MORE NEWS |
From MSNBC Web site - Otis Taylor, ìRecapturing the Banjoî Bluesman Otis Taylor gathers an all-star cast of fellow blues revivalists and banjoists ó Kebí Moí, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis, Don Vappie ó to pay brilliant tribute to the instrument rooted in the legacy of African-American music. Spurning banjo stereotypes (from minstrelsy to bluegrass) and keying in on the instrumentís rhythmic versatility, Taylor covers a broad swath of stylistic ground, including rocking blues, funky swagger, jazz-inflected melody, Creole dance, old-timey jug band and country blues. And in testament to the banjoís role in a rock setting, Taylor nods to Jimi Hendrix in his charged rendition of ìHey Joe.î Billboard ñ 2/8/2008 |
USA Today - February 12, 2008 - Otis Taylor, Recapturing the Banjo: * * * -- Banjo blues Best known for its presence in the American folk and bluegrass scenes, the banjo has a history that traces back four centuries to the African xalam. Taylor, a multi-instrumentalist who has played the acoustic and electric banjos throughout his career, eloquently argues here for a renewed place in the blues with Creole songs and jug-band tunes, as well as his own haunting, history-steeped originals. Joined by bluesmen such as Keb Moí, Guy Davis, Corey Harris and Alvin Youngblood Hart, Taylor takes the banjo down alternate paths where Earl Scruggs might as well have never existed. ó Mansfield |
Recapturing the Banjo - Downbeat Magazine now on sale |
The Huffington Post (political online news service) - ìÖbluesman Otis Taylor releases a very early contender for Best Record Of 2008. A record that oozes sincerity and moves musical mountains, ëRecapturing The Banjo,í is NOT just 10 versions of ëFoggy Mountain Breakdown.í Taylor's point here is to show that the banjo and the music played on this instrument did not originate from Kentucky or the Carolinas, but in AfricaÖ Please don't let ëRecapturing The Banjoí slip through the cracks.î The Huffington Post |
Recapturing the Banjo - ìThereís a history lesson to be learned here, but Recapturing the Banjo doesnít aim to be a musicologistís wet dream-banjos (even in the hands of Bela Fleck) have never sounded this vibrant.î Harp “The album shifts from impossibly haunting dirges to downright bouncy ditties without sounding like a thrown-together pastiche…The album, which is mostly originals with a few rearranged traditionals, is so strong in songwriting…it’s pretty stellar throughout, with fleshed-out stories of slaves, black cowboys and good-old alcohol. There’s enough of Taylor’s trademark one-chord trance playing to keep it all driving…” Relix “Lyrically, Taylor speaks out against prejudice from both the black male and female as well as from the native Indian’s perspective. The exciting version of ‘Hey Joe’ does Hendrix proud here with Taylor and Youngblood Hart mixing the banjo, absolutely mesmerizing lap steel, and Taylor’s blistering electric guitar lead…This session features brilliant picking and high spirited energy throughout.” Elmore |
Chicago Sun Times - "Otis Taylor was back at the top of his game with "Definition of a Circle," an album as important as it is hauntingly beautiful. Taylor perfectly blends in the usually frenzied electric guitar of Gary Moore with his own banjo and acoustic guitar strumming". Jeff Johnson |
Amazon Top 10 - "Crackling with hypnotic energy, Otis Taylor's eighth album infuses his cutting-edge blues with a dose of rock'n'roll exuberance. The blasting opener "Little Betty" gets some rocket fuel from blues-rock legend Gary Moore's marvelously expressive, raw guest guitar as well as from drummer John Kelly, whose propulsion ignites several of these dozen tunes. Ultimately, though, Taylor's one-chord magic comes from his knack for repeating catchy riffs until they become a seductive blur--a hip-shaking platform for his colorful explorations of love, war, joy, deprivation, and racial struggle. He's also got a way with textures, spinning dirty guitar, prickly electric mandolin, his daughter Cassie's haunting alto singing, and his own appealingly hoarse baritone into mesmeric arrangements for tunes like the Hurricane Katrina contemplation "They Wore Blue" that owe as much to Pink Floyd as to Muddy Waters. Taylor also pushes the envelope hard with "Long Long Life," which blends jazz star Hiromi Uchara's manic piano improvisations with Ron Miles's free-form cornet as Taylor intones a curse on a disdainful lover. It's a brilliant collision of styles and yet another fiery testimonial to Taylor's unique artistic vision. --Ted Drozdowski |
Definition Of A Circle Taylor is contemporary bluesí greatest visionary as both a songwriter, for his edgy social consciousness, and a soundsmith, for a self-branded "trance blues" approach that makes his music bristle with hypnotic energy. |
Otis plays at 50th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival |
Otis Taylor get spot in New York Times Crossword. Album reviews in the New York Times are standard for Otis Taylor, but the Boulder bluesman reached another level of cultural significance this spring when he spotted his name in the newspaper's esteemed crossword puzzle. |
 |
Otis's song, "Nasty Letter" is featured in the sound track of a Hear Otis play in the trailer to a new movie "Shooter". |
Recapturing the Banjo - The Black Banjo Project one of the most innovative, thought-provoking blues artists to emerge in the last 20 years." Billboard) upcoming album, Recapturing the Banjo (Feb '08) featuring Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Otis Taylor, and Don Vappie. www.telarc.com |
Off Beat Magazine - 3/07 Taylor describes in the liner notes thusly: While watching television coverage of the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina in the South, an African-American man from the North wonders who will help.
There's only one verse-What would you do / if they wore blue / would you help them / would you
help them too? / What would you do / if you had food / would you feed them / would you feed them too?
As enigmatic as the significance of blue seems, the song is powerful, with Taylor layering electric and
echoed acoustic guitar fills over an essentially static backing.
Otis Taylor's blues are self-consciously art, with unconventional instrumentation including the cello on
Lifetime of Freedom, he employs four. He takes the essentially repetitive structure of blues to the logical
conclusion, often reducing songs to a one or two-chord vamp over which he sings and plays guitar, banjo
or piano. The lyrics are typically spare, often only a handful of phrases that gain or change meanings as
they are repeated over the song's three or four minutes. The songs typically have a strong social
consciousness as well, even if that isn't obvious from the lyrics alone. There's an intriguing privacy to
Taylor's art, and his love of drones makes it all the more subtle and hypnotic. |
Otis Taylor has scored a new Documentary,
"Purvis of Overtown" |
THE YEAR'S BEST: RECORDINGS - "Below the Fold" |
Paste Magazine - Oct. Nov. 05 |
