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Mick Taylor

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Mick Taylor

Michael "Mick" Kevin Taylor (born 17 January, 1949 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is an English musician best known as the former guitarist for The Rolling Stones.

Biography

Early career

Taylor grew up in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. He began playing guitar at age nine. As a teenager, he formed bands with schoolmates and started performing concerts under names such as The Juniors and the Strangers). They also appeared on television and put out a single. Part of the band was recruited for a new group called The Gods, which included Ken Hensley (later of Uriah Heep fame). In 1966, The Gods opened for Cream at the Starlite Ballroom in Wembley.

In 1965, when Taylor was 16 years, he went to see a John Mayall's Bluesbreakers performance at "The Hop" at the Community Centre, Woodhall, Welwyn Garden City. Former drummer with the Juniors, Danny Bacon remembers, "On the night in question, I had gone to The Hop with some guys from our band (ex schoolmates) Mick Taylor (Ex Juniors) and Alan Shacklock (Ex Juniors/Hi Numbers). And it was after John Mayall had finished his first set (without a guitarist), that it became clear that for some reason, Eric Clapton was not going to show up. A group of local musicians, which included myself, Robert "Jab" Als, Herbie Sparks and few others along with three local guitarists Alan Shacklock, Mick Casey (Ex Trekkas) and Mick Taylor were in attendance".[citation needed] Mick Taylor approached John Mayall during the intermission and ended up filling in as the guitarist for the second set, playing Clapton's guitar which had already been set up on the stage.

Taylor began to be known as a musical prodigy[citation needed] and when Peter Green resigned from the Bluesbreakers, Taylor was asked to take his place. Before he turned 18, Taylor toured and recorded the album Crusade with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. From 1966 to 1969, Taylor developed a fluid and emotive guitar style that is blues-based with latin and jazz influences and showcased his slide guitar skills.

The Rolling Stones

Main article: The Rolling Stones

When The Rolling Stones wanted to tour North America in 1969, the problems surrounding founding member and guitarist Brian Jones could not be ignored. His conviction for illicit drug usage prevented him from obtaining the work visa needed to perform on tour in America; this and his emotional problems had alienated him from the rest of the group and would have made touring difficult, if not impossible. Jones was fired from the band in early June 1969 (less than a month later, on July 3, he drowned in his swimming pool).

Mick Jagger reportedly did not want to hold auditions to replace Jones and the process by which Taylor became a Stone was significantly different from that used for Ron Wood five and a half years later. Jagger simply asked John Mayall from the Bluesbreakers for his advice. Mick Taylor was recommended, and Jagger invited him to a recording session. Taylor arrived at the studio thinking they wanted him to do some session work [1], but after a while he realised he was being auditioned as a new guitarist for the band. Taylor did overdubs on two tracks, "Country Honk" and "Live With Me" from the album Let It Bleed. This impressed Richards and Jagger enough to tell him: "See you tomorrow..." before he left the studio. Taylor continued rehearsing and recording with the band during the summer of 1969.

Mick Taylor made his debut with the Stones at a July 5th free concert in London’s Hyde Park that was attended by an estimated quarter of a million people. The concert launched the 1969 tour while at the same time paying tribute to Brian Jones.

By 1970 Jagger and Taylor started developing a way of working together when Richards was "missing in action", mainly because of Richards' increasing dependency on drugs.[citation needed] In Richards' absence, Taylor and Jagger worked on songs like "Sway", "Moonlight Mile", "Winter" and "Time Waits for No One", but Taylor was never given writing credit.[citation needed] Taylor consequently became disenchanted. He received songwriting credits for only one song, "Ventilator Blues" on the Exile on Main St. album.

After the 1973 European tour, the future for the Stones looked dim. Richards’ drug problems had worsened and were affecting the whole band.[citation needed] Taylor started to get impatient because the group was in a stalemate situation with band members opting to spend their time abroad between recording sessions. While musical trends strayed away from the blues, it looked like the Stones would collapse as a band.[citation needed]

In January 1974 Taylor had sinusitis for which he had to undergo surgery. The band started recording sessions for the LP It's Only Rock 'n Roll and Taylor missed one (albeit important) get together at Musicland in Munich, most likely the title track recording[2]. Taylor was present at all the sessions in April at Stargroves, England where the LP was finished and most of the overdubs were recorded.

Not long after the It's Only Rock 'n Roll sessions Taylor went on a six week expedition to Brazil, travelling down the Amazon River in a boat and exploring Latin music which he had started to take an interest in.

