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Mick Taylor est un Acteur et Son Britannique né le 17 janvier 1949 à Welwyn Garden City (Royaume-uni)
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor (born 17 January 1949 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is an English musician, he is best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1966–69) and the Rolling Stones (1969–74). "He is regarded by many Stones aficionados as the best guitarist ever to play with the band, and appeared on some of their classic albums including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St." Since resigning from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Taylor has worked with numerous other artists and released several solo albums. From November 2012 onwards he has participated in the Rolling Stones 'Reunion shows' in London and Newark and in the band's '50 & Counting' World Tour, which included North America in 2013 and will continue in Australia in 2014. He was ranked 37th in Rolling Stone magazine's 2012 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash states that Taylor had the biggest influence on him.
Taylor was born to a working-class family in Welwyn Garden City, but was raised in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, where his father worked as a fitter for De Havilland aircraft company. He began playing guitar at age nine, learning to play from his mother's younger brother. As a teenager, he formed bands with schoolmates and started performing concerts under names such as The Juniors and the Strangers. They also appeared on television and put out a single. Part of the band was recruited for a new group called The Gods, which included Ken Hensley (later of Uriah Heep fame). In 1966, The Gods opened for Cream at the Starlite Ballroom in Wembley.
In 1965, at age 16, Taylor went to see a John Mayall's Bluesbreakers performance at "The Hop" Community Centre, Welwyn Garden City. On the night in question, I had gone to The Hop with some guys from our band, former schoolmates and Ex-Juniors Mick Taylor and Alan Shacklock. It was after John Mayall had finished his first set without a guitarist that it became clear that for some reason Eric Clapton was not going to show up. A group of local musicians, which included myself, Robert 'Jab' Als, Herbie Sparks, and others, along with three local guitarists—Alan Shacklock, Mick Casey (formerly of the Trekkas) and Mick Taylor—were in attendance.—Danny Bacon, a drummer friend of the Juniors,
Taylor himself has said after seeing that Clapton hadn't appeared, but that his guitar had already been set up on the stage, he approached John Mayall during the interval to ask if he could play with them. Taylor mentioned that he'd heard their albums and knew some of the songs, and after a moment of deliberation, Mayall agreed. Taylor amended, "I wasn't thinking that this was a great opportunity... I just really wanted to get up on stage and play the guitar."
Taylor played the second set with Mayall's band, and after winning Mayall's respect, they exchanged phone numbers. This encounter proved to be pivotal in Taylor's career when Mayall began to look for a guitarist to fill Peter Green's vacancy the following year. Mayall contacted Taylor, and invited him to take Green's place. Taylor made his debut with the Bluesbreakers at the Manor House, an old blues club in North London. For those in the music scene the night was an event... "Let's go and see this 17-year-old kid try and replace Eric".
Before he turned 18, Taylor toured and recorded the album Crusade with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. From 1966 to 1969, Taylor developed a guitar style that is blues-based with Latin and jazz influences. He is the guitarist on the Bluesbreaker albums "Diary of a Band", "Barewires" and "Blues from Laurel Canyon". Later on in his career, he further developed his skills as a slide guitarist.
1969–74: The Rolling Stones
After Brian Jones was removed from the The Rolling Stones in June 1969, John Mayall recommended Taylor to Mick Jagger. Taylor believed he was being called in to be a session musician at his first studio session with the Rolling Stones. An impressed Jagger and Keith Richards invited Taylor back the following day to continue rehearsing and recording with the band. He overdubbed guitar on "Country Honk" and "Live With Me" for the album Let It Bleed, and for the single "Honky Tonk Women" released in the UK on 4 July 1969.
Taylor's onstage debut as a Rolling Stone, at the age of 20, was the free concert in Hyde Park, London on 5 July 1969. An estimated quarter of a million people attended for a show that turned into a tribute to Brian Jones, who had died three days before the concert.
The Rolling Stones' 1971 release Sticky Fingers included "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" which Taylor and Jagger had completed in Richards' absence. At the time Jagger stated: "We made [tracks] with just Mick Taylor, which are very good and everyone loves, where Keith wasn't there for whatever reasons ... It's me and [Mick Taylor] playing off each other - another feeling completely, because he's following my vocal lines and then extemporizing on them during the solos." However, Taylor was only credited as co-author of one track, "Ventilator Blues", from the album Exile on Main St. (1972). Taylor was noted for his smooth lyrical touch and tone which contrasted with Richards's jagged and cutting technique.
After the 1973 European tour, Richards's drug problems had worsened and began affecting the ability of the band to function as a whole. Between recording sessions, the band members were living in various countries and during this period Taylor appeared on Herbie Mann's London Underground (1974) and also appeared on Mann's album Reggae (1974).
