Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?

Subject: Info pls on Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 11:22 PM

I just discovered Koko Taylor on a couple of made-for-TV films: "Blue Summit in Chicago," made for the PBS station in Chicago, and "Godfathers and Sons," one of the films in "Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues."

Holy Moley! What an amazing blues singer with a stage presence. At 70 years old she still has a voice that could knock down buildings.

What do you know about her? Why isn't she more well-known? Or have I been out of a very big loop (and not just the Chicago Loop)?

Any recommendations for CDs by her?

Elmer

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 07 - 11:35 PM

http://www.kokotaylor.com/news.html

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 04:11 AM

Thanks. great info there.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Mooh
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 07:48 AM

There are Koko Taylor cuts on the Alligator Records and House Of Blues compilations, all of which are worth having. (I wish there were more voices like hers in modern music, honest, unaffected, hearty voices...but that's just my opinion.)

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 09:43 AM

Shoot yeah, there's fans out here! She tears the house down when she plays Jackson.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 10:12 AM

She's pretty well know to British Blues fans too.

RtS

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 11:08 AM

We're from Chicago, so-- of course! She's at home in a small, neighborhood blues bar, and anywhere she goes. That will always be true.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 11:11 AM

She's dynamite!

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 12:49 PM

Her version of Wang Dang Doodle is the business!

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 01:55 PM

What are her best CDs and albums? Mooh mentioned some compilations. Anything else?

Thanks for any recommendations.

Elmer

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 02:04 PM

Her version of Wang Dang Doodle is the business!

Is anyone else silly enough to try that one? Her "version" is IT!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 05:39 PM

Oh, I've heard several others - one quite good but not as good as hers by a bloke whose name escapes me.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 06:08 PM

Howling Wolf also did Wang Dang Doodle. Koko did it against her will at Willie Dixon's insistence and as a result she had the last big hit blues single out of Chicago. It was of course on the Chess label.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 09:12 PM

Hey Hootenanny,

How do you know this? Can you say more? Why was it against her will? Kinda like Bessie Smith didn't like to sing the suggestive songs she was given to record, or was it something else?

Elmer

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 09:30 PM

Love her. Found her on a cheesily produced blues series from some drug store or other and about wore the tape out!

Thanks for reminding me!

Dani

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 08:28 AM

To Elmer Fudd (Wasn't he some kind of Dummy?)

Having met Koko (and Willie Dixon) and read various interviews. Koko thought the song/lyric was not very good, fortunately for her she went along with Dixon's suggestion. Sorry I can't quote the particular interview as I don't have the time to sort it out.

What's with the Bessie Smith aversion to suggestive material that you mention? First I've heard of that.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 10:08 AM

Funny enough, Koko Taylor will be singing Wang Dang Doodle on the next programme upload of my Internet radio station, Worlds of Trad, . http://www.live365.com/stations/oneworldmusic . The upload will take place this coming Wednesday morning (Britsh Time), January 10th.

Wang Dang Doodle will feature as part of a bundle of recordings of Chicago blues I'll be using in the programme, and which are connected with Willie Dixon.

That's the first I've heard that she didn't like the song and I'm somewhat surprised since she made a hell of a job of it. Better to my ears even than Howlin' Wolf's version.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 11:05 AM

It is rumoured that Mary Wells hated the way she was told to sing "My Guy" too.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 12:18 PM

Fred, Koko was a professional and I guess that once she was persuaded to do the number she gave it her all. If I remember correctly she felt just a little uncomfortable with lyrics about characters like razor totin' Sam, fast 'talkin' Annie etc.

In a completely different field - the British pop scene of many years back - Lita Rosa had a very big hit with a song which she had to sing for years at every appearance she made and she absolutely hated it.
No surprise when you know the title of the song "How Much is that Doggie in the Window".
What entertainers have to endure to earn a crust.
Still, I guess it's better than working for a living!!!!

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: MARINER
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 02:07 PM

My favourite woman singer in that vein .She is not called The Earthshaker for nothin' Yet great that she is , she apparently spent most of her life working as a domsetic!.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 02:50 PM

From the liner notes of "Bessie Smith: The World's Greatest Blues Singer," Columbia, GP 33:

"In November of 1931, Bessie Smith recorded what may have well been her last two sides, 'Need A Little Sugar in My Bowl' and 'Safety Mama.' The former, which was recorded again in the late '60s by Nina Simone, has the kind of suggestive lyrics that Miss Smith is said to have disliked. . . ." —Chris Albertson, down beat magazine.

Elmer

PS to Hootenany: Me, a dummy? LOL. Aren't you a TV show that banned Pete Seeger? ; > )

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 07:04 AM

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 07:15 AM

Elmer I may owe you an apology, think I was confusing you with Elmer Snodgrass.

As for banning Pete, completely opposite, we were the first ones to promote him in concert on this ide of the pond when he got his passport back. Plus there were two albums of the concert released.

I don't remember that side of Bessie showing up in Albertson's book guess I'll have to go back and read it again. From what I have read over the years of Bessie's life and character it sounds very unlikely that she was that squeamish about the double entendre.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 01:43 PM

I think we're talking about different countries and different Hootenanny shows. There was a TV show in the USA in 1963-1964 called "Hootenanny" that capitalized on the folk music revival of the time. However, the producers blacklisted Pete Seeger and the Weavers because of their supposed Communist politics. Therefore, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary and other performers refused to appear on the show. However, others like the Chad Mitchell Trio and Tom Paxton did, and sang some of Seeger's trademark songs.

Elmer (a STOOPID cartoon character)

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 02:37 PM

Too right Elmer, I know only too well the situation about your reds under the bed scare.

Getting back to Bessie, I took a quick look through Albertson's biography. The two 1931 tracks to which you refer were the last two which she recorded for Columbia before they released her early from her contract. The company was going down the tubes. He says nothing here about a reluctance to perform the items because of their double entendres. In fact referring back to an earlier release the two part "Empty Bed Blues" he calls it 'a tour de force of blatant double-entendres' with the musicians complementing 'Bessie's tongue in cheek delivery' he goes on to state that 'the record was a big hit for Bessie making her theatre tour all the more successful'. Referring to another session which included guitarist Eddie Lang I again quote Albertson 'Bessie recorded three of her most blatantly pornographic songs "I'm Wild About That Thing", "You've Got to Give Me Some", and "Kitchen Man"' Does that sound like someone that was reluctant to perform double entendre material? Don't think so somehow.

Subject: RE: Koko Taylor: Any fans out there?
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 06 Jan 07 - 08:33 PM

That's really interesting--and frustrating! It seems that Abertson tossed off one sentence in liner notes to an album implying that Bessie didn't like such lyrics, but without elaboration or explanation. In his biography of Smith, he contradicts his own statement. Curiouser and curiouser.

In any case, Bessie Smith sings brilliantly. She was fabulous.

Elmer