Melvin Taylor
American electric blues guitarist
title: "Melvin Taylor" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1959-births", "living-people", "musicians-from-jackson,-mississippi", "american-blues-guitarists", "american-male-guitarists", "chicago-blues-musicians", "electric-blues-musicians", "contemporary-blues-musicians", "guitarists-from-chicago", "guitarists-from-mississippi", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "20th-century-american-male-musicians"] description: "American electric blues guitarist" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Taylor" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American electric blues guitarist ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Melvin Taylor |
| image | Melvin Taylor 0333.png |
| caption | Taylor performing in Kyiv, Ukraine, 2010 |
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| birth_place | Jackson, Mississippi, United States |
| birth_date | |
| origin | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| instrument | Guitar |
| genre | Electric blues |
| occupation | Guitarist |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Melvin Taylor | image = Melvin Taylor 0333.png | caption = Taylor performing in Kyiv, Ukraine, 2010 | image_size = | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = | alias = | birth_place = Jackson, Mississippi, United States | birth_date = | death_date = | origin = Chicago, Illinois, United States | instrument = Guitar | genre = Electric blues | occupation = Guitarist | years_active = | label = | website =
Melvin Taylor (born March 13, 1959) is an American electric blues guitarist, based in Chicago.{{cite book | first= Paul | last= Du Noyer | year= 2003 | title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music | edition= | publisher= Flame Tree Publishing | location= Fulham, London | isbn= 1-904041-96-5 | page= 181}}
Career
Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. He moved to Chicago with his parents in 1962.
He joined the Transistors, a popular music group. He switched his focus to blues music when the group disbanded in the early 1980s. He found work playing in clubs on the West Side of Chicago, often at Rosa's Lounge.{{cite book | first= Tony | last= Russell | year= 1997 | title= The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray | edition= | publisher=Carlton Books | location= Dubai | page= 175 | isbn= 1-85868-255-X}}
During the 1980s he joined Pinetop Perkins and the Legendary Blues Band in a year-long European tour. He has returned to Europe several times with his own group, which has opened for B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Santana.
Taylor's recordings include two albums for Isabel Records, a French record label, Blues on the Run (1982) and Plays the Blues for You (1984). Recordings in the United States include Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band (1995), with John Snyder, released by Evidence Music, and Dirty Pool (1997). Taylor's Beyond the Burning Guitar was recorded in Misty Creek Studios, in Fairfax, Virginia. He also recorded a cover of the Skylar Grey–Eminem song "Love the Way You Lie", with the rapper, Matt Christian, at Misty Creek Studios.
Discography
- Blues on the Run (Isabel [Fr], 1982; Evidence, 1994)
- Plays the Blues for You (Isabel [Fr], 1984; Evidence, 1993)
- Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band (Evidence, 1995)
- Dirty Pool (Evidence, 1997)
- Bang That Bell (Evidence, 2000)
- Rendezvous with the Blues (Evidence, 2002)
- My Heart Belongs to Jesus (Melvin Taylor Productions, 2007)
- Beyond the Burning Guitar (Melvin Taylor Productions, 2010) 2-CD
- Sweet Taste of Guitar (Melvin Taylor Productions, 2012)
- Taylor Made [6-song EP] (Melvin Taylor Productions, 2013)
References
References
- Skelly, Richard. "Melvin Taylor – Biography". [[AllMusic]].
- (1995). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
- "Melvin Taylor – Blues on the Run (vinyl LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com.
- "Melvin Taylor Band "Taylor Made".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::