Just before the release of It's Only Rock 'n Roll in October 1974, Taylor told Nick Kent from New Musical Express about the new LP and that he had co-written "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Time Waits for No One" with Jagger.[citation needed] When Kent showed Taylor the record sleeve, it showed that Taylor had not been given any songwriting credit. However, in an interview with Gary James, Taylor states that during his tenure with the band he only had issues with two songs. Taylor also claims that any disagreements over songwriting credits had no bearing on his eventual decision to leave the band. [3]

In December 1974, Taylor announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones. The Stones were at a party in London when Taylor told Mick Jagger he was quitting and walked out. Taylor's decision came as a total shock to many. [4] The Stones were due start recording a new album in Munich.

Jagger was taken aback completely, but took the news professionally. Keith Richards complained about Taylor's departure as he felt that Taylor left at a very inconvenient moment. Taylor's future, however, looked bright.[citation needed] At the time, he was considered one of the best guitarists in the world,[citation needed] and it was expected that he could build a solo career as had Eric Clapton.[citation needed]

In an essay about the Rolling Stones, printed after Taylor's resignation, music critic Robert Palmer (The New York Times) wrote that "Taylor is the most accomplished technician who ever served as a Stone. A blues guitarist with a jazzman's flair for melodic invention, Taylor was never a rock and roller and never a showman."[citation needed]

Even many years later, the remaining Stones, when asked to reflect on Taylor (and his contributions), often come out with contradictory statements. Mick Jagger, in a 1995 interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine, nearly admitted that the years in which Taylor was a member of the band were its best, musically. Jagger said Taylor never explained why he had left, and surmised that "He (Taylor) wanted to have a solo career. I think he found it difficult to get on with Keith." Charlie Watts stated: "I think we chose the right man for the job at that time just as Ronnie was the right man for the job later on. I still think Mick is great. I haven't heard or seen him play in a few years. But certainly what came out of playing with him are musically some of the best things we've ever done". [5] Another statement made by Keith Richards is "Mick Taylor is a great guitarist, but he found out the hard way that that's all he is". [6]

However, hard feelings have dissipated over time: Taylor appears on "I Could Have Stood You Up", a song from Talk is Cheap, Richards' first solo album. On 14 December 1981, Mick Taylor appeared on stage with the Rolling Stones for almost the full show at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. And at a Mick Taylor show in NYC (Lone Star Cafe) on 28 December 1986, Richards appeared on stage with Taylor, jamming on "Key to the Highway" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Stones and Mick Taylor in 1989 [7]. Taylor also worked with Bill Wyman on Wyman's solo project The Rhythm Kings in the early 90's.

Taylor's live presence with the Stones is preserved on the Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! live album recorded over three concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 27 and 28, 1969. He performed on only two tracks from Let It Bleed but participated on every Roling Stones album up to 1974. Recordings that remain bootlegs of the 1972 American Tour and the 1973 European Tour are also available and include Taylor performing with the Stones. Taylor is sometimes mistakenly credited as playing on "Worried about You" from Tattoo You, but the solo on that song is performed by Wayne Perkins.

Solo career

After leaving The Rolling Stones, Taylor has worked on a wide variety of projects.

In June, 1973, he joined Mike Oldfield onstage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in a performance Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Taylor was asked to take part in this project by Richard Branson as he felt Oldfield was unknown having just been signed to Branson's fledgling label, Virgin Records. Taylor joined Oldfield once more for a BBC television broadcast in November, 1973.

After Taylor's resignation from the Rolling Stones, Jack Bruce asked him to form a new band with keyboardist Carla Bley and drummer Bruce Gary. In 1975 the band began rehearsals in London with tour dates scheduled for later that year. The group toured Europe, including a performance at the Dutch Pinkpop Festival, but disbanded the following year. A performance recorded on 1 June, 1975(released 2003 with the title "Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall") and another released performance from the Old Grey Whistle Test is the only material available from this brief collaboration.

Taylor appeared as a special guest at the Rainbow Theatre in London, 1977 with Little Feat, which appears on the Waiting for Columbus album (see discography)[8]. In the summer of 1977 he collaborated with Pierre Moerlen's Gong for the album Expresso II, released in 1978. Taylor began writing new songs and recruiting musicians for a solo album and worked on projects with Miller Anderson, Alan Merrill and others. He was present at many of the recording sessions for John Phillips' first solo album. The recordings for Phillips' album took place in London over a prolonged period between 1973 and 1977. This led to Taylor working with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger who were also working on the Phillips' album. Atlantic Records eventually cancelled the project but copies of the sessions(under titles "Half Stoned" and "Phillips '77") circulated among bootleg traders. The original tapes were rescued and restored and were officially released in 2002 as Pay Pack & Follow.

