Elmore James - Eddie Taylor - Street Talkin'

Elmore James - Eddie Taylor - Street Talkin'
Muse 5087, 1975 (recorded 1957 James, and 1955-56 Taylor)

 A1     Elmore James –     Coming Home     2:28   
A2     Elmore James –     Take Me Where You Go     2:28   
A3     Elmore James –     Cry For Me Baby     2:47   
A4     Elmore James –     Elmore's Contribution To Jazz     2:19   
A5     Elmore James –     Knocking At Your Door     2:39   
A6     Elmore James –     It Hurts Me Too     3:12   
A7     Elmore James –     The 12 Year Old Boy     3:06   
B1     Eddie Taylor (2) –     You'll Always Have A Home     2:47   
B2     Eddie Taylor (2) –     Do You Want Me To Cry?     2:52   
B3     Eddie Taylor (2) –     Big Town Playboy     3:08   
B4     Eddie Taylor (2) –     Ride Em On Down     2:58   
B5     Eddie Taylor (2) –     Bad Boy     3:04   
B6     Eddie Taylor (2) –     I'm Sitting Here     2:52   
B7     Eddie Taylor (2) –     Don't Knock On My Door     2:52    

Drums Earl Phillips (tracks: B1 & B7), Ray Scott (track: B5), Vernell Fournier (tracks: B3 & B4) (Vernell!?! Really?! prior to Jamal obviously.), Al Duncan (tracks: B2 & B6),
Guitar Eddie Taylor (tracks: B1-B7), Jimmy Lee Robinson* (tracks: B1 & B7)
Harmonica George Maywether* (tracks: B1 & B7)
Harmonica, Guitar Jimmy Reed (tracks: B2 to B6)
Vocals Eddie Taylor (tracks: B1 to B7)
Piano Johnny Jones* (A1-A7)
Tenor Saxophone J.T. Brown* (tracks: A1 to A7)
Bass Homesick James  (A1-A7), Drums Odie Payne  (A1-A7)
Vocals, Guitar Elmore James (tracks: A1 to A7)
Guitar Eddie Taylor, Syl Johnson or Wayne Bennett (A1-A7)
**A1-A7 originally released on VeeJay, B1-B7 released on Chief**

Eddie Taylor, a well-respected guitarist and singer, should rightfully share feature billing with bottleneck guitar nonpareil James on this amplified Chicago blues collection. Taylor and a truculent outfit are heard on his signature song "Big Town Playboy" and on six more good tracks from 1955 to 1956. Jimmy Reed plays wobbly harmonica on five songs; George Mayweather takes over for him on two. On the other half of the program James and his Broomdusters (including Taylor) wrestle emotion from every blue note of "It Hurts Me Too," the instrumental "Elmore's Contribution to Jazz," and five more 1957 tracks, making them musical hand grenades that could explode at any instant -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Hmmm, I can't say I have ever heard a band labeled "truculent" before. I was initially afraid that this overlapped our earlier Elmore post but it does not appear to be the case.

  Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, United States, as a boy 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. With a guitar style deeply rooted in the Mississippi Delta tradition, in 1949 Taylor moved to Chicago, Illinois.

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. He is especially noted as a main accompanist for Jimmy Reed, as well as working with John Lee Hooker, Big Walter Horton, Sam Lay and others. Taylor's own records "Big Town Playboy" and "Bad Boy" on Vee Jay Records became local hits in the 1950s.

Taylor's son Eddie Taylor Jr. is a blues guitarist in Chicago, his stepson Larry Taylor is a blues drummer and vocalist, and his daughter Demetria is a blues vocalist in Chicago. Taylor's wife Vera was the niece of bluesmen Eddie "Guitar" Burns and Jimmy Burns.

Taylor died on Christmas Day in 1985 in Chicago, at age 62, and was interred in an unmarked grave in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1987.
 

A James bio will appear later. This is the only solo Eddie Taylor I have.