1973–74: It's Only Rock 'n Roll
In November 1973, when the band was to begin work on the LP It's Only Rock 'n Roll at Musicland Studios in Munich, Taylor missed some of the sessions while he underwent surgery for acute sinusitis. Not much was achieved during the first 10 days at Musicland. Most of the actual recordings were made in January (Musicland) and April of 1974 (Stargroves). When Taylor resumed work with the band, he found it difficult to get along with Richards. At one point during the Munich sessions, Richards confronted him and said, "Oi! Taylor! You're playing too fuckin' loud. I mean, you're really good live, man, but you're fucking useless in the studio. Lay out, play later, whatever." Richards erased some of the tapes where Taylor had recorded guitar parts to some of the songs for It's Only Rock n' Roll. Taylor was, however, present at all the sessions in April at Stargroves, England, where the LP was finished and most of the overdubs were recorded.
Not long after those recording sessions, Taylor went on a six-week expedition to Brazil, traveling down the Amazon River in a boat and exploring Latin music.
Just before the release of the album in October 1974, Taylor told Nick Kent from the NME magazine about the new LP and that he had co-written "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Time Waits for No One" with Jagger. Kent showed Taylor the record sleeve, which revealed the absence of any songwriting credits for Taylor.
I was a bit peeved about not getting credit for a couple of songs, but that wasn't the whole reason [I left the band]. I guess I just felt like I had enough. I decided to leave and start a group with Jack Bruce. I never really felt, and I don't know why, but I never felt I was gonna stay with the Stones forever, even right from the beginning.—Mick Taylor, in an interview with Gary James,
We used to fight and argue all the time. And one of the things I got angry about was that Mick had promised to give me some credit for some of the songs – and he didn't. I believed I'd contributed enough. Let's put it this way – without my contribution those songs would not have existed. There's not many but enough, things like "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" on Sticky Fingers and a couple of others.—Mick Taylor, in a 1997 interview with Mojo magazine,
In December 1974, Taylor announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones. The bandmates were at a party in London when Taylor told Mick Jagger he was quitting and walked out. Taylor's decision came as a total shock to many. The Rolling Stones were due to start recording a new album in Munich, and the entire band was reportedly angry at Taylor for leaving at such short notice.
When interviewed by Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine in 1995, Mick Jagger stated that Taylor never explained why he had left, and surmised that "[Taylor] wanted to have a solo career. I think he found it difficult to get on with Keith." In the same interview Jagger said of Taylor's contribution to the band: "I think he had a big contribution. He made it very musical. He was a very fluent, melodic player, which we never had, and we don't have now. Neither Keith nor Ronnie Wood plays that kind of style. It was very good for me working with him ... Mick Taylor would play very fluid lines against my vocals. He was exciting, and he was very pretty, and it gave me something to follow, to bang off. Some people think that's the best version of the band that existed". Asked if he agreed with that assessment, Jagger said: "I obviously can't say if I think Mick Taylor was the best, because it sort of trashes the period the band is in now." Charlie Watts stated: "I think we chose the right man for the job at that time just as Ronnie was the right man for the job later on. I still think Mick is great. I haven't heard or seen him play in a few years. But certainly what came out of playing with him are musically some of the best things we've ever done". Another statement, made by Keith Richards, is: "Mick Taylor is a great guitarist, but he found out the hard way that that's all he is". Taylor later admitted in the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane that he had become addicted to heroin and hoped to protect his family from the drug culture surrounding the band by leaving.
In an essay about the Rolling Stones, printed after Taylor's resignation, music critic Robert Palmer of The New York Times wrote that "Taylor is the most accomplished technician who ever served as a Stone. A blues guitarist with a jazzman's flair for melodic invention, Taylor was never a rock and roller and never a showman."
Taylor has worked with his former bandmates on various occasions since leaving the Rolling Stones. In 1977 he attended London-based sessions for the John Phillips album Pay Pack & Follow, appearing on several tracks alongside Jagger (vocals), Richards (guitar) and Wood (bass) - taking notable solos on the songs "Sweet Virginia" and "Zulu Warrior". A possibly apocryphal story is that after Taylor played a particularly jaw-dropping solo in the studio, Richards half-jokingly exclaimed, "That's why I never liked you, you bastard!".
On 14 December 1981 he performed with the band at their concert at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. Keith Richards appeared on stage at a Mick Taylor show at the Lone Star Cafe in New York on 28 December 1986, jamming on "Key to the Highway" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"; and Taylor is featured on one track ("I Could Have Stood You Up") on Richards' 1988 album Talk is Cheap. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Mick Taylor along with the Rolling Stones in 1989. Taylor also worked with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings in the early 1990s.
In addition to his contributions to Rolling Stones albums released during his tenure with the band, Taylor's guitar is also on two tracks on their 1981 release Tattoo You: "Tops" and "Waiting on a Friend", both of which were originally recorded in 1972. (Taylor is sometimes mistakenly credited as playing on "Worried About You", but the solo on that track is performed by Wayne Perkins.)
Taylor's onstage presence with the Rolling Stones is preserved on the album Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!, recorded over four concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York and the Civic Center in Baltimore in November 1969; in the documentary films Stones in the Park (released on DVD in 2001), Gimme Shelter (released in 1970) and Cocksucker Blues (unreleased); and in the concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones (shown in cinemas in 1974, and released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2010). Bootleg recordings from the Rolling Stones' tours from 1969 through 1973 also document Taylor's concert performances with the Rolling Stones.
