Taylor Jordan
Hometown: Longview, Texas
Position: House Science, Space and Technology Committee staff, focused on Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration policy issues.
Age: 29
Alma Mater: University of North Texas
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Washington Examiner: You were originally interested in music before you got into policy. Can you elaborate on that?
Jordan: Originally, I played piano for over 20 years. I played a lot of other instruments like the double bass, and I originally went to the University of North Texas to pursue a music degree and write music, and that’s something I still do today.
Washington Examiner: What kind of piano playing?
Jordan: I do modern classical pieces and kind of ambient stuff. More recently, I kind of got back into doing more of that, actually, while working on the Hill, as my musical outlet. I released a few piano solo volumes, and they did really well. They got picked up [by a music label]. It was fun at first, but then it turned into this whole thing with press, publicists and producers and managers and record labels. And now it’s kind of turned into its own thing. So, it’s like I have two jobs now.
Washington Examiner: Are you touring now? How do you manage those two areas?
Jordan: I do play some shows around town and I might be playing some out of town in 2017. I’ve been a lot more selective, actually, in playing not as many shows. It has been very interesting. I am on the bill as a modern-classical guy playing opposite to a death metal band. I am not cool with that anymore. I’ve been a little more selective, I would say.
Washington Examiner: When you say ambient, what do you mean?
Jordan: Weird sounds with old analog synthesizers and tape machines and stuff like that along with the piano. The piano can be kind of boring. That kind of appeals to the younger fan base by using the weird, interesting sounds that everyone is into. And then I’ll also use string players. And sometimes I play live with string player friends and I’ve contracted out some quartets to play on my albums.
Washington Examiner: What are some of your influences?
Jordan: Growing up, I loved the classical composers like Chopin and Debussy, Rachmaninoff, those guys. But also there are some great modern-classical guys that I’ve looked up to a lot, like Yann Tiersen is one. He did the music for “Amelie” that was big back in the day. Dustin O’Halloran and people like that are great. I actually got to hang out with him in Brooklyn this year. So, that was a fun time going to his studio and hanging out with him. Pretty fun. So, its been great.
I’ve been able to kind of get my name out there. Kind of involved with some of the whole scene. It’s kind of, I really don’t like the term, they call it post-classical. Everything is ‘post’ these days.
Washington Examiner: How does that dovetail with your work on the committee? Does it?
Jordan: I originally started doing it as an outlet to my day job. Because our day jobs tend to be on the Hill, seated behind a desk and do policy and all this stuff. And it’s very, I would say, not the creative side. It’s more the analytical and critical thinking, and maybe more scientific in that way, and not the creative outlet to make new compositions experiment with sound and things like that. Originally, it was a way to keep doing that or else I think I would go crazy if I didn’t have that.
Washington Examiner: How did you start out working in Washington and on Capitol Hill?
Jordan: Pretty interesting there. I’ve been on the Hill for six years. In January it will be six years. And I’ve been with the science committee the entire time I’ve been in D.C.
I started under Chairman Ralph Hall, R-Texas, and then Chairman [Lamar] Smith, R-Texas, came in and I worked under him and I’ve worked with him. I started off as an intern, and then a staff assistant and then a policy assistant, research assistant and then professional staff. I moved my way through the whole gambit.
Washington Examiner: What are you expecting from the new Congress and administration?
Jordan: It’s a whole new landscape now, which is interesting. It hasn’t been this way since I’ve been in D.C. with a Republican president. I think we have a unique opportunity to really move the ball forward on what’s been going on with a lot of these regulations, and really look at what they do to help combat climate change or what have you, to make sure everything is transparent, make sure it’s based on sound science.
It’s really going to be looking at the regulations that President Obama was attempting to put in place. And I think that is something where we can have some success in looking at.
