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James Taylor Quartet

Emerging from the tragic bankruptcy of Stiff Records, James Taylor, founding member of the infamous group The Prisoners - formed The James Taylor Quartet JTQ's first single, Blow Up, was released on the Re Elect The President (Acid Jazz) label in 1985. It was a huge success, immediately attracting the attention of John Peel who championed it; the track appearing three years running on Peel's seminal Festive 50 Chart. After an impressive 13 weeks in the Indie Singles Chart, the band decided to start work on a mini album, titled Mission Impossible.

This debut, released in '86, was naturally featured around Taylor's Hammond organ sound to produce classic covers of Sixties film themes Mission Impossible, Goldfinger, Mrs Robinson and other heavily grooving instrumental punk funk tunes. With JTQ's following growing, the band were encouraged to put out their second album on Re Elect The President, The Money Spyder.

By the time it was released in 1987, the band's attentions were being drawn away from their recording career to their now massive live audience. JTQ's emphasis on live 'dance' music has been the key to the band's success, enabling them to establish a solid relationship between them and their fans. With the focus now strongly on being a 'live' band, The Quartet gigged relentlessly, selling out on the London club circuit. During this period, major record company interest was aroused resulting in a long term deal with Polydor. The James Taylor Quartet released three albums on Polydor, Wait a Minute in 1988, Get Organised in 1989 and Do Your Own Thing in 1990. A number of hit singles were spawned from these such as the acclaimed and well-loved classic The Theme from Starsky & Hutch.

With the release of their first live album, Absolute in 1991, The Quartet moved to Polydor subsidiary Big Life. Featuring guest vocals from Rose Windross of Soul II Soul on Shelter and Noel McKoy on Somebody, the album initiated JTQ's introduction to the Soul Market. In 1992, Noel McKoy officially became the Quartet's lead vocalist. Singles See a Brighter day and the top 40 Love the life were both taken from the Top 30 album Supernatural Feeling, released in 1993. In this year alone, the band performed over one hundred and fifty shows in 15 different countries, including destinations as far flung as Thailand, Japan and the USA. The climax of this was headlining in front of 5,000 people at London's Brixton Academy. With JTQ's success, James' musical talent became admired by numerous other acts - The Wonderstuff, Manic Street Preachers, The Pogues and U2 have all featured James and his distinctive Hammond playing on their albums.

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363
Album Review

James Taylor Quartet: James Taylor Quartet: Don't Mess With Mr. T

Read "James Taylor Quartet: Don't Mess With Mr. T" reviewed by Frederick Bernas


James Taylor's vintage Hammond-led outfit has consistently delighted lovers of jazz, funk and R&B in equal measure over the last twenty years. The group is most famous for its signature tune, the “Theme From Starsky and Hutch, but this album shows greater variety than the standard jam workout. Don't Mess With Mr. T: James Taylor Quartet Plays Motown is a series of 12 cover tracks from Marvin Gaye to Stevie Wonder. The quartet itself, which comprises Taylor ...

510
Reassessing

James Taylor Quartet's The First Sixty Four Minutes

Read "James Taylor Quartet's The First Sixty Four Minutes" reviewed by Trevor MacLaren


James Taylor Quartet The First Sixty Four Minutes Re-elect The President/Acid Jazz 1988

Though virtually unknown in North America, the James Taylor Quartet has been a cult phenomenon in the UK for the past twenty years. The group began by revitalizing the great soul jazz of Blue Note's late-'60s/early-'70s catalog, then moved on to help lead the organic version of the acid jazz movement. The First Sixty Four Minutes is comprised of ...

161
Album Review

James Taylor Quartet: Creation

Read "Creation" reviewed by Douglas Payne


A better title for U.K. organist / keyboardist James Taylor's fourth disc might be “ re creation." That goes for reincarnation and pure fun too. The giveaway is in the cover photo's pun of the famous shot from the 1966 mod film, Blow Up (itself highlighting some of Herbie Hancock's earliest dope jazz).

Creation is pure flashback. But while it apes past styles, Taylor has eschewed the late 60s lounge funk he trafficked in the past for an exceptionally entertaining ...

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103

Performance / Tour

Taylor & King a Pair of Durable Troubadours

Taylor & King a Pair of Durable Troubadours

Source: Michael Ricci

They were a strange pair, actually: dry and wet. He, 62, with the guarded, narrow excellence of his fingerpicking, putting his voice through a heavy soul-compressor, like Marvin Gaye in a telephone booth; she, 68, practicing generosity, singing as loudly as possible and straining at the high edges, coming down hard on her songs pivot-point chord changes.

If there still exists an idea of the American singer-songwriter as a conveyor of sympathy, sincerity and trust Bob Dylan notwithstanding James Taylor ...

309

Performance / Tour

Live Review: James Taylor and Carole King at the Hollywood Bowl

Live Review: James Taylor and Carole King at the Hollywood Bowl

Source: Michael Ricci

James Taylor and Carole King made no effort to disguise their ages Thursday night at the Hollywood Bowl, where the two sixtysomething singers played the first of three dates on their Troubadour Reunion trek. The world tour which stops Tuesday at the Santa Barbara Bowl and wraps July 20 at the Honda Center in Anaheim comes 40 years after Taylor and King first performed together at the cozy West Hollywood club that gives the road show its name; a live ...

332

Music Industry

James Taylor Tells the Stories Behind His Favorite Covers

James Taylor Tells the Stories Behind His Favorite Covers

Source: All About Jazz

For years, James Taylor has been covering many of his favorite songs from the 1950s and 1960s during soundchecks before his concerts. This past September, he released some of them on Covers, a collection of twelve classic tracks he recorded at his Massachusetts studio. He recently sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss some of his favorites songs on the set, from Leonard Cohen to Elvis Presley to the Drifters. Leonard Cohen - Suzanne Leonard predates me a ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Creation

Acid Jazz/Hollywood
1997

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