In March 2010, rumours started circulating that Taylor had contributed guitar work on the upcoming Exile on Main Street special edition release. This expanded version of the original double album includes 10 outtakes/alternate versions of songs. Taylor later revealed (in an interview with a journalist from Cleveland) that he had indeed recorded new guitar overdubs for the CD, at Mick Jagger's request. On 17 April 2010 (National Record Store Day), the new Rolling Stones single "Plundered My Soul" came out, featuring recently recorded vocals and guitars by Jagger and Taylor.
Around this time, Eagle Rock Entertainment also announced that a first official release of the concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones was planned for autumn 2010. Apart from a one-off cinema screening in the past, the film had previously only been available on bootleg videos and DVDs.
1975–81: Post-Stones
Taylor worked on various side projects during his tenure with the Rolling Stones.
In June 1973, he joined Mike Oldfield onstage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in a performance of Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Taylor was asked to take part in this project by Richard Branson as he felt Oldfield was unknown, having just been signed to Branson's fledgling label, Virgin Records. Taylor joined Oldfield once more for a BBC television broadcast in November 1973.
After his resignation from the Rolling Stones, Jack Bruce invited him to form a new band with keyboardist Carla Bley and drummer Bruce Gary. In 1975, the band began rehearsals in London with tour dates scheduled for later that year. The group toured Europe, with a sound leaning more toward jazz, including a performance at the Dutch Pinkpop festival, but disbanded the following year. A performance recorded on 1 June 1975 (which was finally released on CD in 2003 as "Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall" by The Jack Bruce Band) and another performance from the Old Grey Whistle Test seem to be the only material available from this brief collaboration.
Taylor appeared as a special guest of Little Feat at the Rainbow Theatre in London, 1977, sharing slide guitar with then-frontman Lowell George on "A Apolitical Blues": this song appears on Little Feat's critically acclaimed live album Waiting for Columbus.
In the summer of 1977 he collaborated with Pierre Moerlen's Gong for the album Espresso II, released in 1978. Taylor began writing new songs and recruiting musicians for a solo album and worked on projects with Miller Anderson, Alan Merrill and others. He was present at many of the recording sessions for John Phillips' prospective second solo album. The recordings for Phillips' album took place in London over a prolonged period between 1973 and 1977. This led to Taylor working with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger who were also working on the Phillips' album. Atlantic Records eventually cancelled the project but copies of the sessions (under the titles "Half Stoned" and "Phillips '77") circulated among bootleg traders. The original tapes were rescued and restored and were officially released in 2002 as Pay Pack & Follow.
In 1977 Taylor signed a solo recording deal with Columbia Records. By April 1978 he had given several interviews to music magazines to promote the new album which was finished but would not be released for another year. In 1979 the album, titled Mick Taylor, was released by Columbia Records. The album material mixed rock, jazz and Latin-flavoured blues musical styles. The album reached #119 on the Billboard charts in early August with a stay of five weeks on the Billboard 200. CBS advised Taylor to promote the album through American radio stations but was unwilling to back the guitarist for any supporting tour. Already frustrated with this situation, Taylor took a break from the music industry for about a year.
In 1981, he toured Europe and the United States with Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, sharing the bill with Black Sabbath. He spent most of 1982 and 1983 on the road with John Mayall, for the "Reunion Tour" with John McVie of Fleetwood Mac and Colin Allen. During this tour Bob Dylan showed up backstage at The Roxy in Los Angeles in order to meet Taylor.
In 1983, Taylor joined Mark Knopfler and played on Dylan's Infidels album. He also appeared on Dylan's live album Real Live, as well as the follow-up studio album Empire Burlesque. In 1984, Dylan asked Mick Taylor to assemble an experienced rock and roll band for a European tour he signed with Bill Graham. Ian McLagan was hired to play piano and hammond organ, Greg Sutton to play bass and Colin Allen, a long-time friend of Taylor, on drums. The tour lasted for four weeks at venues such as Munich's Olympic Stadium Arena and Milan's San Siro Stadium, sharing the bill with Carlos Santana and Joan Baez, who appeared on the same bill for a couple of shows (in particular in the same Milan concert).
1988–present: Later work
Taylor guested with the Grateful Dead on September 24, 1988 at the last show of that year's Madison Square Garden run in New York. Taylor lived in New York throughout the 1980s. He battled with addiction problems before getting back on track in the second half of the 1980s and moving to Los Angeles in 1990. During this time Taylor did session work and toured in Europe, America and Japan with a band including Max Middleton (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), Shane Fontayne, and Blondie Chaplin. In 1990 his CD "Stranger In This Town" was released by Maze Records backed up by a mini-tour including the record release party at the Hard Rock Cafe in as well as gigs at the Paradise Theater.
Taylor moved back to England in the mid-1990s. He released a new album in 2000 entitled A Stone's Throw. Playing at clubs and theatres as well as appearing at festivals has connected Taylor with an appreciative audience and fan base.
