JOHNNIE TAYLOR - Gotta Get The Groove Back

JOHNNIE TAYLOR - Gotta Get The Groove Back - MALACO (1999)

The sudden death of Johnnie Taylor deprived the blues and soul world of one of its greatest talents.TheSoul Philosopher had been catching folks’ ears ever since he replaced Sam Cooke in the Soul Stirrers, and later was signed to Cooke’s SAR label. Later Taylor was on Stax where such recordings as "Who’s Making Love," "Cheaper to Keep Her," and "Jody," became major sellers and staples for blues and cover bands. After some success with Columbia, most notably with "Disco Lady."

Taylor spent the last years on Malaco where he enjoyed considerable success the past few years. He was the biggest selling artist in Stax’s history and I believe his albums have been Malaco’s biggest sellers. His last album, "Gotta Get the Groove Back," has been selling well and been on the Billboard Blues charts for over half a year in addition to being nominated for a Grammy. It mixes tracks with a studio band, such as the terrific, driving title track, with one using programmed keyboards (some with horns). There is a good mix of soulful numbers before he closes with "Soul Heaven," evoking the many legendary R&B figures he used to sing and work with, and who he now has joined. 

Taylor never got his due from the general public, but the man was a terrific singer who was at top form till the end.

I likely purchased this or may have received a review copy from Malaco. This review originally appeared in the May-June 2000 Jazz & Blues Report although I may have made minor grammatical changes. Here is "Soul Heaven."

Johnnie Taylor Took Care of Homework at the Summit Club

Originally supposed to appear at the Watts Summer Festival that was memorialized in WattStax: The Living Word, Johnnie Taylor was recorded a couple days later at a Los Angeles club that has been just issued on Stax, Live at the Summit Club. While three of the performances had been previously issued, there are six previously unissued selections.

As Lee Hillebrand notes, Taylor had put much of his blues repertoire in mothballs after the 1968 success of Who’s Making Love, but as Rufus Thomas notes in his intro of Taylor, “When you speak of blues, this is a man who knows ‘em from the letter A to the Letter Z.” And despite band miscues at the start and plenty of ragged edges, Taylor opens with a storming rendition of Take Care of Your Homework, where he advises men to take care of things at home ‘before your good thing is gone,’ followed by one of Taylor’s two classic Stax blues, Little Bluebird, where Taylor demonstrates what a great blues singer he was, and followed by a ragged intro of the great blues ballad, Steal Away, as Taylor says “we’re gonna set this groove here.”

I Don’t Want to Lose You is a terrific love ballad, followed by Who’s Making Love, where he gets the audience involved in a call and refrain. Hurry Sundown is another signature Taylor slow blues with great lyrics and followed by a stronger rendition of Steal Away. The album closes with Taylor’s hot soul workout on Jody’s Got Your Girl and Gone, ending over an hour of hot buttered soul-blues.

A very welcome that is part of the celebration of Stax’s 50th Anniversary and the labels reactivation.

This review originally appeared in the April 2007 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 292). I received a review copy from a publicist for the label.

Here is Johnnie performing Little Bluebird a few years before he passed away.

Tad Robinson's Soulful New Point of View

A New Point of View is Tad Robinson’s stunning new soulful disc on Severn Records. With his old pal Alex Schultz on guitar and Willie Henderson bringing horn and string arrangements, this album evokes some of the classic Chicago and Philly soul recordings by the likes of Tyrone Davis and the Chi-Lites.

There are two covers and nine originals as Robinson opens with the soulful lament, Long Way Home, because Tad is in no rush to get home because “At my house there is no one waiting for me.”What is amazing is how much Robinson has developed as a vocalist and really is terrific here, and his remake of the Johnnie Taylor hit ballad, Ain’t That Loving you (For More Reasons Than One), is almost as impressive with the string and horn arrangements caressing Robinson’s delivery of the songs.

I believe Bobby Bland had the original of Up and Down World, which perhaps does not reach the same level (it’s one of two numbers that Henderson did not arrange), as I am more partial to the late Johnny Adam’s interpretation. It’s one of several tracks with some nice harp by Robinson and piano from Kevin Anker. Another original, You Get the Keep the Love, hits a groove akin to Tyrone Davis’ classic recordings, while He’s Moving In, is a strong bluesy lament. Two of a Kind Blues is more of a straight blues theme with having one woman at home and one with who he cheats, but Henderson’s arrangements take it do a different level.

This is a really surprising disc from Severn because it is a soul recording with blues tinges, even though its being marketed as blues. This is not to diminish the fact that it is simply a marvelous recording that showcases just how superb a performer Tad Robinson has become.

Highly recommended.

This review originally appeared in the June 2007 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 294). I believe I was sent a review copy from the record label.

Classic Johnnie Taylor Is Taylored In Silk

One of the latest of the Stax Remasters coming out from Concord, who currently owns the Stax Catalog, is a reissue of Johnnie Taylor’s Taylored in Silk. The eight tunes on the original 1973 album have been supplemented by six additional tracks. Taylor already had several hits and albums on Stax before Don Davis joined the label from Detroit where he helped give a different twist than the more strictly Memphis sound of Taylor’s earlier recordings that often were anchored by Booker T. and the MGs. Bill Dahl provides the historic overview in the annotation to the booklet.

