Customer Reviews

Rendezvous With the Blues

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been following Melvin and his music ever since the release of 1995's "Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band" CD. While I agree with Mr. Earley that he has "wandered" a bit of late as far as the musical styles he has tackled, I don't think you can fault Melvin for trying to tackle both Blues and Jazz; he's done it from the beginning and will likely continue to do so. After all, he cites both Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery as key influences. I'll Play The Blues For You, released in 1985, is a VERY jazzy album; Dirty Pool is probably his least jazzy. Rendezvous...has a healthy sampling of each style but certainly has enough bluesy numbers to appeal to the diehard purists. While it's true that there aren't any original compositions to be found here, some of the arrangements are unique and very creative. "Help Me" sounds nothing like the Sonny Boy Williamson II original (it even has a few lines from the Lowel Fulsom classic Reconsider Baby thrown in for good measure) and Black Queen is transformed from an acoustic Stephen Stills romp to a wah drenched rocker. The playing overall is, to borrow from another reviewer, tasteful and full of tone. If Melvin is guilty of anything, it's occasionally playing a bit too frenetically, cramming in as many notes into a song as he possibly can. I find no such instances on this album, however. Standout cuts for me include the very bluesy Tribute To John Lee Hooker and Five Women. Who else could take a slow Prince number and turn into a fantastic bluesy groove. Overall a strong effort from one of the best (if not the best) guitarists around today. Catch him live if you can, he is a regular at Rosa's in western Chicago.

Melvin Taylor is a genious. He not only can conquer the Blues scene with his unparralleled mastery of the guitar, he can bridge into worlds of Jazz & R&B as shown evident on his latest RWB release, and keep you beggin' for more! Upon first hearing Melvin in person at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival, I was immediately struck with his style and ability...it was as close to a incarnation of Hendrix as any I've seen in the flesh! His combination of flash and ease into every movement reflects his creativity...taking already proven songs like Stephen Stills' Black Queen and adding his own zest, taking it to the next level. True the RWB album is primarily cover tunes, but then, why fix something if it isn't broke? Melvin prooves that what is already a great groove in one genre doesn't mean he can't cross the boundries and truly give it somethin' to talk about with his Bluesy flare and spin. Those who haven't seen him in person don't have a clue that the finest guitarist currently on the planet is neatly tucked away in Rosa's, cozy non-commercialized home-town bar in Chicago. You'll never regret one visit to Rosa's or any of Melvin's albums if you're a true connoisseur of fine Bluesmanship and you're not stuck on the idea that there's only one way to play it...just kick back and let the gift rip into your soul and treat yourself to the most unforgettable music experience you'll ever encounter!

Melvin Taylor is one of the greatest blues players of All-Time and this album is one of the greatest blues albums in many years. I honestly don't know what some of the reviewers are hearing, but to me Taylor plays from the heart with great abandon and intensity, but always still blues and always referring back to the blues tradition in his phrasing (i.e. he'll rip in the 1st 8 bars of a 12 bar but will play a traditional turnaround lick on the 9th bar, or he'll quote Albert King in his solo without note for note copying King)... I'd be hard-pressed to name a better living blues guitarist. I have Taylor's album Dirty Pool and while I think its great, it is clear that Taylor has progressed alot in the 5 years between albums... If you are looking for Albert King, buy an Albert King album, if you are looking for a modern day Blues giant who is influenced by everyone from BB to Albert to Magic Sam to Buddy Guy to SRV and Hendrix and has SYTNTHESIZED THAT INTO HIS OWN STYLE, never abandoning the blues and always playing with heart and soul, this is your first stop.