He began what was to be a significant series of collaborations with Carla Olson with their "Live at the Roxy" album Too Hot For Snakes, the centerpiece of which is an extended seven-minute performance of "Sway". It was followed by Olson's Within An Ace which featured Taylor on seven songs, he appeared on three songs from Reap The Whirlwind and then again on Olson's The Ring Of Truth, on which he plays lead guitar on nine tracks including a twelve minute version of the Jagger and Taylor song "Winter". Further work by Olson and Taylor can be heard on the Olson produced Barry Goldberg album Stoned Again. Taylor went on to appear on Percy Sledge's Blue Night (1994), along with Steve Cropper, Bobby Womack and Greg Leisz.
In 2003, Taylor reunited with John Mayall for his 70th Birthday Concert in Liverpool along with Eric Clapton. A year later, in autumn 2004, he also joined John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for a UK theatre tour. He toured the US East Coast with the Experience Hendrix group during October 2007. The Experience Hendrix group appeared at a series of concerts which were a homage to Jimi Hendrix and his musical legacy. Taylor played with Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and Robby Krieger.
On 1 December 2010, Taylor reunited with Ronnie Wood at a benefit gig arranged by blues guitarist Stephen Dale Petit to save the 100 Club in London. Other special guests at the show were Dick Taylor (first bassist in the Rolling Stones) and blues/jazz trombonist Chris Barber. Taylor toured the UK with Petit, appearing as his special guest, featured on a Paul Jones BBC Radio 2 session with him and guested on Petit's 2010 Classic Rock magazine Album of the Year, The Crave.
For the 2010 re-release of Exile On Main Street Taylor worked with Mick Jagger in the studio to record new guitar and vocal parts for the previously unreleased song, Plundered My Soul. The track was selected by the Rolling Stones for release as a limited edition single on National Record Store Day.
He also helped to promote the Boogie For Stu album, which was recorded by Ben Waters to honour Ian Stewart (original Stones pianist and co-founder of the band), by taking part in a concert to mark the CD's official launch at the Ambassadors Theatre, London on 9 March 2011. Proceeds from the event were donated to the British Heart Foundation. Although Mick Jagger and Keith Richards didn't show up, Taylor noticeably enjoyed performing with, amongst others, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and Bill Wyman.
On 24 October 2012, the Rolling Stones announced, via their latest Rolling Stone magazine interview, that Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were expected to join the Rolling Stones on stage at the upcoming November shows in London. Richards went on to say that the pair would strictly be guests. At the two London shows on November 25 and 29, Taylor played on "Midnight Rambler".
On the April 8, 2013 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Keith Richards stated that Taylor would be performing with the Stones for their upcoming 2013 tour dates. During the Stones' '50 & Counting' North American tour Mick Taylor performed at every single show including sitting in on four songs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. On 29 June 2013, Taylor joined the band onstage for several songs during their headline set at the Glastonbury Festival.
Source : Wikidata
Mick Taylor
Nom de naissance Michael Kevin Taylor
Nationalité Royaume-uni
Naissance 17 janvier 1949 (75 ans) à Welwyn Garden City (Royaume-uni)
Nationalité Royaume-uni
Naissance 17 janvier 1949 (75 ans) à Welwyn Garden City (Royaume-uni)
Biographie
1949–69: Early lifeTaylor was born to a working-class family in Welwyn Garden City, but was raised in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, where his father worked as a fitter for De Havilland aircraft company. He began playing guitar at age nine, learning to play from his mother's younger brother. As a teenager, he formed bands with schoolmates and started performing concerts under names such as The Juniors and the Strangers. They also appeared on television and put out a single. Part of the band was recruited for a new group called The Gods, which included Ken Hensley (later of Uriah Heep fame). In 1966, The Gods opened for Cream at the Starlite Ballroom in Wembley.
In 1965, at age 16, Taylor went to see a John Mayall's Bluesbreakers performance at "The Hop" Community Centre, Welwyn Garden City. On the night in question, I had gone to The Hop with some guys from our band, former schoolmates and Ex-Juniors Mick Taylor and Alan Shacklock. It was after John Mayall had finished his first set without a guitarist that it became clear that for some reason Eric Clapton was not going to show up. A group of local musicians, which included myself, Robert 'Jab' Als, Herbie Sparks, and others, along with three local guitarists—Alan Shacklock, Mick Casey (formerly of the Trekkas) and Mick Taylor—were in attendance.—Danny Bacon, a drummer friend of the Juniors,
Taylor himself has said after seeing that Clapton hadn't appeared, but that his guitar had already been set up on the stage, he approached John Mayall during the interval to ask if he could play with them. Taylor mentioned that he'd heard their albums and knew some of the songs, and after a moment of deliberation, Mayall agreed. Taylor amended, "I wasn't thinking that this was a great opportunity... I just really wanted to get up on stage and play the guitar."
Taylor played the second set with Mayall's band, and after winning Mayall's respect, they exchanged phone numbers. This encounter proved to be pivotal in Taylor's career when Mayall began to look for a guitarist to fill Peter Green's vacancy the following year. Mayall contacted Taylor, and invited him to take Green's place. Taylor made his debut with the Bluesbreakers at the Manor House, an old blues club in North London. For those in the music scene the night was an event... "Let's go and see this 17-year-old kid try and replace Eric".
