Quinn movie Caravans. He played flute on-camera on the 1963 BBC TV series The Orchestra, broadcast to schools.