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Mick Taylor

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Mick Taylor

Michael "Mick" Kevin Taylor (born 17 January, 1948 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is an English musician best known as the former lead guitarist for The Rolling Stones.

Biography

Early career

Mick Taylor grew up in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and began playing guitar at age 9. As a teenager he formed bands with schoolmates and started doing gigs as The Juniors (or 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.

When he was 16 years old (in 1965) Taylor went to see a John Mayall's Bluesbreakers gig 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". Mick Taylor approached John Mayall during the intermission and ended up filing in as the guitarist for the second set, playing Clapton's guitar which had already been set up on the stage.

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. Taylor is also seen as one of the most prominent slide guitar players.

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 in early June 1969 (less than a month later he died by drowning on 3 July). Mick Jagger reportedly did not want to hold auditions to replace him, and the process by which Taylor became a Stone was significantly different from the way Ron Wood would 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, 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. The song "Country Honk" was dramatically changed when Taylor experimented with the riff on guitar. The new version of the song was called "Honky Tonk Women", which was immediately released as a single and became a number one hit in July 1969. The Stones were rehearsing Stevie Wonder's "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)" when Jagger answered the telephone informing the band Jones had drowned.

File:Taylorandstones.gif
Taylor with the Rolling Stones.

Mick Taylor made his debut with the Stones at a July 5th free concert in London’s Hyde Park which was attended by a quarter of a million people. The concert launched the 1969 tour while at the same time paying tribute to Brian Jones. In November, The Stones set off on The North American tour, their first in three years. It consisted of arena-sized venues and also included the ill-fated concert at the Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California.

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Mick Taylor performing on stage

After the 1969 tour, Jagger and Taylor developed a way of working together when Richards was "missing in action", mainly because of Richards' growing use of drugs. According to Taylor, he and Jagger wrote songs like "Sway", "Moonlight Mile", "Winter" and "Time Waits for No One", but Taylor was never given writing credit. Taylor consequently became disenchanted. He received songwriting credits for only one song, "Ventilator Blues" on the Exile on Main St. album.

The band's future seemed uncertain after the 1973 European tour. Richards’ drug problems and unreliable behavior had worsened and were affecting the whole band, including Taylor. Although he was openly dissatisfied with the state of the band, he stayed on through the recording sessions for It's Only Rock 'n Roll. Just before the release of the album in October 1974, Taylor told Nick Kent from New Musical Express about the new LP and stated that he had co-written "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Time Waits for No One" with Jagger. Kent then showed Taylor the record sleeve, which showed the songs had been credited to Jagger and Richards only.

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.[1] The Stones were supposed to start recording a new album in Munich, West Germany. 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. At the time, he was considered one of the best guitarists in the world, and it was expected that he could build a solo career as had Eric Clapton.

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."

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". (A Life On The Road, Virgin Books 1999). One of the typical statements made by Keith Richards is "Mick Taylor is a great guitarist, but he found out the hard way that that's all he is" (Source: Guitar World, Oct 2002, reprinted in GuitarLegends Jan 2007).

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 for almost the full show at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City with the Rolling Stones; 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 [2]. 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. Two tracks on Let It Bleed and the albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup and It's Only Rock 'n Roll were the four studio contributions Taylor recorded with the Stones. Recordings that remain bootlegs - due to complications with past Stones management - of the 1972 American Tour and the 1973 European Tour are the best showcase for Taylor's playing with the Stones.

After Taylor's resignation his playing can be heard on the compilation album Metamorphosis, Sucking in the Seventies, Made in the Shade as well as CDs like Rewind, Singles Collection: The London Years, Hot Rocks, More Hot Rocks, Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones and Forty Licks. Two new songs on 1981's Tattoo You also feature Taylor ("Tops" and "Waiting on a Friend"). 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

Taylor has kept a relatively low profile during the decades since his five years with the Rolling Stones, but he has worked on a wide variety of projects.

Not long before he left the Stones, in June 1973, Taylor helped introduce Mike Oldfield's music to the public by performing Tubular Bells live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Taylor also played once more with Mike Oldfield for a BBC Performance in November 1973.