Before he turned 18, Taylor toured and recorded the album Crusade with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. From 1966 to 1969, Taylor developed a guitar style that is blues-based with Latin and jazz influences. He is the guitarist on the Bluesbreaker albums "Diary of a Band", "Barewires" and "Blues from Laurel Canyon". Later on in his career, he further developed his skills as a slide guitarist.
1969–74: The Rolling Stones
After Brian Jones was removed from the The Rolling Stones in June 1969, John Mayall recommended Taylor to Mick Jagger. Taylor believed he was being called in to be a session musician at his first studio session with the Rolling Stones. An impressed Jagger and Keith Richards invited Taylor back the following day to continue rehearsing and recording with the band. He overdubbed guitar on "Country Honk" and "Live With Me" for the album Let It Bleed, and for the single "Honky Tonk Women" released in the UK on 4 July 1969.
Taylor's onstage debut as a Rolling Stone, at the age of 20, was the free concert in Hyde Park, London on 5 July 1969. An estimated quarter of a million people attended for a show that turned into a tribute to Brian Jones, who had died three days before the concert.
The Rolling Stones' 1971 release Sticky Fingers included "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" which Taylor and Jagger had completed in Richards' absence. At the time Jagger stated: "We made [tracks] with just Mick Taylor, which are very good and everyone loves, where Keith wasn't there for whatever reasons ... It's me and [Mick Taylor] playing off each other - another feeling completely, because he's following my vocal lines and then extemporizing on them during the solos." However, Taylor was only credited as co-author of one track, "Ventilator Blues", from the album Exile on Main St. (1972). Taylor was noted for his smooth lyrical touch and tone which contrasted with Richards's jagged and cutting technique.
After the 1973 European tour, Richards's drug problems had worsened and began affecting the ability of the band to function as a whole. Between recording sessions, the band members were living in various countries and during this period Taylor appeared on Herbie Mann's London Underground (1974) and also appeared on Mann's album Reggae (1974).
1973–74: It's Only Rock 'n Roll
In November 1973, when the band was to begin work on the LP It's Only Rock 'n Roll at Musicland Studios in Munich, Taylor missed some of the sessions while he underwent surgery for acute sinusitis. Not much was achieved during the first 10 days at Musicland. Most of the actual recordings were made in January (Musicland) and April of 1974 (Stargroves). When Taylor resumed work with the band, he found it difficult to get along with Richards. At one point during the Munich sessions, Richards confronted him and said, "Oi! Taylor! You're playing too fuckin' loud. I mean, you're really good live, man, but you're fucking useless in the studio. Lay out, play later, whatever." Richards erased some of the tapes where Taylor had recorded guitar parts to some of the songs for It's Only Rock n' Roll. Taylor was, however, present at all the sessions in April at Stargroves, England, where the LP was finished and most of the overdubs were recorded.
Not long after those recording sessions, Taylor went on a six-week expedition to Brazil, traveling down the Amazon River in a boat and exploring Latin music.
Just before the release of the album in October 1974, Taylor told Nick Kent from the NME magazine about the new LP and that he had co-written "Till the Next Goodbye" and "Time Waits for No One" with Jagger. Kent showed Taylor the record sleeve, which revealed the absence of any songwriting credits for Taylor.
I was a bit peeved about not getting credit for a couple of songs, but that wasn't the whole reason [I left the band]. I guess I just felt like I had enough. I decided to leave and start a group with Jack Bruce. I never really felt, and I don't know why, but I never felt I was gonna stay with the Stones forever, even right from the beginning.—Mick Taylor, in an interview with Gary James,
We used to fight and argue all the time. And one of the things I got angry about was that Mick had promised to give me some credit for some of the songs – and he didn't. I believed I'd contributed enough. Let's put it this way – without my contribution those songs would not have existed. There's not many but enough, things like "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile" on Sticky Fingers and a couple of others.—Mick Taylor, in a 1997 interview with Mojo magazine,
In December 1974, Taylor announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones. The bandmates were at a party in London when Taylor told Mick Jagger he was quitting and walked out. Taylor's decision came as a total shock to many. The Rolling Stones were due to start recording a new album in Munich, and the entire band was reportedly angry at Taylor for leaving at such short notice.
When interviewed by Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine in 1995, Mick Jagger stated that Taylor never explained why he had left, and surmised that "[Taylor] wanted to have a solo career. I think he found it difficult to get on with Keith." In the same interview Jagger said of Taylor's contribution to the band: "I think he had a big contribution. He made it very musical. He was a very fluent, melodic player, which we never had, and we don't have now. Neither Keith nor Ronnie Wood plays that kind of style. It was very good for me working with him ... Mick Taylor would play very fluid lines against my vocals. He was exciting, and he was very pretty, and it gave me something to follow, to bang off. Some people think that's the best version of the band that existed". Asked if he agreed with that assessment, Jagger said: "I obviously can't say if I think Mick Taylor was the best, because it sort of trashes the period the band is in now." Charlie Watts stated: "I think we chose the right man for the job at that time just as Ronnie was the right man for the job later on. I still think Mick is great. I haven't heard or seen him play in a few years. But certainly what came out of playing with him are musically some of the best things we've ever done". Another statement, made by Keith Richards, is: "Mick Taylor is a great guitarist, but he found out the hard way that that's all he is". Taylor later admitted in the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane that he had become addicted to heroin and hoped to protect his family from the drug culture surrounding the band by leaving.