August 13, 2002
Artist: Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band
Title: Rendevouz with the Blues
Rating: Very Good

England's Hammer Studios shoulda shot a movie called,'The Blue Curse of Stevie Ray Vaughan.' Guaranteed to shorten any promising career, the "curse" is used by the clueless to infer speed and rocking tunes: the `curse' in invoked by those in the know to infer drool clone-like artistry. When listening to the current recordings of Chicago's Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band, including his latest, Rendevous with the Blues' on Evidence Records, Taylor no longer needs to fear an invocation of `the curse.' Taylor has clearly risen above the ebbing rip-tide of Vaughan's legacy and introduced a unique blend of Chicago blues and George Benson's jazz to the lexicon of modern music. Daring to go where no one has gone before, with rich full tone and a texture all his own, Taylor is embarking on career where few have the chops to follow.

According to Rolling Stone Magazine's website, Melvin Taylor is "One of the most exhilarating blues guitarists to emerge in the past decade, Melvin Taylor is more a blues innovator than a purist, mixing jazz chords and rock influences into his tapestry of electric blues. Born in Mississippi in `59, Taylor's family moved to Chicago when he was three. By age 12, the young guitarist had started jamming with his uncle and friends. In the early '80s, Taylor was asked to join the Legendary Blues Band (following the departure of Muddy Waters). In early 1995, Taylor signed with Evidence Records and released his first album in 11 years, simply titled Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band. The record began to turn heads and soon became the best-selling title in Evidence's catalog. Dirty Pool followed in 1997, further increasing his reputation as one of the best blues guitarist on the scene."

Seeing Taylor perform his defying over-the-necks lighting quick melodic runs live leads the listener to question why the artist has not quickly risen to the upper echelon of the club circuit. Being signed to an independent label, rarely playing clubs outside the Chicago area, and a history of substance abuse in the past have plagued his career. Taylor also asserts that racism has put hurdles in his path. With the past fading away, on his latest album, Rendezvous With the Blues, Taylor shows his skills as an truly gifted guitar player and song interpreter. Performing songs by John Lee Hooker, Herbie Mann, Gregg Allman, Sonny Boy Williamson, Prince, and ZZ Top, Taylor makes the songs his own by adding his jazzy touch and rock-hard riffs. Of special note is the guest appearance by Mato Naiji of Indigenous on two tracks including, `A Tribute to John Lee Hooker.' The cultural clash between Naiji's Austin-bend playing and Taylor's Benson-bend highlights just how far Taylor's sound and playing is from `the curse.'

heard melvin at rosa's bar in NW chaicago recently. never have seen a guitar player whose hand was a blur while playing. melvin is a hidden great. he is superb whether playing blues, rock, or jazz. he is in the same league with Santana, Albert King, Hendrix. He is not widely known supposedly because he doesnt play only one type of music, say blues. but, i really recommend a listen. Melvin told us that his favorite CD is Rendezvous with the blues. i immediately bought it and love it. it accurately captures his virtuosity.

What a great guitarist Melvin Taylor is! The first record of this great Blues guitarist that I listened and I was impressed by, was the April 1982 'Blues on the Run' issued by `Isabel', the French label, closely related to the famous 'Black and Blue' label which has made so much for the Blues being known, mainly in Europe.
This record 'Rendezvous with the Blues' is Melvin's latest recorded in another great American label, Evidence, and he performs a number of versions very well with the great of Lucky Peterson's contribution. I like a lot Melvin Taylor and this record is no exception, but I've got some little thing to object, which is that Melvin uses the pedal (wah wah) and vibrato in excess, making sometimes the music a little noisy, shrieking in some moments, and that's why I can't give 5 stars to the record in the same way I've done with some others of his wonderful CD's. Nonetheless, let me add some comments. There are moments of respite in "Comin home baby", where Melvin presents his adrenaline-fueled extravaganzas, Sonny Boy Williamson's "Help me" with a jazzy flavour and "Eclipse", sounding similar to George Benson. "Help the poor", made popular by B.B.King and Robben Ford (what a grand Ford's version in his `TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER' Lp), the Jimmy Hall's R&B title track "Rendezvous with the Blues" in which there is a nice conversation between Melvin's fingers that move like skyrockets playing guitar and Lucky Peterson's Hammond B-3. A relative moderate tribute to the late and legendary John Lee Hooker with "Chill Out and The Healer"A very good Prince's "Five women" combining technique and taste, the slow ZZ Top's "Blue Jean Blues" with Melvin waling his lamentation and great melancholy potential and a very good cover, the closing track, Stephen Stills's "Black queen" where Melvin converts the original Stills's acoustic Blues in an electric Blues-Rock stomp showing his Hendrix's influences. A good record I give it 3,5 stars