After Taylor's resignation from the Stones, Jack Bruce asked him to form a new "supergroup" together with Carla Bley and Bruce Gary. The band got together for rehearsals in London in 1975. Because tour dates had already been lined up for later that year, there was not much time left for writing new material, and in the studio it became clear that in Jack Bruce's view the object of touring was to promote his three solo albums. The group toured Europe (including a performance at the Dutch Pinkpop Festival), but was disbanded for various reasons before any studio material was recorded. In May 2003, the double CD Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall (recorded 1 June 1975) was released by Polydor after some tapes were found. This, and their performance live on the Old Grey Whistle Test, is the only material available from this line-up.Bruce Gary, a good friend of Taylor's died in Los Angeles in August 2006 at the age of 55.

Taylor worked with American guitarist Lowell George and his band Little Feat, appearing as a special guest at the Rainbow Theatre in London, and on the Waiting for Columbus album (see discography). He collaborated with French drummer Pierre Moerlen and his band Gong (Expresso II album), Miller Anderson, Alan Merrill and others. He was present at many of the recording sessions for John Phillips' first solo album. John Phillips, a former member of The Mamas & the Papas, had moved to London in 1973 to work on developing soundtracks and start a solo career. The recordings for John Phillips's first solo album took place in London over a prolonged period during the second half of the 1970s. This led to Richards, Jagger and Taylor working together on some of the tracks. (After Atlantic Records pulled the plug on the project, the sessions did not result in an official release, but illegal copies of the "Half Stoned" or "Phillips '77" record circulated amongst bootleg traders). Decades later the original tapes were rescued and restored, and an official release came about in 2002 under the title "Pay Pack and Follow").

In 1979, four years after he had left the Stones, Taylor's first solo album, the self-titled Mick Taylor, was released on CBS. Taylor's new material was rock, jazz, and Latin-flavoured blues, but it came out at the height of the punk and new wave movement. Sales were relatively modest, but this was his only charting solo album, reaching #119 on the Billboard charts in early August with a stay of five weeks on the Top 200. After disagreements with the record label over how best to promote the record, Taylor took some time out and deliberately kept a low profile for about a year. He moved to the US East Coast to promote his solo record and was lived in a house where part of the 1974 film of The Great Gatsby was filmed, on Long Island.

In 1981, he toured Europe and America with Alvin Lee (from Ten Years After), sharing the bill with Black Sabbath. He spent most of 1982-1983 on the road with his old mentor John Mayall for the so-called Reunion Tour with John McVie (Fleetwood Mac) and Colin Allen. It was during this tour that Bob Dylan showed up backstage at The Roxy in Los Angeles in order to meet Taylor.

In 1983 Taylor played on Bob Dylan's Infidels album, alongside with Mark Knopfler as well as Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. He also appeared live with Dylan and played on the subsequent Empire Burlesque album.

Taylor lived in New York throughout the decade, which turned out to be a dark period. He battled with addiction problems before getting back on track the second half of the 1980s and moving to Los Angeles in 1990.

At the end of the 1980s and early '90s, Taylor managed to find his way back by doing session work and touring in Europe and America with a band including Max Middleton (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), Shane Fontayne, and Blondie Chaplin (now a back-up musician with the Stones). 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 along with Eric Clapton. A year later, in autumn 2004, he also joined the Bluesbreakers for a UK theatre tour.

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:

  • Pay, Pack & Follow John Phillips (first official release by Eagle Rock Records, 2001)
from 1973-1979 recording sessions in London aka "Half Stoned" sessions
produced by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

With Jack Bruce

  • Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall (2 CD, Polydor, 2003)

Notable work with Bob Dylan

  • Infidels (1983)
  • Real Live (In Europe, 1984) (1984)
  • Empire Burlesque (1985)
  • The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3 - Rare & Unreleased 1961 -1991 (1991)

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

  • 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. ^ "Mick Taylor Biography" allmusic, accessed 04 Sept 2007
  2. ^ "The Rolling Stones Biography". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. Retrieved 04 Sept 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  • [2] Gibson players


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