In an essay about the Rolling Stones, printed after Taylor's resignation, music critic Robert Palmer of The New York Times wrote that "Taylor is the most accomplished technician who ever served as a Stone. A blues guitarist with a jazzman's flair for melodic invention, Taylor was never a rock and roller and never a showman."
Taylor has worked with his former bandmates on various occasions since leaving the Rolling Stones. In 1977 he attended London-based sessions for the John Phillips album Pay Pack & Follow, appearing on several tracks alongside Jagger (vocals), Richards (guitar) and Wood (bass) - taking notable solos on the songs "Sweet Virginia" and "Zulu Warrior". A possibly apocryphal story is that after Taylor played a particularly jaw-dropping solo in the studio, Richards half-jokingly exclaimed, "That's why I never liked you, you bastard!".
On 14 December 1981 he performed with the band at their concert at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. Keith Richards appeared on stage at a Mick Taylor show at the Lone Star Cafe in New York on 28 December 1986, jamming on "Key to the Highway" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"; and Taylor is featured on one track ("I Could Have Stood You Up") on Richards' 1988 album Talk is Cheap. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Mick Taylor along with the Rolling Stones in 1989. Taylor also worked with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings in the early 1990s.
In addition to his contributions to Rolling Stones albums released during his tenure with the band, Taylor's guitar is also on two tracks on their 1981 release Tattoo You: "Tops" and "Waiting on a Friend", both of which were originally recorded in 1972. (Taylor is sometimes mistakenly credited as playing on "Worried About You", but the solo on that track is performed by Wayne Perkins.)
Taylor's onstage presence with the Rolling Stones is preserved on the album Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!, recorded over four concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York and the Civic Center in Baltimore in November 1969; in the documentary films Stones in the Park (released on DVD in 2001), Gimme Shelter (released in 1970) and Cocksucker Blues (unreleased); and in the concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones (shown in cinemas in 1974, and released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2010). Bootleg recordings from the Rolling Stones' tours from 1969 through 1973 also document Taylor's concert performances with the Rolling Stones.
In March 2010, rumours started circulating that Taylor had contributed guitar work on the upcoming Exile on Main Street special edition release. This expanded version of the original double album includes 10 outtakes/alternate versions of songs. Taylor later revealed (in an interview with a journalist from Cleveland) that he had indeed recorded new guitar overdubs for the CD, at Mick Jagger's request. On 17 April 2010 (National Record Store Day), the new Rolling Stones single "Plundered My Soul" came out, featuring recently recorded vocals and guitars by Jagger and Taylor.
Around this time, Eagle Rock Entertainment also announced that a first official release of the concert film Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones was planned for autumn 2010. Apart from a one-off cinema screening in the past, the film had previously only been available on bootleg videos and DVDs.
1975–81: Post-Stones
Taylor worked on various side projects during his tenure with the Rolling Stones.
In June 1973, he joined Mike Oldfield onstage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in a performance of Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Taylor was asked to take part in this project by Richard Branson as he felt Oldfield was unknown, having just been signed to Branson's fledgling label, Virgin Records. Taylor joined Oldfield once more for a BBC television broadcast in November 1973.
After his resignation from the Rolling Stones, Jack Bruce invited him to form a new band with keyboardist Carla Bley and drummer Bruce Gary. In 1975, the band began rehearsals in London with tour dates scheduled for later that year. The group toured Europe, with a sound leaning more toward jazz, including a performance at the Dutch Pinkpop festival, but disbanded the following year. A performance recorded on 1 June 1975 (which was finally released on CD in 2003 as "Live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall" by The Jack Bruce Band) and another performance from the Old Grey Whistle Test seem to be the only material available from this brief collaboration.
Taylor appeared as a special guest of Little Feat at the Rainbow Theatre in London, 1977, sharing slide guitar with then-frontman Lowell George on "A Apolitical Blues": this song appears on Little Feat's critically acclaimed live album Waiting for Columbus.
In the summer of 1977 he collaborated with Pierre Moerlen's Gong for the album Espresso II, released in 1978. Taylor began writing new songs and recruiting musicians for a solo album and worked on projects with Miller Anderson, Alan Merrill and others. He was present at many of the recording sessions for John Phillips' prospective second solo album. The recordings for Phillips' album took place in London over a prolonged period between 1973 and 1977. This led to Taylor working with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger who were also working on the Phillips' album. Atlantic Records eventually cancelled the project but copies of the sessions (under the titles "Half Stoned" and "Phillips '77") circulated among bootleg traders. The original tapes were rescued and restored and were officially released in 2002 as Pay Pack & Follow.
