Larry Taylor Blues and Soul Band: Press

This is one of those CD's that is so good, so loaded with the real deal blues and so well done that it is so hard to only pick out a few tracks to mention.

Larry Taylor is a strong vocalist who is at home covering Johnnie Taylor’s “Jody Got Your Girl and Gone” (in 2 parts) as he is reviving Howlin’Wolf…Taylor’s originals, “Blues, Hard Luck & Trouble,” and “Green Line Blues” (inspired by Chicago’s mass transit) are solid songs and like the rest of the album, nicely played… He sings with plenty of soul which is matched by his backing band. This is well worth checking out and giving a listen to.

"Expect really great songs, fine arrangements, some tasty horns, genuine West /Side Chicago electric guitar licks and perfect vocal execution. They Were in This House has a spirit and personality that are 100% for real."

--Big City Rhythm & Blues, Oct/Nov. 2004

Like so many younger blues artists, Chicagoan Larry Taylor grew up immersed in the music. The stepson of the late Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Reed’s guitarist during his most productive years, Larry took up drums as a youth. He recently moved out from behind the kit to display his vocal chops, which lend themselves perfectly to the soul-blues material on this debut CD.

Co-produced by Taylor, keyboardist Barrelhouse Bonni, and Steve Wagner of Delmark Records, “They Were in This House” is one of the best-sounding blues albums of the year. And the material is well-chosen, particularly “Jody Got Your Girl and Gone,” a funked-up military cadence, and “Last $2,”, both by Johnnie Taylor (no relation).

Taylor covers Howlin’ Wolf as well, and his no-nonsense original tunes sound like they, too, could be taken from the Wolf’s songbook.

Taylor takes his own spin on these cover tunes and makes them unique and fun to listen to. Espeically tops on my list would be his appproach two the two--count them-- two Johnnie Taylor tunes "Jody Got your Girl and Gone" and "Last $2."... It all comes back to the vocal performances of Taylor who does a fine job of holding everything together. Check him out on the original composition "Tell Me Baby" parts one and two. He moans and groans in sync with the guitar. It's a wonderful little exchange that just rides this amazing groove and keeps on going. A great CD from the Windy City.-- Bill Fountain

“It’s refreshing to see a new Chicago band that neither approaches blues via a funk/modern R&B sensibility, nor is consciously retro.”

Drummer and singer Larry Taylor learned the blues from his stepfather, Eddie Taylor, the guitarist who helped pioneer the postwar Chicago style. He's since played sideman to other greats, including A.C. Reed, Willie Kent, and Johnny Littlejohn, but for several years he's also fronted his own band. On his debut CD, the new They Were in This House (A.V.), Taylor presents himself as an earnest roots man, using his grainy baritone on standards like Howlin' Wolf's raucous "Killing Floor" and Jimmy Reed's "Signals of Love." (Wolf, Reed, and other now legendary figures were regular guests at the Taylors' west-side home, hence the album's title.) Taylor's own "Blues, Hard Luck & Trouble" has a Wolfish lope that showcases his rhythmic sense and quivering down-home vibrato, but he's most interesting on modern fare; while many soul and blues singers today smooth the edges off their songs, Taylor revels in the aggression and unbridled sensuality that infuses classic R & B and soul. On "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone"--a 1971 Johnnie Taylor hit that inspired a stream of answer songs--he sings with a blunt ferocity that evokes the dark, amoral world of the street hustler; on the cautionary tale "Last Two Dollars," another Johnnie Taylor track, his rasp contains a combination of anguish and stark desperation that evokes Mississippi's Highway 61, where rusted cars and rotting trailer homes languish within yards of glittering casinos. 7:30 PM, Bill's Blues, 1029 Davis, Evanston, 847-424-9800, $5. --