CONTACT Larry larrytaylor@larrytaylorbluesnsoul.com or hilllarry67@yahoo.com
phone 773-266-9993, 773-295-5910 or 773-209-4712
myspace.com/larrytaylorhill
www.larrytaylorbluesnsoul.com
WHO LARRY IS: Larry Taylor leads a blues and soul band from the West Side of Chicago. A 21st century griot, he carries the stories of African America in his bones, in his drums, in his voice. His soulful singing, ferocious rhythm and precision on the bandstand move people mysteriously to rise up and boogie—whether he’s belting out a gutbucket Howlin’ Wolf tune, James Brown funk, or one of his own blues songs. Fellow musicians say, “Larry Taylor was here tonight. We played the blues.”
WHERE HE’S FROM: Born in 1955, the oldest in the family of guitarist Eddie Taylor Sr. and singer Vera Taylor, Larry Taylor Hill has survived the tough streets of Chicago’s West Side. He learned the music business from his stepfather Eddie and the drumming trade from Howlin’ Wolf’s drummers who visited their house.
LEARNING FROM THE BEST: For 30 years, Larry drummed and sang professionally behind blues and soul stars such as Luther Allison, Albert Collins, Carey and Lurie Bell, the Holmes Brothers, Otis Clay, Big Walter Horton, John Lee Hooker, Robert Lockwood Jr., Jimmy Rogers, Sunnyland Slim. He has played and sung on several Wolf and Delmark records with other Taylor family members and with his uncles Eddie and Jimmy Burns, with AC Reed and Johnny B Moore. He is featured on Wolf Records, Chicago Best of West and South Side Singers, both Vol. I in 1987 and Vol II in 2005. Larry toured Europe in 1977 with Willie Dixon’s “New Generation of Chicago Blues.” He returned to Europe three decades later, playing the Bleu Note in Dublin, Ireland with Willie Dixon’s son Bobby.
SOUL AND BLUES MASTER: In 2004 Larry Taylor launched a critically acclaimed CD on his own AV label, dedicated to his blues forefathers, called They Were in This House, featuring heavy dudes from the West Side: Willie Davis, Osee Anderson, Mad Hatter, Michael Riley, West Side Wes, and Ronnie G. In the Chicago Blues Festival, he sang in a Taylor family tribute in 2005, and sang with the Harrington brothers in 2007. He has led his band in Chicago’s House of Blues, Buddy Guy’s Legends, Kingston Mines, Bill’s Blues, and in several area park shows. On the road, Larry has appeared in the Charleston WV Blues Brews BBQ 2005, and at the 2006 Wang Dang Doodle Fest in Vicksburg, sponsored by the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame. He made a hit with young fans at the 2007 Master Musicians Fest in Kentucky as he drummed and sang with 92 year old Delta blues guitar man Honeyboy Edwards. For the 2008 Chicago Blues Fest he assisted festival chair Barry Dolins in presenting a three act West Side Revue at the Crossroads Stage.
ABOUT LARRY's SHOW: Larry Taylor usually fronts a band of drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and/or sax. For shorter shows, he sometimes sings while drumming. He often performs with Vernon and Joe Harrington, of the famed West Side Harrington-Bell blues family. Larry occasionally sings and plays in a family act with siblings Eddie Taylor Jr, guitar, Tim Taylor on drums and Demetria Taylor on vocals. Larry is also available to speak about his heritage in educational programs on the role of blues in African-American history and the current state of soul and blues music.
DISCOGRAPHY:
Larry Taylor: They Were in This House, 2004, AV Records (all vocals; drums)
Delmark: 50 Years of Jazz and Blues, Delmark Records, 2003
Chicago Best of West and South Side Singers Vol. 2, Wolf Records 2004, 3 vocals; Singers Vol. 1, Wolf Records LP 1987, vocals
Eddie Taylor Jr. Wolf Records albums Worried About My Baby, 2003, 1 vocal and drums; Lookin’ for Trouble, 2001, drums and 1 vocal; Mind Games, 2006, drums.
Vera Taylor, You Better Be Careful, Wolf Records 2000, drums
Eddie Burns, Snake Eyes, Delmark Records 2002, drums
Jimmy Burns, Back to the Delta, Delmark Records 2003, drums
Johnny B. Moore, Born in Clarksdale Mississippi, Wolf Records 2002, drums
Eddie Taylor Sr and Vera Taylor, I Found Out, Wolf Records LP 1983, drums
A.C. Reed, Ice Cube Records, President Plays the Saxophone, drums
LARRY HAS PLAYED WITH:
Killer Ray Allison
Osee Anderson
Atomic Soul Blues Band
(Vernon & Joe Harrington)
Billy Boy Arnold
Joe B.
Carey Bell
Lurrie Bell
Billy Branch
John Brim
Mel Brown
Nora Jean Wallace Bruso
“Jewtown Eddie” Burks
Eddie Burns
Jimmy Burns
Willie Burns
Katharine Carroll
Johnny Christian
James Cotton
Lester “Mad Dog” Davenport
“Maxwell St. Jimmy” Davis
Katherine Davis
Willie Davis
Jimmy Dawkins
Detroit Junior
Freddie Dixon
Willie Dixon
Lefty Dizz
Johnny Dollar
Little Arthur Duncan
Dietra Farr
Sammy Fender
Steve Freund
Ashward Gates
Harmonica Hinds
Big Walter Horton
Willie James
Shirley Johnson
Syl Johnson
Floyd Jones
Vance Kelly
Willie Kent
Mary Lane
Sammy Lawhorn
Johnny Laws
Bonnie Lee
Lovie Lee
Hip Linkchain
David Lindsey
Johnny Littlejohn
Abb Locke
Grana Louise
Little Howlin Wolf
Pierre Lacocque & Misssippi Heat
Robert Junior Lockwood
Lucky Lopez
Charlie Love
Willie James Lyons
Cash McCall
Johnny B. Moore
Ben Murphy
JoJo Murray
Pinetop Perkins
John Primer
John “Yank” Rachell
Piano C. Red
A.C. Reed & Sparkplugs
Jimmie Lee Robinson
Chick Rogers
Jimmy Rogers
Pat Rushing
Big Time Sarah
Scotty and the Oasis
Patricia Scott
Walter Scott
Son Seals
Eddie Shaw
Mack Simmons
Sunnyland Slim
Byther Smith
Big Smokey Smothers
Little Smokey Smothers
Nolan Strutt
Hubert Sumlin
Super Chikan
Tail Dragger
Eddie Taylor Sr.
Eddie Taylor Jr.
Vera Taylor
Maurice John Vaughn
Jimmy Walker
Joe Louis Walker
Robert Bilbo Walker
Carl Weathersby
Junior Wells
Mike Wheeler
Artie “Blues Boy” White
Lavelle White
J.W. Williams & Chi Town Hustlers
Zora Young
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