Larry Taylor

Growing up in a house filled with postwar blues masters, plus grounding in Chicago Public School music programs during the 1960s and 70s, has paid off for Larry Taylor, producer of the Taylor family CD “Generations of Blues” on Nola-Blue Records. Global Music Awards has given the album a 2023 Silver Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Global awards are not based on popularity, but rather on “creativity and quality of musical craft.”  The awards span all genres, from classical to indigenous, jazz to modern…

Beginning in winter of 2023-24  Larry plans some cooperative shows with neighborhood businesses and music venues, thanks to a Chicago Dept. of Cultural and Special Events grant he was awarded June 20. Larry's Individual Arts Project, one of several dozen given by DCASE, will be known as “Blues Bizness Boosters.” More info to come.  In the 2020-21 round of these DCASE grants, Larry and fellow blues singer Katherine Davis were named as two of 13 “Esteemed Artists” in all arts disciplines. Its nice to be…

Chicago's Annual FREE ALL AGES Blues Festival featured Taylor Family on June 9, 2023

See Rosa's LIVE STREAM of that day

Larry and his siblings are featured on a CD  released June 16, 2023 by Nola-Blue Records.

CD RELEASE PARTY was held JUNE 18 at Fitzgeralds

Chedk it out!  Nola Blue Records signs Larry Taylor -- Nola Blue Records | PRLog

BUY the CD or Digital Album:  https://larry-taylor.bandcamp.com/album/generations-of-blues-west-side-legacy

At Antone’s club in the music city of Austin, TX : master Chicago blues guitarist Eddie Taylor Sr. brought the place down in the 1980s. His kids plan to do the same for his 100th heavenly birthday  Jan. 27, 2023.  Featuring Larry and siblings: singers Brenda, Edna and Demetria, brother Tim on drums with very special guest John Primer on guitar, special guest Steve Bell on harp, and others.  Also in memory of Vera Taylor and Eddie Taylor Jr.    Get tickets early!

Larry and keyboard player Barrelhouse Bonni joined with a band from Washington state and Montana to bring traditional Chicago blues sounds to the Big Sky Rhythm and Blues Fest on Aug.5-7, 2022.  Many thanks to fest director Lorne Riddell for bringing the Fest back after Corona.  The Rocky Mountains and big skies brought a breath of fresh air to this Chicago bluesman.

Blues never really left Chicago's West Side, but the music has been heard less often with the gradual closing of many small Black owned hole-in-the-wall lounges and the economic blows of Corona.  Thanks to grants from Chicago's Dept. of Culture and Special Events, Larry has been able to present a series of free neighborhood concerts through summer and fall 2022.  Sponsors have included St. Martin's Episcopal Church, the nonprofit Chicago Austin Youth Travel Events and Austin Town Hall Park.  The series…

On June 1, 2022, Fitzgeralds, a popular music nightclub in Berwyn, IL adjacent to Chicago's West Side, wowed a packed house with a double billed, double-barreled traditional Chicago blues show featuring John Primer and Larry Taylor's bands.Primer and Taylor both played back in the day with the greats of Chicago blues so they know how the real sounds are supposed to go.  Steve Bell played harp for Primer, in the footsteps of his father Carey Bell.  Larry joined Primer on stage for a song in the finale…

For the first time, Chicago's Dept. of Culture and Special Events sponsored a blues festival on the West Side in the 5900 block of Chicago Avenue, Sept.12, 2021. Larry Taylor and the Soul Blues Healers opened. They were the Driving Wheel of the whole fest!

Summer of 2021, during the reopening after COVID lockdowns, Larry Taylor and the Soul Blues Healers took the blues to the southwest Chicago neighborhood of Beverly, to sing June 12` at Nicky's thanks to the Beverly Arts Alliance and Chicago Blues Revival.  Here they perform Little Milton's "Feel So Bad Like a Ballgame on a Rainy Day."  It only rained a few drops, before the show.  Musicians: Ice Mike and Joe B guitars, Abraham bass, James Carter drums.

Larry's band was invited, a month later, to play at the…