In 1977 Taylor signed a solo recording deal with CBS Records. By April 1978 he gave several interviews to music magazines to promote the new album which was finished, but would not be released for another year. In 1979 the album, titled Mick Taylor, was released by CBS. The album material mixed rock, jazz and Latin-flavoured blues musical styles. Sales were poor but the album reached #119 on the Billboard charts in early August with a stay of five weeks on the Top 200.[citation needed] CBS advised Taylor to promote the album through American radio stations and would not back the guitarist for any supporting tour.[citation needed] Already frustrated with this situation, Taylor took a break from the music industry for about a year.

In 1981, he toured Europe and the United States with Alvin Lee (from Ten Years After), sharing the bill with Black Sabbath. He spent most of 1982-1983 on the road with his John Mayall, for the "Reunion Tour" with John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) and Colin Allen. During this tour, Bob Dylan showed up backstage at The Roxy in Los Angeles in order to meet Taylor.[citation needed] Subsequently, in 1983, Taylor played on Bob Dylan's Infidels album. He also appeared on Dylan 's live album, Real Live, as well as the follow-up studio album, Empire Burlesque.

Taylor lived in New York throughout the 1980s. He battled with addiction problems before getting back on track in the second half of the 1980s and moving to Los Angeles in 1990.[citation needed] During this time Taylor did session work and toured in Europe, America and Japan with a band including Max Middleton (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), Shane Fontayne, and Blondie Chaplin. Taylor moved back to England in the mid 1990s. He never seemed to feel comfortable in his role as a former Rolling Stone until he released a new record in the year 2000, the CD A Stone's Throw. Playing at clubs and theatres as well as appearing at festivals has connected Taylor with an appreciative audience and lasting fanbase. In 2003, Taylor reunited with John Mayall for his 70th Birthday Concert in Liverpool along with Eric Clapton. A year later, in autumn 2004, he also joined the Bluesbreakers for a UK theatre tour. In October 2007 he toured the US East Coast with the Experience Hendrix group. The Experience Hendrix group appeared at a series of concerts which were set up to honour Jimi Hendrix' musical legacy and Taylor played with Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Buddy Guy and Robby Krieger.

Discography

With John Mayall's Bluesbreakers

With The Rolling Stones

Taylor plays on "Honky Tonk Women"
Taylor plays on "Country Honk" and "Live With Me"
Taylor plays on "I Don't Know Why" and "Jiving Sister Fanny".
Taylor plays on "Tops" and "Waiting on a Friend", both tracks recorded in 1972 during the Goats Head Soup sessions.
Taylor plays on "Let It Rock" (live 1971) and the 1974 b-side "Through The Lonely Nights".

Non-Rolling Stones work with Rolling Stones members:

from 1973-1979 recording sessions in London aka "Half Stoned" sessions
produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

With Jack Bruce

  • Live on the Old Grey Whistle Test (Strange Fruit, 1995). Tracks from several Whistle Test shows recorded between '75 and '81. Seven of the songs feature Taylor on guitar.
  • Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall (2 CD, Polydor, 2003)

Notable work with Bob Dylan

Solo discography

  • Mick Taylor (1979) US #119 [5 wks on top 200]
  • Stranger in This Town (1990)
  • Too Hot for Snakes (1991) (Carla Olson & Mick Taylor)
  • Arthur's Club-Geneve 1995 (Mick Taylor & Snowy White) (Promo CD/TV Especial)
  • A Stone's Throw (2000)
  • Coastin' Home aka Live at the 14 Below (1995) re-issued 2002

With Carla Olson

Other session work

  • Tubular Bells Premiere (Mike Oldfield) June '73 Queen Elizabeth Hall
  • Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield) Telecast Tubular Bells Part One and Tubular Bells Part Two. Recorded at BBC Broadcasting House Nov '73 and aired in early '74 and June '74

Note: recently repeated on BBC and included in Mike Oldfield DVD

  • The Tin Man Was A Dreamer (Nicky Hopkins) (1973)
  • Billy Preston - Live European Tour (Billy Preston) (A& M, 1974). Recorded with Stones Mobile Studio during the '73 tour. Preston opened up for the band with Mick Taylor on guitar.

