Sam Taylor (jazz)
Encyclopedia
Sam Taylor best known as the tenor saxophonist
Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American
jazz
and blues
player, whose honking style set the standard for tenor sax solos
in both rock and roll
and rhythm and blues
.
Taylor attended Alabama State University
, where he played with the Bama State Collegians
. He worked with Scatman Crothers
, Cootie Williams
, Lucky Millinder
, Cab Calloway
, Ray Charles
, Buddy Johnson
, Louis Jordan
, and Big Joe Turner
. He was one of the most requested session
saxophone players in New York
recording studio
s in the 1950s. Taylor also replaced Count Basie
as the house bandleader on Alan Freed
's 'Camel Rock 'n Roll Dance Party' radio series over CBS.
Taylor's saxophone solo appeared on Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll
". He also played on "Money Honey", recorded by Clyde McPhatter
with The Drifters
in 1953, and on "Sh-Boom
" by The Chords
.
During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.
Taylor died in 1990 in Lexington
, Tennessee
.
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
player, whose honking style set the standard for tenor sax solos
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
in both rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
.
Taylor attended Alabama State University
Alabama State University
Alabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- History :...
, where he played with the Bama State Collegians
Bama State Collegians
The Bama State Collegians is a student jazz orchestra made up of students at Alabama State University. This group, founded in the 1930s, has been directed by a number of notable musicians, including Tommy Stewart and Erskine Hawkins....
. He worked with Scatman Crothers
Scatman Crothers
Benjamin Sherman "Scatman" Crothers was an American actor, singer, dancer and musician known for his work as Louie the Garbage Man on the TV show Chico and the Man, and as Dick Hallorann in The Shining in 1980...
, Cootie Williams
Cootie Williams
Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter.-Biography:...
, Lucky Millinder
Lucky Millinder
Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an American rhythm and blues and swing bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful...
, Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Buddy Johnson
Buddy Johnson
Not to be confused with Budd Johnson.Buddy Johnson was an American jazz and New York blues pianist and bandleader, active from the 1930s through the 1960s...
, Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
, and Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
. He was one of the most requested session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
saxophone players in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s in the 1950s. Taylor also replaced Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
as the house bandleader on Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
's 'Camel Rock 'n Roll Dance Party' radio series over CBS.
Taylor's saxophone solo appeared on Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll
Shake, Rattle and Roll
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a prototypical twelve bar blues-form rock and roll song, written in 1954 by Jesse Stone under his assumed songwriting name Charles E. Calhoun. It was originally recorded by Big Joe Turner, and most successfully by Bill Haley & His Comets...
". He also played on "Money Honey", recorded by Clyde McPhatter
Clyde McPhatter
Clyde McPhatter was an American R&B singer, perhaps the most widely imitated R&B singer of the 1950s and 1960s, making him a key figure in the shaping of doo-wop and R&B. He is best known for his solo hit "A Lover's Question"...
with The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
in 1953, and on "Sh-Boom
Sh-Boom
"Sh-Boom" is an early doo-wop song. It was written by James Keyes, Claude Feaster, Carl Feaster, Floyd F. McRae, and James Edwards, members of the R&B vocal group The Chords and published in 1954. It was a U.S...
" by The Chords
The Chords
The Chords are a 1970s British pop music group, commonly associated with the 1970s mod revival, who had several hits in their homeland, before the decline of the trend brought about their break-up...
.
During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.
Taylor died in 1990 in Lexington
Lexington, Tennessee
Lexington is a city in Henderson County, Tennessee, United States. Lexington is midway between Memphis and Nashville, lying ten miles south of Interstate 40, which connects the two cities. The population was 7,393 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Henderson County...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.
Discography
- Music with The Big Beat (MGMMGM RecordsMGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
), 1956 - Rockin' Sax and Rollin' Organ (with Dick HymanDick HymanRichard “Dick” Hyman is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer, best-known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 50 year career, he has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as composer...
) (MGM), 1957 - Jazz for Commuters (MetroJazz RecordsMetroJazz Records-Discography:...
), 1958 - Mist of the Orient (MGM), 1962
- The Bad and The Beautiful (Moodsville), 1962
- Misty Mood (DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
), 1962 - It's a Blue World (Decca), 1963
- Watermelon Man (with Frank Hunter and the Huntsmen) (EpicEpic RecordsEpic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
), 1963 - Somewhere in the Night (Decca), 1964
- A Musical Portrait of Ray Charles (with Leroy Holmes and his Orchestra) (MGM)
- Koga Melodies - Best Collection (Pony Canyon), c. 1970
- Eternal Standard (Canyon), c. 1971
- Standard Best Collection Vol I & II (Japanese), 1999