Floyd Jones and
Eddie Taylor
Masters of Modern Blues, Vol. 3
Testament Records |

I get a lot of CDs to review
each month, which is why you might be reading
reviews of albums that are six or seven months
old. I try to review everything that comes my
way.
Anyway, sometimes I want to hear some music that
I don’t necessarily have to review, so I will occasionally visit
a used record store a couple of hours from where I live. A few
months ago, I decided to visit and was rewarded with a veritable
treasure trove of older recordings, including the entire
four-volume set of Testament Records’ Masters of Modern Blues
series. I will be reviewing each of these albums over the next
few months here at Blues Bytes, but will begin with the first
set that I picked up, featuring Floyd Jones and Eddie Taylor.
When I first started listening to the blues I
discovered that I really enjoyed ’50s-era Chicago Blues ---
Muddy, the Wolf, Little Walter, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, etc.That
led me to dig deeper into that particular brand of blues, and in
the process I discovered some of the lesser known artists like
Floyd Jones. I first heard him singing “Dark Road” on the Chess
Records collection, Drop Down Mama, and it blew me away.
That particular piece came from deep down in his soul, and I
soon discovered that he performed his other songs with that same
intensity. His songs were pretty downbeat for the most part,
adopting a gloomy tone, but it was the blues as pure as it gets.
Eddie Taylor is probably best known as the
rhythm guitarist behind the great Jimmy Reed on his Vee-Jay
recordings, but he recoded his own sides for Vee-Jay during that
time and some of his songs are considered standards today. Ever
heard “Big Town Playboy” or “Bad Boy” in a modern-day blues
band’s repertoire? Though he never was as popular as Reed or any
of the other artists he backed in those days (John Lee Hooker,
Snooky Pryor, Elmore James, John Brim among them), he was an
important part of the Chicago bleus sound during the ’50s and
early ’60s.
I’m not really sure, but I think their set was
Volume 3 of the Masters series. Testament Records was
founded by Pete Welding, who recorded blues, jazz, country, and
gospel artists over about a 15-year period. He gave numerous
artists an opportunity to record when they otherwise might have
never had, especially in the ’60s, a fairly lean time for
recording blues. Two of my favorite blues recordings are
collections from Testament featuring slide guitarists (Down
Home Slide) and old school harmonica players (Down Home
Harp).
The Jones/Taylor session was recorded in June
1966 at One-derful Studios in Chicago, with eight songs from
Jones and eight from Taylor, and featured one of the most
impressive bands that could have been assembled at that time.
Jones played bass and Taylor guitar on all the tracks, but check
out this band providing support --- Otis Spann on piano, Big
Walter Horton on harmonica, and Fred Below on drums! An all-star
band if there ever was one!
Jones’ sides include two versions of “Dark Road”
(one previously unreleased prior to the CD age), both as intense
as his original waxing. There are also new versions of
“Stockyard Blues” and “Hard Times.” All of his sides pretty much
hold to his usual method of operation with their somber tone,
but “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” is more lively and shows that he’s
also pretty adept at the upbeat music. Taylor also updates his
best-known songs, “Bad Boy” (with an alternate take included)
and “Big Town Playboy,” and also offers fine performances of
other tracks, like “Feel So Bad,” “Train Fare Home,” and “After
Hours.”
Both men weren’t finished recording, though.
Floyd Jones did appear on a wonderful set from Earwig Records in
the early ’80s, Old Friends, where he shared billing with
Honeyboy Edwards, Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, and Kansas
City Red. He also continued to actively perform in the Chicago
area until he passed away in 1989.
Taylor recorded several albums in the ’70s and
early ’80s that showed he was still a force to be reckoned with,
but he passed away on Christmas Day in 1985 . He had several
children --- the late guitarist Eddie Taylor, Jr., drummer Larry
Taylor and singer Demetria Taylor (as well as his late wife
Vera) who were all formidable blues talents in their own right.
Fans of vintage Chicago blues, especially the
less familiar ’60s era recordings, will love the Masters of
Modern Blues series, and Volume 3 of the set is a
fine introduction to Floyd Jones and Eddie Taylor, two fine
musicians that they might not have heard previously.
--- Graham Clarke