Otis Taylor - Truth Is Not Fiction (2003)

Otis Taylor to muzyk wyjątkowy. Jest to oczywiście blues, ale jakże inny od tego, który zwykle możemy usłyszeć. Jego gra wymyka się jakimkolwiek klasyfikacjom. Mój znajomy, za którego przyczyną pierwszy raz zetknąłem się z muzyką Taylora powiedział, że jest to "szamański blues" - i w rzeczy samej tak jest. Słuchając Taylora wpada się w jakiś dziwny i mroczny trans. W jego muzyce bluesowe korzenie znad delty Mississippi łączą się w fenomenalny sposób z plemiennym zaśpiewami i rytmami Afrykańczyków i północnoamerykańskich Indian.

Nawet dla starych bluesowych wyjadaczy muzyka Otis Taylora okazuje się sensacją. Przy użyciu prostych środków technicznych artysta tworzy niesamowity klimat, na ogół mroczny, niezwykle intensywny, często pełen bólu, ale nie pozbawiony zarazem gorzkiego humoru. Taylor stawiany jest w gronie najbardziej oryginalnych artystów bluesa początku nowego stulecia. Jak do tej pory nigdy nie wystąpił w Polsce - szkoda (może ktoś z organizatorów wpadnie na ten pomysł).

Otis Mark Taylor was born in Chicago in 1948 to Otis and Sarah Taylor. In the early 1950s the Taylor family moved to Denver Colorado. One of young Otis' favorite neighborhood hang-outs was the Denver Folklore Center. He bought his first instrument there, a used ukulele. A banjo and harmonica soon joined the collection. He started his first group "Butterscotch Fire Department Blues Band" in 1964.

In 1969 London called. Blue Horizon Records had signed him to a recording contract. He liked the London scene but his unique song-writing style didn't gel with the arranger the record company assigned to the project. Frustrated, Taylor returned to Colorado. His next project "T&O Short Line," was a combo with the legendary Tommy Bolin of Deep Purple.

In 1977 Taylor retired from the music business, and for the next two decades ran a successful antiques dealership in Colorado. Taylor often jammed with friends and family, but did not perform in public.

Otis Taylor's fourth album, Truth Is Not Fiction, is a dangerous, biting, contemporary, mesmerizing tour through Taylor's penetrating, fearless, even disturbing psyche. Arranged and produced by bassist Kenny Passarelli, Taylor runs all around the outskirts of what is stylistically called "the blues" without ever once playing an identifiable "blues lick" (apart from an occasional John Lee Hooker boogie vamp).

In fact, it is only in retrospect after hearing Taylor's stories of Native American despair ("Kitchen Towel"), black courage ("Rosa, Rosa," "Be My Witness," "Shakie's Gone"), pointillistic unrequited love ("Comb Your Brown Hair"), and organ memory ("Be My Frankenstein") that you even realize he is singing the blues. Taylor's unorthodox instrumentation - he plays the Ome banjo, mandolin, and lap steel guitar in addition to electric and acoustic guitar, Eddie Turner plays a rocking, psychedelicized lead guitar, Ben Sollee's cello graces three tracks - in conjunction with his commanding vocals and shaman's story-weaving powers turn Truth is Not Fiction into a kind of magic realist journey where reality past, present and future intermingle and refuse to be silenced.

Creativity and a distinctive edge have returned to the blues in the person of Otis Taylor - may he find the audience he deserves.

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