released on CD (A& M - Japan, 2002)

  • Reggae II (Herbie Mann) (Atlantic, 1976)
  • Waiting for Columbus (Little Feat) (1978) double CD released 2002
  • Expresso II (Gong) (1978)
  • Alan Merrill (Alan Merrill)'s solo album (Polydor, 1985) recorded in London in 1977
  • Once in a Blue Moon (Gerry Groom) (1993)
  • Cartwheels (Anthony Thistlethwaite) (1993)
  • Crawfish and Caviar (Anthony Thistlethwaite)
  • Mick & I (2001) Miyuki & Mick Taylor
  • From Clarksdale to Heaven (BlueStorm, 2002) John Lee Hooker Tribute Album.
  • Key To Love (Debbie Davies) (Shanachie Records, 2003)
  • Shadow Man (re-release of a Sasha album from '96) (2003)

Originally released by Alpha Music in 1996, this "Mick Taylor featuring Sasha" album should have read "Sasha featuring Mick Taylor", but the company felt it would sell better under a household name. It features Mick Taylor on guitar, but is basically a Sasha Gracanin album.

Music DVDs

  • Blues Alive video (RCA/Columbia Pictures 1983), recorded at Capitol Theatre, NJ 1982
  • Jamming with the Blues Greats - DVD release from the 1983 video, featuring John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Buddy Guy, Etta James, Albert King, Mick Taylor, John McVie, Sippie Wallace and Junior Wells (Lightyear/Image Entertainment 2005)
  • The Stones in the Park Hyde Park concert video (Granada Television, 1969)
released on DVD (VCI, 2001)
  • Gimme Shelter (Maysles Films, 1970) music documentary film by Albert and David Maysles, shot at the Rolling Stones concerts at Madison Square Garden, NY on 27th/28th November and Altamont, CA on 6th Dec December 1969.
restored and released on DVD (Criterion, 2000)
  • John Mayall, the Godfather of British Blues documentary about John Mayall's life and career (Eagle Rock, 2004. Region 1: 2005)
  • 70th Birthday Concert (Eagle Rock, 2004. Region 1: 2005). Bluesbreakers Charity Concert (Unite for Unicef) filmed in Liverpool, July 2003. John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with special guests Chris Barber, Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor.

Music DVDs - Unofficial

Filmography

Contributed to soundtrack. Played guitar on various songs, including "Hello Mary Lou" after developing ideas for soundtrack with John Phillips.

  • The Last of the Finest (1990) directed by John Mackenzie. Assisted composer Jack Nitzsche with the moviescore
  • Bad City Blues (1999) directed by Michael Stevens. After the book by Tim Willocks.

Music composers: Mick Taylor and Max Middleton

Awards

  • Inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame (with the Rolling Stones, 1989) Hall of Fame
  • Taylor's handprints are on Hollywood's RockWalk since 6th September, 1998. RockWalk

Guitar History

Throughout his career, Taylor has used various different guitars, but is mostly associated with the Gibson Les Paul. His first Les Paul was bought when he was still playing with The Gods (from Selmer's, London in '65). He acquired his second LP in 1967, not long after joining The Bluesbreakers (Taylor came to Olympic Studios to buy a LP that Keith Richards wanted to sell). This LP Standard '59 with Bigsby arm was stolen from Nellcôte in the South of France in summer '71 during the recording of Exile on Main Street. On the '72/'73 tours Taylor used a couple of Sunburst LP guitars without a Bigsby. Other guitars include a Gibson ES-355 for the recording of Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, a Gibson SG on the 1969, 1970 and 1971 tours, and occasionally, a Fender Stratocaster and a Fender Telecaster.

References

  1. ^ "Classic Bands interview with Mick Taylor"
  2. ^ Elliott, M - The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions, page 220. Cherry Red Books, 2002. ISBN 1-901447-04-9
  3. ^ "Classic Bands interview with Mick Taylor"
  4. ^ "Mick Taylor Biography" All Music, accessed 04 Sept 2007
  5. ^ (A Life On The Road, Virgin Books 1999)
  6. ^ Guitar World, Oct 2002, reprinted in GuitarLegends Jan 2007
  7. ^ "The Rolling Stones Biography". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.
  8. ^ " Waiting For Columbus tracklist and mp3 excerpts"
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