Who is your favorite blues guitarist, who is still alive today?
Right now, I think I would go with Melvin Taylor. How about all you other Blues fans? Michael P: I would like to see Taylor get Melvin to live one day! A video I've seen him play live – on YouTube – was a great instrumental, to an awesome bluesy jazz that thing was … I loved it! If it were not for Pandora Radio, I'd never heard of him. I wish more people they know Melvin Taylor -. As with Buddy Guy and BB King I, these two artists, love as well! In fact, the first real concert I ever went Guy, King, Tommy Castro … I like Castro as well. Also, if you have not heard you should be the Brad Paisley-BB King duet version of "Let the Good Times Roll". Who knew how a country guitarist Paisley could play the blues as well Jr:! Satch Joe Bonamassa is a great blues guitarist! However, I would never say that Satriani Blues … at all is!
Clapton and Jimmie Vaughan, I saw him live and he rocked the place!
In a collection of 22 essays, leading historians explore the founding fathers` more radical contemporaries–including Jill Lepore, Alan Taylor, Woody Holton and Melvin Patrick Ely–who advocated for true liberty for all at the United States` inception,…
The U.S. release of Melvin Taylor’s two early-’80s LPs by Evidence a decade later was a shock introduction to a blues guitarist who seemingly blazed out of nowhere — outside of Rosa’s Lounge in Chicago, that is. “Blazed” is the right word, too, because Taylor is a total maximalist who unleashes torrents of notes to fill up every space. But he’s so convincing a player that the concept of “blues guitar hero” might get a good name again, even with fans dead-tired of excess who never thought they’d think things like, “Man, can Melvin Taylor play the ever-loving (add the expletive superlative of your choice) out of the guitar” again. Taylor’s first real-time release, Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band, is a pretty straightforward affair — basic trio with minimal overdubs, servicable vocals in an Albert King mode, and a mix of originals and very classic covers. The opening “Texas Flood” lets him rip on a slow blues, constantly changing up his playing with wah-wah blitzes as the real ace in his sonic hole. The originals “Depression Blues” and “Groovin’ in New Orleans” add some funk flair, while “Talking to Anna Mae” is a straight-up Chicago boogie instrumental that Taylor shines on. But he’s even more in his element on the unadorned slow blues “Tin Pan Alley” and King’s “Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong.” It’s partly the speed but even more the phrasing — the unexpected stops and starts, the spiky and blazing runs and flurries, the unusual note selections he tosses in — that sets his playing apart. The other covers have their sporadic moments — “T-Bone Shuffle” is inconsequential, but Otis Rush’s “All Your Love” and “Voodoo Chile” are worth listening to, even if the latter doesn’t add anything to the famous Hendrix wah-wah workout. Taylor actually doesn’t sound that radical here, like he was playing to establish blues circuit credentials by putting his stamp on familiar songs more than indulging offbeat personal touches like the mellow lounge jazz take on the Champs’ “Tequila.” But his playing can be truly electrifying and Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band is recommended for anyone, especially Stevie Ray Vaughan fans, looking for a distinctive new blues guitar voice. ~ Don Snowden, Rovi Performers: Melvin Taylor – Vocals, Guitar; Steve Potts – Drums; Willie “Big Eyes” Smith – Bass
When people speak of New York City’s downtown Manhattan/Brooklyn experimental jazz scene, the word “experimental” often means avant-garde. But it’s important to remember that there are varying degrees of avant-garde when it comes to experimental jazz. If an improviser is described as experimental, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he/she is a free jazz firebrand like Ivo Perelman, Cecil Taylor, or Charles Gayle. Some experimental jazz coming out of the Big Apple is only mildly avant-garde, and that is clearly the case with Out to Lunch. The material on Melvin’s Rockpile is perhaps best described as electric post-bop meets jazz-funk meets the mildly avant-garde; these N.Y.C. residents have an inside/outside perspective, but inside playing prevails at least 85 percent of the time on this 2009 recording. Eric Dolphy has been cited as one of the group’s influences, and that makes sense because even though the late post-bop saxophonist sometimes ventured into the avant-garde, he ventured into the mildly avant-garde — and Dolphy wasn’t nearly as radical as Ornette Coleman or Albert Ayler. Melvin’s Rockpile, similarly, is slightly left of center but not far to the left. Funk is a huge influence on this 2009 release, which has a strong groove factor. However, Out to Lunch are definitely to the left of, say, the Crusaders, David Sanborn, or Charles Earland — although they obviously aren’t playing the sort of dissonant free funk that Jamaaladeen Tacuma, James Blood Ulmer, and Coleman’s Prime Time are known for. The influences on this 39-minute CD are diverse, ranging from Dolphy and John Coltrane to electric Miles Davis to Medeski, Martin & Wood to James Brown (anyone playing anything that is even remotely funk-related has been either directly or indirectly affected by the Godfather of Soul in some respect). Listeners searching for something that is a bit left of center but not too left of center should have an easy time getting into Melvin’s Rockpile. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi Performers: David Levy – Computers, Bansuri, Clarinet (Bass), Sax (Alto); Matt Wigton – Bass (Upright), Bass (Electric); Eric Lane – Piano, Keyboards; Evan Smith – Sax (Tenor); Fred Kennedy – Drums; Josiah Woodson – Trumpet, Flute
MELVIN is dead… Now, three years after his accidental murder, he is finally making up for lost time. After enlisting the involuntary help of nerdy college student Norton Pincus, he’s ready to take on those who are responsible for his death. Melvin’s thi
Jonathan Demme’s breakthrough movie featured the shaggy energy and affection for marginal American eccentrics that marked his earlier Citizens Band (1977) and such later films as Something Wild (1986) and Married to the Mob (1988). Melvin Dummar (Paul LeMat) is a barely-getting-by Nevada milkman. One day in the early 1970s, while driving down a lonely highway, Melvin picks up a shaggy, bearded bum (Jason Robards Jr.) and offers him a ride into town. Melvin gives the bum a quarter at the end of the ride, and that, so far as Melvin is concerned, is that. The story goes off on a new tangent, involving the on-and-off marriage between Dummar and his contest-happy wife Lynda (Mary Steenburgen). During one of the multitude of financial crises endured by the Dummars, Melvin discovers that the tramp he picked up was none other than billionaire Howard Hughes — and when Hughes dies, Melvin inherits $150 million. The movie’s wide acclaim included Oscars for Steenburgen and Goldman’s script and New York Film Critics Awards in almost all major categories, including Best Picture and awards for Demme, Goldman, Steenburgen, and Robards. Demme would gain even greater attention in the 1990s as the director of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Philadelphia (1993). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Receiving a mysterious valentine from an unknown sender, a fretful Melvin searches throughout Trucktown to discover the sender’s identity, an effort he nearly abandons before hearing a beeping sound in the distance. Simultaneous.
Cement Mixer Melvin worries a lot. He worries he might get dirty. He worries he might get stuck. He even worries he might get worried. But one fateful day Rescue Rita is in need of a little rescuing, and Trucktown’s biggest worrywart is the only one who c
The author of BAD KITTY has moved on to a picture book about a little boy with the dubious name of Melvin Bubble. It seems that everyone in Melvin`s life has something to say about him, from his dorky dad to the Tooth Fairy. But will Melvin ever actually appear? With extremely colorful illustrations.