Elmore James - Got To Move

                                                                                                                                                                       

A superb look at James during the 50's and into the early 60's.  Great way to get to know him for the inexperienced listener - and some great tracks for any fan.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC...  Enjoy!!

Charly R&B CRB-1017

1981

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Elmore James; taken from Wikipedia:

James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in Holmes County, Mississippi (not to be confused with two other locations of the same name in Mississippi). He was the illegitimate son of 15-year-old Leola Brooks, a field hand. His father was probably Joe Willie "Frost" James, who moved in with Leola, and so Elmore took this as his name. His parents adopted an orphaned boy at some point named Robert Holston.

Elmore began making music at the age of 12 using a simple one-string instrument ("diddley bow" or "jitterbug") strung up on a shack wall. As a teen he was playing at local dances under the names Cleanhead and Joe Willie James. His first marriage, circa 1942, was to Minnie Mae (whom he apparently never divorced). He subsequently married twice, to Georgianna Crump in 1947 and to a woman called Janice circa 1954. (Another reported marriage of Elmore to a Josephine Harris has been found to be a mistaken record of a different Elmore James.)
Becoming a well-known musician in those days, with the rewards of prestige, good free food, illicit free liquor, women's favours, the promise of escape from the hard agricultural work, etc., must have been as attractive to Elmore as it was to the other musicians of that time and earlier, such as the 'second' Sonny Boy Williamson, with whom he played and Robert Johnson with whom he also possibly played.^[1] Although Robert Johnson died in 1938, James (like many other musicians) was strongly influenced by him, and by Kokomo Arnold and Tampa Red. Elmore recorded several of Tampa's songs, and even inherited from his band two of his famous "Broomdusters", "Little" Johnny Jones (piano) and Odie Payne (drums). There is a dispute as to whether Robert Johnson or Elmore wrote James' trademark song, "Dust My Broom".^[2]
James's demise may have been hastened by his lifelong taste for, and manufacture of, moonshine whiskey, to which he was introduced at an early age. Alcohol definitely killed his band-mates/friends Willie Love and Johnny Jones at an early age. His regular rhythm guitarist Homesick James maintained his longevity was due to his not partaking of the heavy drinking sessions after — and often during — gigs, a refusal that was unpopular with the rest of the band. James was also reportedly an extremely fast driver who also loved hunting with guns and dogs in Mississippi.

During World War II James joined the United States Navy, was promoted to coxswain and took part in the invasion of Guam against the Japanese. Upon his discharge, Elmore returned to central Mississippi and eventually settled in Canton with his adopted brother Robert Holston; it was at this time he learned that he had a serious heart condition. Working in Robert's electrical shop, he devised his unique electric sound, using parts from the shop and an unusual placement of two D'Armond pickups.^[2] He began recording with Trumpet Records in nearby Jackson in January 1951, first as sideman to the second Sonny Boy Williamson and also to their mutual friend Wille Love and possibly others, then debuting as a session leader in August with "Dust My Broom".^[1] It was a surprise R&B hit in 1952 and turned James into a star. He then broke his recording contract with Trumpet Records to sign up with the Bihari Brothers through Ike Turner (who played guitar and piano on a couple of his early Bihari recordings). His "I Believe" was another hit a year later.^[1] During the 1950s he recorded for the Bihari brothers' Flair Records, Meteor Records^[3] and Modern Records labels, as well as for Chess Records and Mel London's Chief Records (his "It Hurts Me Too" was later a hit when he re-recorded it for Enjoy Records).^[4] His backing musicians were known as the Broomdusters.^[1] In 1959 he began recording for Bobby Robinson's Fire Records label. These include "The Sky Is Crying" (credited to Elmo James and His Broomdusters), "My Bleeding Heart", "Stranger Blues", "Look on Yonder Wall", "Done Somebody Wrong", and "Shake Your Moneymaker", all of which are among the most famous of blues recordings.^[1]
James died of his third heart attack in Chicago in 1963,^[1] just prior to a tour of Europe with that year's American Folk Blues Festival. He was buried in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery in Ebenezer, Mississippi.