When Taylor released his album "Dirty Pool" a few years ago, I thought we really had a rising star on our hands. That was an all out blues cd that had moments of some of the most hair raising guitar work that I had ever heard. But after that successful album Taylor all of a sudden decided to go in a different direction and make his next album "Bang That Bell" more of a jazz, funk, r&b effort. It still had it's good blues moments, but to a die-hard blues fan like myself, I was put off by the non-blues direction he was taking. Which brings us to this new album. First of all, looking at the shrinkwrap cover that says Mato Nanji from the band Indigenous backs Taylor here, I thought that this just might be an allout blues rock effort. Not so. The first cut you get off this is a very Wes Montgomeryish type jazz instrumental. Skip down to track 9 "Eclipse" and you get vitually the same thing, Montgomery influenced jazz. You do get a few helpings of blues with ZZ Tops "Blue Jean Blues", Rendezvous With The Blues", and a cover of "Help The Poor", a tune I thought Robben Ford did better on his Authorized Bootleg album. Which is another problem with this. Virtually every song here is a cover. No Taylor originals, which is a real stickler with me when it comes to artists with this much talent. You would think somebody that's this good with the guitar could have done at least maybe an instrumental or 2 of his own composition. There is some hot guitar moments, like on the songs "Help Me" and "Rendezvous". But I'm not really sure where Mato Nanji fits into the picture. When you're the best darn blues guitarist around, why do you need an inferior second banana hanging around? I don't know, the songs on this just didn't move me enough to hit the repeat button. No blues shuffles, and except for the last song, Steven Stills "Black Queen" where Taylor halfway comes to life with some too little too late blues rock, it's just basically the same slow to mid-tempo "been heard before" blues/jazz numbers. Taylor needs to decide which direction he really wants to go. Does he want to be blues or jazz? Very few artists have been able to pull off both genres with much success on one album. That other great guitar player Robben Ford couldn't do it, and the same goes for Taylor. Bring back the blues and all is forgiven.

Melvin has had many releases, but this tends to be a more consistant effort with some very talented guests, such as Nato Mangi of Indigenous. The blues material is great, but there is a little Jazz number in Comin' Home Baby that is unexpectedly tastey and Sweet!! Chill out/the Healer and Black Quean are great blues guitar numbers that show case the Blues-Rock talent here!

Once again, Melvin Taylor comes across as a very good guitarist and arranger, but not a very good composer or original musician. He borrows songs and styles from original blues musicians such as John Lee Hooker and Jimi Hendrix and puts them to good use, but he doesn't have a single composition or style of his own. His rendition of Chill Out/The Healer and Blue Jean Blues are wonderful.

If you haven't heard a lot of great guitarists, I suppose Taylor might 'knock you out' with his sloppy speed. He is fast. But the Hendrix comparisons are absurd: Hendrix rarely played fast, while Taylor can barely ever pull back from full-speed. Hendrix strived for new sounds, structures, and feelings, while Taylor just shows off. Blues doesn't call for this approach; listen to Al DiMeola or Alan Holdsworth for clean, creative, speed-playing. This is just simple stuff with a guitar spilling out over it all. Jazz? Hardly. Slow this down, and will find it to be incredibly repetitive, juvenile, and devoid of feeling. Taylor simply doesn't know enough about music to sustain a jazz set. The stuff goes by in a flash, and unsophisticated listeners figure it must have been 'over their heads'...no, it's just fast. Three stars for speed.