In 1977 Taylor signed a solo recording deal with Columbia Records. By April 1978 he had given several interviews to music magazines to promote the new album which was finished but would not be released for another year. In 1979 the album, titled Mick Taylor, was released by Columbia Records. The album material mixed rock, jazz and Latin-flavoured blues musical styles. The album reached #119 on the Billboard charts in early August with a stay of five weeks on the Billboard 200. CBS advised Taylor to promote the album through American radio stations but was unwilling to back the guitarist for any supporting tour. Already frustrated with this situation, Taylor took a break from the music industry for about a year.
In 1981, he toured Europe and the United States with Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, sharing the bill with Black Sabbath. He spent most of 1982 and 1983 on the road with John Mayall, for the "Reunion Tour" with John McVie of Fleetwood Mac and Colin Allen. During this tour Bob Dylan showed up backstage at The Roxy in Los Angeles in order to meet Taylor.
In 1983, Taylor joined Mark Knopfler and played on Dylan's Infidels album. He also appeared on Dylan's live album Real Live, as well as the follow-up studio album Empire Burlesque. In 1984, Dylan asked Mick Taylor to assemble an experienced rock and roll band for a European tour he signed with Bill Graham. Ian McLagan was hired to play piano and hammond organ, Greg Sutton to play bass and Colin Allen, a long-time friend of Taylor, on drums. The tour lasted for four weeks at venues such as Munich's Olympic Stadium Arena and Milan's San Siro Stadium, sharing the bill with Carlos Santana and Joan Baez, who appeared on the same bill for a couple of shows (in particular in the same Milan concert).
1988–present: Later work
Taylor guested with the Grateful Dead on September 24, 1988 at the last show of that year's Madison Square Garden run in New York. Taylor lived in New York throughout the 1980s. He battled with addiction problems before getting back on track in the second half of the 1980s and moving to Los Angeles in 1990. During this time Taylor did session work and toured in Europe, America and Japan with a band including Max Middleton (formerly of the Jeff Beck Group), Shane Fontayne, and Blondie Chaplin. In 1990 his CD "Stranger In This Town" was released by Maze Records backed up by a mini-tour including the record release party at the Hard Rock Cafe in as well as gigs at the Paradise Theater.
Taylor moved back to England in the mid-1990s. He released a new album in 2000 entitled A Stone's Throw. Playing at clubs and theatres as well as appearing at festivals has connected Taylor with an appreciative audience and fan base.
He began what was to be a significant series of collaborations with Carla Olson with their "Live at the Roxy" album Too Hot For Snakes, the centerpiece of which is an extended seven-minute performance of "Sway". It was followed by Olson's Within An Ace which featured Taylor on seven songs, he appeared on three songs from Reap The Whirlwind and then again on Olson's The Ring Of Truth, on which he plays lead guitar on nine tracks including a twelve minute version of the Jagger and Taylor song "Winter". Further work by Olson and Taylor can be heard on the Olson produced Barry Goldberg album Stoned Again. Taylor went on to appear on Percy Sledge's Blue Night (1994), along with Steve Cropper, Bobby Womack and Greg Leisz.
In 2003, Taylor reunited with John Mayall for his 70th Birthday Concert in Liverpool along with Eric Clapton. A year later, in autumn 2004, he also joined John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for a UK theatre tour. He toured the US East Coast with the Experience Hendrix group during October 2007. The Experience Hendrix group appeared at a series of concerts which were a homage to Jimi Hendrix and his musical legacy. Taylor played with Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and Robby Krieger.
On 1 December 2010, Taylor reunited with Ronnie Wood at a benefit gig arranged by blues guitarist Stephen Dale Petit to save the 100 Club in London. Other special guests at the show were Dick Taylor (first bassist in the Rolling Stones) and blues/jazz trombonist Chris Barber. Taylor toured the UK with Petit, appearing as his special guest, featured on a Paul Jones BBC Radio 2 session with him and guested on Petit's 2010 Classic Rock magazine Album of the Year, The Crave.
For the 2010 re-release of Exile On Main Street Taylor worked with Mick Jagger in the studio to record new guitar and vocal parts for the previously unreleased song, Plundered My Soul. The track was selected by the Rolling Stones for release as a limited edition single on National Record Store Day.
He also helped to promote the Boogie For Stu album, which was recorded by Ben Waters to honour Ian Stewart (original Stones pianist and co-founder of the band), by taking part in a concert to mark the CD's official launch at the Ambassadors Theatre, London on 9 March 2011. Proceeds from the event were donated to the British Heart Foundation. Although Mick Jagger and Keith Richards didn't show up, Taylor noticeably enjoyed performing with, amongst others, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood and Bill Wyman.
On 24 October 2012, the Rolling Stones announced, via their latest Rolling Stone magazine interview, that Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were expected to join the Rolling Stones on stage at the upcoming November shows in London. Richards went on to say that the pair would strictly be guests. At the two London shows on November 25 and 29, Taylor played on "Midnight Rambler".
On the April 8, 2013 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Keith Richards stated that Taylor would be performing with the Stones for their upcoming 2013 tour dates. During the Stones' '50 & Counting' North American tour Mick Taylor performed at every single show including sitting in on four songs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. On 29 June 2013, Taylor joined the band onstage for several songs during their headline set at the Glastonbury Festival.
