Sam Taylor (saxophonist)


Samuel Leroy Taylor, Jr., known as Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, and blues tenor saxophonist.
Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee, United States. He attended Alabama State University, where he played with the Bama State Collegians. He later worked with Scatman Crothers, Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner. Taylor was one of the most requested session saxophone players in New York recording studios in the 1950s. He also replaced Count Basie as the house bandleader on Alan Freed's radio series, Camel Rock 'n Roll Dance Party, on CBS.
Taylor played the saxophone solo on Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll". He also played on "Harlem Nocturne"; on "Money Honey", recorded by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters in 1953; and on "Sh-Boom" by the Chords (American band)|Chords].
During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.
Taylor died in 1990 in Crawford Long Hospital, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 74.

Discography

Blue Mist, 1955Music with the Big Beat, 1956Out Of This World, 1956Rockin' Sax and Rollin' Organ, with Dick Hyman, 1957Jazz for Commuters, 1958More Blue Mist, 1959Mist of the Orient E4066, 1962In Japan SMM-1019The Bad and the Beautiful, 1962Misty Mood, 1962It's a Blue World, 1963Watermelon Man, with Frank Hunter and the Huntsmen, 1963Somewhere in the Night, 1964A Musical Portrait of Ray Charles, with Leroy Holmes and his Orchestra Love You Tokyo, GW-7001 C.M.P. Nov. 1967Ima Wa Shiawasekai GW-7002 C.M.P. Dec. 1968Hana to Namida GW-7005 Dec. 1969Koga Melodies: Best Collection, c. 1970Eternal Standard, c. 1971Bokyo Shiretokoryojo GW-7015 C.M.P. Nov. 1971Hit Melodies From Shi Retoko to Nagasaki GW-7055 C.M.P., July 1973Onna No Sadame, GW-7070 C.M.P., Nov. 1974The Blue Mood of Sam Taylor MCA-9050-511974Song of Street, GW-20051-52, 1975Mood Tenor Sax, with Yokouchi Shoji, Kosugi Jinsan Three, GW-20139-40, 1975Sam Taylor Vol. 1, GW-20239-40, 1978Standard Best Collection Vols. I & II, 1999Bluesy Sam Taylor, SMP-2004Blue Light Yokohama, SMP-2043

As sideman

With The Chords
With Ruth Brown
With Freddy Cole
With Al Hibbler
With Langston Hughes
With Quincy Jones