Eddie Taylor
When you're talking about the patented Jimmy Reed laconic shuffle sound, you're talking about Eddie Taylor just as much as Reed himself. Taylor was the glue that kept Reed's lowdown grooves from falling into serious disrepair. His rock-steady rhythm guitar powered the great majority of Reed's Vee-Jay sides during the 1950s and early '60s, and he even found time to wax a few classic sides of his own for Vee-Jay during the mid-'50s.
Eddie Taylor was as versatile a blues guitarist as anyone could ever hope to encounter. His style was deeply rooted in Delta tradition, but he could snap off a modern funk-tinged groove just as convincingly as a straight shuffle. Taylor witnessed Delta immortals Robert Johnson and Charley Patton as a lad, taking up the guitar himself in 1936 and teaching the basics of the instrument to his childhood pal Reed. After a stop in Memphis, he hit Chicago in 1949, falling in with harpist Snooky Pryor, guitarist Floyd Jones, and -- you guessed it -- his old homey Reed.
From Jimmy Reed's second Vee-Jay date in 1953 on, Eddie Taylor was right there to help Reed through the rough spots. Taylor's own Vee-Jay debut came in 1955 with the immortal "Bad Boy" (Reed returning the favor on harp). Taylor's second Vee-Jay single coupled two more classics, "Ride 'Em on Down" and "Big Town Playboy," and his last two platters for the firm, "You'll Always Have a Home" and "I'm Gonna Love You," were similarly inspired. But Taylor's records didn't sell in the quantities that Reed's did, so he was largely relegated to the role of sideman (he recorded behind John Lee Hooker, John Brim, Elmore James, Snooky Pryor, and many more during the '50s) until his 1972 set for Advent, I Feel So Bad, made it abundantly clear that this quiet, unassuming guitarist didn't have to play second fiddle to anyone. When he died in 1985, he left a void on the Chicago circuit that remains apparent even now. They just don't make 'em like Eddie Taylor anymore.
© Bill Dahl /TiVo
Discografia
13 album • Ordinato per Bestseller
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I Feel So Bad
Blues - Pubblicato da HighTone Records il 1 gen 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chicago Blues Festival '70 (Blues Reference)
Homesick James, Roosevelt Sykes, Eddie Taylor
Blues - Pubblicato da Disques Black & Blue il 1 gen 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Masters Of Modern Blues
Blues - Pubblicato da HighTone Records il 1 gen 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
His Golden Years (Remastered)
Blues - Pubblicato da Master Tape Records il 29 mag 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Together Again One More Time / Still Not Ready for Eddie
Memphis Slim, Matt Murphy, Eddie Taylor
Blues - Pubblicato da Texas Music Group il 28 gen 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Blues Masters
Blues - Pubblicato da Master Classics Records il 1 mag 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Eddie Taylor in Session
Blues - Pubblicato da Jasmine Records il 8 lug 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Just the Way You Are / The State Song (Digital 45)
Soul - Pubblicato da Essential Media Group il 17 lug 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -