Koko Taylor : Deluxe Edition 2002

Accurately dubbed "the Queen of Chicago blues" (and sometimes just the blues in general), Koko Taylor helped keep the tradition of big-voiced, brassy female blues belters alive, recasting the spirits of early legends like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton, and Memphis Minnie for the modern age. Taylor's rough, raw vocals were perfect for the swaggering new electrified era of the blues, and her massive hit "Wang Dang Doodle" served notice that male dominance in the blues wasn't as exclusive as it seemed.


Koko was born Cora Walton on September 28, 1928, on a sharecropper's farm in Memphis, TN.
Koko began singing gospel music in a local Baptist church, inspired by the music they heard on the radio, she and her siblings also played blues on makeshift instruments.

In 1962, Taylor met legendary" Chess Records" songwriter/producer/bassist Willie Dixon, who was so impressed with her live performance that he took her under his wing. He produced her 1963 debut single, "Honky Tonky," for the small USA label, then secured her a recording contract with "Chess".

Taylor made her recording debut for "Chess" in 1964 and hit it big the following year with the Dixon-penned "Wang Dang Doodle," which sold over a million copies and hit number four on the R&B charts.

With the release of two albums , 1969's Koko Taylor, which featured a number of her previous singles, and 1972's Basic Soul , Taylor's live gigs kept branching out further and further from Chicago, and when she played the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, the resulting live album on Atlantic helped bring her to a more national audience.



By the early '70s, "Chess Records" was floundering financially, and eventually went under in 1975. Taylor signed with a then-young Chicago-based label called "Alligator", which grew into one of America's most prominent blues labels over the years.


In 1980, she won the first of an incredible string of W.C. Handy Awards (for Best Contemporary Female Artist), and over the next two decades, she would capture at least one more almost every year (save for 1989, 1997, and 1998). 1981 brought From the Heart of a Woman, and in 1984, Taylor won her first Grammy thanks to her appearance on Atlantic's various-artists compilation Blues Explosion .

By Steve Huey

Koko Taylor died in Chicago in 3 June 2009 after experiencing complications from surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. She was 80 years old.

This 2002 compilation brings together 15 songs from her first seven Alligator albums.

Personnel includes:

Koko Taylor (vocals)
B.B. King, Buddy Guy (vocals, guitar)
Mighty Joe Young (guitar)
Carey Bell (harmonica)
Willie Henderson, Henri Ford, Mark Colby (saxophone)
Larry Bowen (trumpet)
Steve Berry (trombone)
Pinetop Perkins (piano)
"Professor" Eddie Lusk (organ)
Kenny Hampton (bass)
Brady Williams, Vince Chappelle (drums)

TRACKS

01. I’m A Woman
02. Beer Bottle Boogie
03. Born Under A Bad Sign (with Buddy Guy)
04. Mother Nature (with Carey Bell)
05. Hey Bartender (with Pinetop Perkins)
06. I’d Rather Go Blind
07. Man Size Job
08. Let The Good Times Roll (Live)
09. Voodoo Woman (with Mighty Joe Young)
10. Wang Dang Doodle
11. Stop Watching Your Enemies
12. Sure Had A Wonderful Time Last Night
13. Come To Mama
14. Time Will Tell
15. Blues Hotel (with B.B.King)


Take it Here

MP3 : 320