REVIEWS – “Welcome To Doc City (Deluxe Edition)”
"Welcome to Doc City showcases Doc City's unique style and storytelling abilities... The album is a strong release from an artist who is sure to make waves in the music world. Doc City's ability to blend introspective lyrics with catchy melodies is impressive, and his storytelling abilities are unmatched.
One of the things that sets Doc City apart from other artists is his willingness to open up and be vulnerable in his music. The lyrics on the release are personal and honest, and they touch on themes that many people can relate to. Doc City's ability to connect with his listeners on a deep level is what makes him such a compelling artist.
The album is a cohesive and well-crafted collection of tracks that showcases his range and versatility. Doc City has firmly established himself as a rising star, and it will be exciting to see where his career takes him next."
Sarah Wagner, EARMILK, May 19, 2023
Opening with the gorgeous R&B track, ‘What Love Is’, a deliciously meandering song of unconditional love, the album continues along similar lines with the anthemic ballad, ‘When You Are Near’. ‘Did You Choose?’, the third song, is a marvelously funky track which addresses the insanity of prejudice, bias, hate and bullying.
Make sure you check out the stunning cover of the Sade classic, ‘Sweetest Taboo’. Doc City and his musicians have given it a new lease on life and taken it from the already beautiful soul song and given it an entirely different vibe, with R&B, hip hop, blues, and jazz elements.
Lisa Hafey | Essentially POP
Taylor is largely a traditionalist in his style and sound. He keeps things sound exciting and fresh throughout without compromising his vision, from the tender ballad “No Goodbyes,” which sounds like an uncovered standard, to the subtle, understated psychedelic bossa nova flourishes of “Did You Choose?” A key highlight here is a cover of Sade’s “Sweetest Taboo”, and although Sade is one of those artists whose originals can never be topped, Doc City adds a fantastic extra dimension with a rap breakdown about halfway through that magically fits in perfectly. Welcome to Doc City is an exquisitely executed album, augmented by a cast of top session players.
by Cody Conard Thebigtakeover.com
First of all, Taylor seems to come up here with an almost perfect balance between jazz itself, R&B, soul, hip-hop, and pop that has not only substantive music but also some lyrics to think of (“Did You Choose”). Part of it relies on some of Taylor’s excellent songwriting, but also on an equally excellent selection of guest singers and musicians, who have played with key jazz (Wynton Marsalis), pop (Peter Frampton), R&B (Dazz Band) music, and even country (Trisha Yearwood) and classical music (Yo-Yo Ma).
Ljubinko Zivkovic·. LIVINGLIFEFEARLESS.com
The atmosphere of the album resembles a pleasant Mediterranean evening, when the heat subsides and the music has a cooling effect on our souls. At the same time, in a state of rest, our senses open up, we fly and get wings from it!
Raise higher and higher. Thus, DOC CITY heals as a Medicine Man in the noble sense of the word!
This is music that evokes endless spaces, delicacy, and calmness and peace. Every musical movement has its predestined place in the songs.
That's what heals.
Lovely compositions, popular-sounding melodies, but much more than that! The reworked notes - "What Love Is", "Sweetest Taboo", "What'll I Do" - are really unrecognizable, DOC CITY has mixed them up so much, in the language of pharmacists: mixed, heated, and shaken.
Many layers shine in the music, several instruments complement each other at the same time. Even within a track, we can hear songs and spoken word one after the other from moment to moment. The album features a beautiful female and male vocal duet, which is so rare these days. French horn, trumpet, soprano saxophone, strings, everything IS on this album, which is not a big band work at all. We can discover piano mixed with excellent guitar work and amazing drum rhythms at the same time! In his varied musical world, dreamy bass guitar passages make us relax. Then, as a special feature, acoustic guitar runs and even a cello solo that can be said to be almost classical, listening to which conveys endless love.
This music will have an extremely good effect on you!
Dr. Taylor's soothing compositions can bring variety to our jazz music world.
July 10, 2023, Zsuzsanna Hegedüs -Jazzma.hu
Musically extracting equal influence from R&B, Pop and Jazz sounds, the lyricism ranges from social issues to deeply human themes of love and loss, with ample dashes of philosophy and abstract thought intended to unravel the mind and reveal something truly fresh. Given Doc City's unique history, the spiritually charged energy in his music makes sense.
Kath Galasso, OnStage MAGAZINE
The best of the work on Doc City’s LP, Welcome to Doc City, is a mighty, mighty collage of sonic mastery to behold. The instrumentation is tough to duplicate, if it’s at all even possible to do so. And the vocals more than hold their own, spinning spells of captivating series of songs that evoke images, motion, and even posy.
By Deuce. Breakingandentering.net
Doc City takes the listener on an eclectic, untethered journey through the universal mind with the help of his many talented friends on new album Welcome to Doc City (Deluxe Edition).
Eugene Tierney, nyrdcast.com