Davis’ use of strings add a definite urbane sheen to selections like the remake of Little Willie John’s Talk To Me, as well as revisiting Mel & Tim’s Starting All Over Again. One of the centerpieces for this album was the Sir Mack Rice gem, Cheaper to Keep Her, with its infectious bass line and the streetwise cynicism of a lifetime of alimony. Another gem is Davis’ ballad We’re Getting Careless With Our Love, which, along with the beautiful I Believe In You, displays why Taylor was getting past being simply known as a blues belter (although a great one) and becoming “The Soul Philosopher.” A lush arrangement supports Taylor’s wonderful reading of This Bitter Earth, known from Dinah Washington’s recording.

The bonus tracks include “Hijackin’ Love, with its insistent groove; Standing in For Jody, another installment in the “Jody” saga; Shackin’ Up, a funky groove underlying its straightforward, unapologetic lyric and the bluesy two-part “Doing My Own Thing” with Eddie Hinton and the Muscles Shoals Jimmy Johnson sharing the guitar.  This is pretty strong stuff in addition to the original recording. Taylor was one of the great soul and blues singers, which this remastered reissue makes that clear.

My review copy was provided by the record company.

Taylor's Good Love Was Good Soul & Blues

Johnnie Taylor was one of the great soul and blues singers of the past five decades (emphasis for the eurocentric editors of the Penguin Guide who exclude a whole genre of contemporary blues because they consider it soul music, yet they somehow cannot similarly weed out blues-tinged rock recordings). The following is a slightly modified review that originally appeared in 1997 in Jazz & Blues Report.

Issued in 1997 Johnnie Taylor’s Malaco album, Good Love, was another latest installment of a remarkable musical career that started when he replaced Sam Cooke in the legendary gospel group Soul Stirrers. It continued with recordings for Cooke’s SAR label as well as his glory years with Stax where he recorded soul and blues classics like Who’s Making Love and Cheaper to Keep Her. Later he was with Columbia, where he recorded the smash Disco Lady. Today he continues performing and recording with Malaco, recording some of the best soul and blues in the Stax vein. Good Love made the Billboard Blues charts with its mix of southern soul, soulful ballads and blues typical of his Malaco recordings. George Jackson’s fine composition Last Two Dollars, is a strong blues about a lady who has lost everything at a casino and asks the soul philosopher for two dollars so she can pay the bus fare home and will have enough to play the juke box while she waits, so she can hear some down home blues. I suspect this number will resonate strongly in the gambling venues in Mississippi. The title track and Sending You a Kiss, are ballads were written and arranged by Charles Richard Cason, although they share what sounds like programmed accompaniment. The rest of the album was recorded at Muscle Shoals and Malaco’s Jackson, Mississippi studios with Clayton Ivey, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood and Roger Hawkins among the studio band. While the backing on the Cason tracks may not appeal to some ears, little fault can be found with Taylor’s singing on these, or elsewhere on this collection of new recordings. Another George Jackson number, the ballad Walk Away With Me, has a melodic line that loosely suggests, Dark End of the Street, while Sam Mosely and Robert Johnson penned the fine blues Too Late to Try to Do Right, which shows that one doesn’t have to start out at full tilt to put the lyric over. The pair also penned Slide On, a number that should go over well with urban audiences that groove and dance to the electric slide. Ain’t That Lovin’ You (For More Reasons Than One) is a duet with his daughter Tasha that establishes her as a talent to keep an ear out for. There may be a couple of weaker songs, and the wonderfully sung This Masquerade, stays too close to George Benson’s hit version. But, even with a few production lapses and a couple of weak lyrics, this album is evidence of just how vital a singer the soul philosopher still was.

Some Outstanding Blues Reissues of 2007

In a second of three posts here are some reissues of first release of vintage blues and R&B that I believe merits your consideration. I have links to my reviews of the cds on this blog.
Andrew Brown - Big Brown Blues (Black Magic) Magic collection by singer who may superficially be described as in the style of Little Milton.
Johnnie Taylor - Live at the Summit Club (Stax). The Soul Philospher in a great live performance from time of Wattstax with a heavy blues emphasis on material.
Henry Townsend - The Real St. Louis Blues (Arcola) Distinctive acoustic blues by one who performed with Robert Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes, Walter Davis and others. His minor key piano blues are particularly moving. This label has some really important releases out and I do not believe they have been publicized but they certainly deserve. I became aware of this label last year so even though its a pre-2007 release I am including it.
Various - Bullet Records Blues (SPV Blue). Excellent collection of blues by the likes of Walter Davis and St. Louis Jimmy that was issued on Nashville label.
Various - Bullet Records Rhythm & Blues (SPV Blue). Another of Fred James' compilations of vintage Nashville labels with some great jump blues starting with Wyonnie Harris (with Sun Ra on piano). He has other notable reissues on SRV Blue of the Champion and other labels, but these two on Bullet are musically the finest.
Various - Crescent City Bounce (JSP) Wonderful European public domain 4 CD set of rare New Orleans recordings including great sides by Archibald, Smilin’ Joe, Roosevelt Sykes, Tommy Ridgely, Earl King and others.
Various - Down Home Blues Classics- (2CDS) California & West Coast 48-54 (Boulevard Vintage). Simply stunning downhome blues performances by the likes of KC Douglas, Sidney Maiden, Black Diamond, Little Son Willis, Haskell Sadler, Slim Green and others
Various - Down Home Blues Classics- (2CDS) Memphis & the South (Boulevard Vintage). Another compilation of terrific downhome blues with Willie Love, Willie Nix, Joe Hill Louis, Lightning Slim, Schoolboy Cleve, Big Joe Williams, John Lee, Luther Huff, Dr. Ross and more.
Various - MERCURY RECORDS- (2CDS) The New Orleans Sessions 1950 & 1953 (Bear Family). Expanded compilation that includes early recordings by Professor Longhair and others (including Lee Allen's first recordings as a sideman).