Eddie Taylor
Biography
Edward Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985) was an American blues guitarist and singer.
Born in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Eddie Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing at venues around Leland, Mississippi where he taught his friend Jimmy Reed to play guitar. Bringing with him a style deeply rooted in the Mississippi Delta tradition, in 1949 Eddie Taylor moved to Chicago.
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While Taylor never achieved the stardom of some of his compatriots in the Chicago Blues scene, he nevertheless was an integral part of that era and is especially noted as a main accompanist for Jimmy Reed as well as working with John Lee Hooker, Big Walter Horton, and others. Taylors own records "Big Town Playboy" and "Bad Boy" on Vee Jay Records became local hits in the 1950s.
When youre talking about the patented Jimmy Reed laconic shuffle sound, youre talking about Eddie Taylor just as much as Reed himself. Taylor was the glue that kept Reeds lowdown grooves from falling into serious disrepair. His rock-steady rhythm guitar powered the great majority of Reeds 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.
I Feel So Bad From Jimmy Reeds second Vee-Jay date in 1953 on, Eddie Taylor was right there to help Reed through the rough spots. Taylors own Vee-Jay debut came in 1955 with the immortal "Bad Boy" (Reed returning the favor on harp). Taylors second Vee-Jay single coupled two more classics, "Ride Em on Down" and "Big Town Playboy," and his last two platters for the firm, "Youll Always Have a Home" and "Im Gonna Love You," were similarly inspired. But Taylors records didnt sell in the quantities that Reeds 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 didnt 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 dont make em like Eddie Taylor anymore.
Taylors son Eddie Taylor Jr. is a blues guitarist in Chicago, and his stepson Larry Taylor is a blues drummer and vocalist. Taylors wife Vera was the sister of well-known bluesmen Eddie Burns and Jimmy Burns.
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Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.