Le plus souvent avec
Filmographie de Mick Taylor (7 films)
Acteur
Ajouter à une liste de films
, 1h51Réalisé par Brett Morgen
Origine Etats-Unis
Genres Documentaire, Musical
Thèmes La musique, Documentaire sur la musique, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Musique
Acteurs Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Mick Taylor
Rôle Lui-même
Note73%
Le documentaire évènement sur les 50 ans de carrière des Rolling Stones ! Réalisé par Brett Morgen, « Crossfire Hurricane » offre un nouveau regard sur le parcours sans précédent des Stones, ces adolescents obsédés par le blues au début des années 60 devenus ces rock stars incontestées. Tous les membres du groupe ont été interviewés à nouveau et leur récit sert de fi l conducteur pour relier tous les documents d archives, extraits de concerts, de journaux télévisés et d interviews, pour la plupart inédits.
, 1h1Réalisé par Stephen Kijak
Origine Etats-Unis
Genres Documentaire, Musical
Thèmes La musique, Documentaire sur la musique, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Musique
Acteurs Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Benicio del Toro, Anita Pallenberg, Martin Scorsese
Rôle Lui-même
Note70%
Documentaire sur l'album Exile on Main Street des Rolling Stones. Le film a été diffusé en France par la chaine France 5 sous le titre Rolling Stones, la French Connection.
, 1h45Réalisé par Stephen Kijak
Origine Etats-Unis
Genres Documentaire, Musical
Thèmes La musique, Documentaire sur la musique, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Musique
Acteurs Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor, Benicio del Toro, Sheryl Crow, Jack White, Martin Scorsese
Rôle Lui-même
Note70%
Retour sur l'enregistrement de l'album culte "Exile on Main Street" des Rolling Stones
, 1h23Origine Etats-Unis
Genres Documentaire, Musical
Thèmes La musique, Documentaire sur la musique, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Musique
Acteurs Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor
Rôle Lui-même
Note79%
Un film de concert tiré de deux concerts des Rolling Stones lors de leur tournée nord-américaine de 1972. En 1972, les Stones amènent leur tournée Exile on Main Street au Texas : 15 chansons, dont cinq de l'album "Exile". Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts et Bill Wyman sur une petite scène avec trois autres musiciens. Jusqu'à ce que les lumières s'allument vers la fin, nous voyons les pierres sur un fond noir. La caméra reste principalement sur Jagger, avec quelques plans de Taylor. Richards est à l'écran pour ses duos et pour un travail de guitare sur les deux dernières chansons. C'est de la musique du début à la fin : du hard rock ("All Down the Line"), du blues ("Love in Vain" et "Midnight Rambler"), un hommage à Chuck Berry ("Bye Bye Johnny"), et pas de "Satisfaction .
Cocksucker Blues (1972)
, 1h33Réalisé par Robert Frank
Origine Etats-Unis
Genres Documentaire, Musical
Thèmes La musique, Documentaire sur la musique, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Musique
Acteurs Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor, Truman Capote, Dick Cavett, Lee Radziwill, Tina Turner
Rôle Lui-même
Note62%
La tournée américaine des Rolling Stones en 1972.
Gimme Shelter (1970)
, 1h31Origine Etats-Unis
Genres Documentaire, Musical
Thèmes La musique, Documentaire sur la musique, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Musique
Acteurs Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor, Melvin Belli, Tina Turner
Rôle Self - The Rolling Stones Member
Note77%
Ce documentaire de la tournée américaine des Rolling Stones en1969, est devenu un symbole poignant de la disparition de l'époque "Peace and Love". Après une tournée couronnée de succès au travers des Etats-Unis, les Rolling Stones effectuent en décembre un concert gratuit à Altamont Speedway en Californie. Le groupe à choisi imprudemment les Hells Angels pour assurer la sécurité. Les motards ont recours à la violence pour maintenir en ordre une foule agitée, stone, et souvent nue. Le résultat: des dizaines de blessés et la mort à l'écran d'un jeune homme noir (pendant "Sympathy for the Devil") par un membre de la sécurité. De façon arrangée, mais efficace, les frères Maysles filment Mick Jagger dans la salle de montage regardant l'assassinat projeté pour la première fois. Le film fonctionne aussi comme un documentaire du rock-and-roll, capturant la bande pendant leur moments les plus détendus, enivrant, et électrisant.
Son
Le Dernier des Finest (1990)
, 1h46Réalisé par John Mackenzie
Origine Etats-Unis
Genres Drame, Action, Policier
Acteurs Brian Dennehy, Joe Pantoliano, Jeff Fahey, Bill Paxton, Deborra-Lee Furness, Michael C. Gwynne
Note58%
Un groupe d'élite de flics de vice sont tirés de la police de Los Angeles pour être trop zélés dans leur guerre contre la drogue. Il est immédiatement évident que certains de leurs supérieurs sont impliqués dans l'anneau de drogue. Ligués, quatre des flics interdits (qui devient rapidement trois quand on est tué au début) se regrouper pour lutter contre le secret anneau de drogue. Ils gain en capital pour les armes en arrachant les trafiquants de drogue mineurs. Ensuite, bien armés, ils vont après la cheville ouvrière .