If you're going to have a career in music, it's important to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Being great at one thing doesn't automatically mean a person is great (or even competent) at another; the history of music is full of excellent guitarists, bassists, drummers, and horn players who turned out to be mediocre or lousy vocalists when -- for whatever reason -- they decided to take up singing. But Larry Taylor has no problem making the transition from drummer to singer on They Were in This House, the Chicago blues/soul veteran's first album as a leader. Taylor, who was 48 when this release came out in 2004, is no newcomer; he has been around the Windy City blues scene a long time and has played the drums for a long list of blues heavyweights over the years. But as a recording artist/singer, he was a late bloomer -- and while Taylor doesn't have a huge vocal range, he is an expressive, convincing vocalist who has no problem getting his emotional points across on either hardcore electric Chicago blues or hardcore soul. Taylor handles himself pleasingly well on blues items like Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," Elmore James' "Knocking at Your Door," and Jimmy Reed's "Signals of Love" as well as on two songs that are associated with the late soul man Johnnie Taylor: "Jody Got Your Girl and Gone" and "Last $2." They Were in This House (which Larry Taylor produced with his manager Bonni McKeown, aka Barrelhouse Bonni) isn't groundbreaking -- no one will accuse Taylor of being innovative -- but it's a solid, enjoyable demonstration of the fact that the Chicagoan made a wise decision when he decided to start recording as a singer. ~ Alex Henderson
CONTACT Larry larrytaylor@larrytaylorbluesnsoul or hilllarry67@yahoo phone 773-266-9993, 773-295-5910 or 773-209-4712 myspace /larrytaylorhill larrytaylorbluesnsoul 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 boogieâ€"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, La
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