Artist : Koko Taylor
Album : Old School
Label : Alligator Records
Genre : Blues
Bitrate : 197 kbps avg
Source : CD (LP)
Playtime : 01:02:57 (93 MB)
Rls date : 2007-03-20
Store date : 2007-04-03
[Track List]
1. Piece Of Man 4:30
2. Gonna Buy Me A Mule 4:35
3. Black Rat 5:08
4. Money Is The Name Of The Game 6:48
5. You Ain't Worth A Good Woman 5:34
6. Better Watch Your Step 4:55
7. Bad Avenue 5:20
8. Bad Rooster 5:21
9. Don't Go No Further 3:39
10.All Your Love 6:35
11.Hard Pill To Swallow 5:51
12.Young Fashioned Ways 4:41
Alligator Records has set an April 3 release date for
OLD SCHOOL, the first new CD in seven years from
Grammy-winning Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor. Inspired
by the sound and spirit of the Chicago blues of the 1950s,
Taylor wrote five new originals and carefully chose songs
from Willie Dixon, Lefty Dizz, Magic Sam and others to
create an album of tough, "old school" Chicago blues.
ôBlues is my life,ö says Taylor, ChicagoÆsùand the
worldÆsùundisputed Queen Of The Blues. ôItÆs a true feeling
that comes from the heart, not just something that comes out
of my mouth. Blues is what I love, and singing the blues is
what I always do.ö And, in many ways, blues is what saved
Koko TaylorÆs life. Back in November of 2003, following
emergency surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding, TaylorÆs
condition grew even more serious. She was struggling just to
breathe. Family and friends feared the worst as she was placed
on a ventilator. But her forceful will to live, and to sing
the blues again, brought her back. Slowly but surely she
recovered, and by the following spring she was performing live
on stage. Her resurgence not only led her back to the stage,
but also led her back to the recording studio.
With the aptly titled OLD SCHOOL, Taylor once again shows the
world what she does so well. From foot-stomping barnburners to
powerful slow blues, Koko proves in an instant that her blues
are joyous and life-affirming, powerful and soul-stirring.
OLD SCHOOL brings it all back home, with Taylor supported by a
band of veteran musicians and young revivalists. Singing like
she did for Chess Records early in her career, Taylor belts
out a set of material that could easily have topped the blues
charts in the 1950s, and will certainly reach the top of the
blues world today.
Koko Taylor, guitarist Criss Johnson and Alligator president
Bruce Iglauer produced OLD SCHOOL. Recorded in Chicago, the 12
songs all hearken back to TaylorÆs early years in the Windy
City. They range from the humorous truth of Piece Of Man to the
rocking blues advice of Better Watch Your Step to the tough
street scene of Bad Avenue (done in classic Muddy Waters style),
to KokoÆs version of Memphis MinnieÆs Black Rat, a song she used
to sing as a teenager. ôI put my heart and soul into everything
that I do,ö says Taylor. ôI worked long and hard on OLD SCHOOL,
and I want my fans to enjoy it as much as I do.ö
Live, she simply cannot be matched in her power and raw talent.
In fact, reviews of her 2006 live performances all rave about how
ôThe Queenö is singing better than at any other time in her long,
storied careerùa career that includes singing with Muddy Waters,
HowlinÆ Wolf, Willie Dixon, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Robert Plant
and every other imaginable legend. SheÆs performed in clubs,
festivals and concert halls all over the world, played for two
presidents, and even lent her voice and her likeness (as an
animated bear) to the PBS childrenÆs television program Arthur.
Over the course of her almost 50-year career, Taylor has received
just about every award the blues world has to offer and then some.
SheÆs received Grammy nominations for seven of her last eight
Alligator albums, and she won a Grammy in 1984 for the live
multi-artist album Blues Explosion on Atlantic Records. In 2004
she was presented with the coveted National Heritage Fellowship
Award from the National Endowment For The Arts. She holds 25
Blues Music Awards (more than any other blues artist, male or
female). A major feather in her cap came on March 3, 1993,
when Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a Legend
Of The Year Award, and declared ôKoko Taylor Dayö throughout
Chicago. In 1998, Chicago Magazine named her ôChicagoan Of The
Year,ö and in 1999, Taylor was inducted into the Blues FoundationÆs
Hall Of Fame. ôThere are many kings of the blues,ö said The Boston
Globe, ôbut only one queen. KokoÆs voice is still capable of
pinning a listener to the back wall.ö
It is not easy being a woman succeeding in the male-dominated
blues world, but Koko Taylor has done just that. SheÆs taken
her music from the tiny clubs on the South Side of Chicago to
giant festivals, and continues to perform all over the world.
SheÆs appeared on national television numerous times and has
even been the subject of a PBS documentary. Through good times
and personal hardships, Koko Taylor has remained a major force
in the blues. ôItÆs a challenge,ö she says. ôItÆs tough being
out here doing what IÆm doing in what they call a manÆs world.
ItÆs not every woman that can hang in there and do what I am
doing.ö Without a doubt, Koko Taylor is the preeminent blues
woman in the world today. She isùand will remainùthe undisputed
Queen Of The Blues.