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Koko Taylor
Crown Jewels
Alligator |
Not long after I
started listening to the blues, I attended a
nearby blues festival that boasted an impressive
line-up.Headlining the festival were two
Alligator Records act, Lonnie Mack and Koko
Taylor. I had only heard a couple of
Taylor's song prior to this appearance, but she
blew me and the rest of the audience away with
her incredible vocals, capturing the pure
essence of the blues.
In hindsight, that
made perfect sense because Koko Taylor began
living the blues at a very young age. Born near
Memphis in 1928, she lost her mother when she
was a child and worked as a sharecropper with
her family. However, she grew up listening to
singers like Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie,
along with gospel singers and the music on WDIA
radio. In 1952, she moved with her future
husband, Robert “Pops” Taylor, to Chicago, where
she worked in domestic jobs.
Taylor was blessed
with a natural blues voice, and after
encouragement from her husband she began joining
various Chicago artists on stage, drawing the
attention of Willie Dixon, who produced several
recordings of Taylor for Chess Records. She
enjoyed some popularity with those recordings in
the '60s, with “Wang Dang Doodle” becoming a hit
on black-oriented radio. But Chess was sold and
she was left without a label, leading her back
to the domestic work she had taken on prior to
recording and continuing to sit in with local
bands.
Alligator founder
Bruce Iglauer heard her in the early '70s while
she was sitting in with Mighty Joe Young at the
Wise Fools Pub, and he was blown away. She
signed with Alligator in 1975 and recorded nine
albums for the label before she passed away in
2009, receiving multiple Grammy and BMA
nomination over the years for her efforts.
Taylor won more BMA awards than any other
artist, thus the BMA's Traditional Female Blues
Artist was re-named “The Koko Taylor Award."
Iglauer has selected
and remastered 12 of Taylor's favorite songs,
with an emphasis on fan favorites, for the new
Alligator collection (on LP and digital only)
Crown Jewels, a marvelous edition that
should be in every blues fan's collection.
Five of the 12 tracks come from 1978's The
Earthshaker, many of which were mainstays at
her live shows. The album is considered one of
Taylor's finest, featuring a powerhouse Chicago
band that included Sammy Lawhorn and Johnny B.
Moore on guitars, Abb Locke on tenor sax, and
Pinetop Perkins on piano. These tracks include a
fine remake of “Wang Dang Doodle,” a fiery cover
of “You Can Have My Husband,” originally done by
Irma Thomas, her gritty revision of “I”m A
Woman,” a spirited take on Floyd Dixon's “Hey
Bartender,” and the roof-raising “Let The Good
Times Roll.”
There's one track
from Taylor's Alligator 1975 debut, I Got
What It Takes, “Voodoo Woman,” a Taylor
original. She's backed by Lawhorn and Mighty Joe
Young on guitars, with Locke on tenor sax, Bill
Heid on piano, and Cornelius Boyson on bass and
Vince Chappelle on drums (both also played on
The Earthshaker).
The 1985 album,
Queen Of The Blues, also offers one track, a
greasy, Memphis-flavored reading of Ann Peebles'
“Come To Mama,” with longtime Taylor guitarist
Criss Johnson, Professor Eddie Lusk on organ,
Johnny B. Gayden on bass, and Ray “Killer”
Allison on drums.
The live set An
Audience With The Queen, from 1987, featured
Taylor backed by Michael “Mr. Dynamite” Robinson
and Eddie King on guitars, Jerry Murphy on bass,
and Clyde “Youngblood” Tyler on drums. That
album is represented by a powerful cover of Etta
James' “I'd Rather Go Blind.”
Jump For Joy,
from 1990, is represented by the soulful “Can't
Let Go,” another Taylor original, with support
from Johnson on guitar, Jim Dortch on organ,
Murphy on bass, and Allison on drums, with horns
arranged by Gene Barge.
Two songs are pulled
from Force of Nature, Taylor's 1993
release; a feisty cover of Little Milton's
“Mother Nature,” with harp contributed by Carey
Bell, and “Born Under A Bad Sign,” with Buddy
Guy joining in on guitar and sharing vocals.
Johnson, Murphy, and Allison return in support
for this album, with Jeremiah Africa playing
keyboards.
Royal Blue,
from 2000, offers one of Taylor's best
originals, “Ernestine,” with Johnson on guitar,
Johnnie Johnson on piano, Matthew Skoller on
harmonica, Kenny Hampton on bass, and Kriss T.
Johnson Jr. on drums.
Crown Jewels
serves as a perfect summation of the music of
Koko Taylor. These 12 tracks cover all the
bases, displaying the powers of one of the
blues' finest female vocalists about as well as
it can be done. It's both a great introduction
to new fans and a fantastic collection of
favorites for longtime fans.
--- Graham Clarke
