Samuel Leroy Taylor, Jr. (July 12, 1916 – October 5, 1990), known as Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American jazz and blues tenor saxophonist of the 1950’s who was a mainstay in studios throughout the decade and on multi-artist stage shows leading the band. The number of hits he played on is staggering and it was largely his economical, but still explosive, style that defined what role the tenor sax would play in vocal records in rock for years.
Sam Taylor was born in Tennessee and like so many other musicians of his era he headed to Alabama State University and did time with the famed Bama State Collegians. He also worked with Scat Man Crothers and the Sunset Royal Orchestra in the late '30s.Moving into the professional ranks in the 1940’s he tried his hand in jazz, still the dominant style of the day, but began to move in a more populist direction playing with Cab Calloway for six years and then Lucky Millinder’s group.
By the late 1940’s he found himself recruited to cut sessions behind others and along with drummer Panama Francis and later on guitarist Mickey Baker, they became the first-call musicians for the huge number of record labels in and around New York during the 1950’s, most of whom were hip-deep in rock ‘n’ roll.
Not at all snobbish about slumming in this less technically adroit style, Taylor solidified the formula that was required to pack as much excitement into brief instrumental breaks without upending the singers or the song itself. Taylor toured South America and the Caribbean during his tenure with Calloway. Then, Taylor became the saxophonist of choice for many R&B dates through the '50s, recording with Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan, and Big Joe Turner, among others. He supplemented his studio work by acting as the bandleader for Alan Freed’s stage shows which were huge events and which in turn led to him leading the band under Freed’s name on albums that the disc-jockey concocted as promotional material..
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. He also did sessions with Ella Fitzgerald and Sy Oliver. He played sax and clarinet on an album of poetry made by Langston Hughes in 1958, and his solo albums usually had a ‘Misty’ theme, with ‘Blue Mist’, ‘Misty Mood’ and ‘Mist of the Orient’. During this period Taylor had long term deal with MGM for his own singles but in spite of some quality outings they failed to make an impact as he had little name recognition with audiences who knew his work but not his name.
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| Taylor with Alan Freed. |
By the 1960’s there was less reliance on session musicians in rock and Taylor led his own bands and recorded in a quintet called the Blues Chasers. In the In the 1970s he began touring overseas where he built up a large following in Japan. He wound up cutting a number of popular albums there that were far more tranquil than his heyday as rock’s leading saxophonist.
Taylor passed away in Crawford Long Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia, October 5, 1990 at the age 74. Despite being the arguably most important session musician in rock during the 1950’s he hasn’t been inducted into The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, remaining all but anonymous in the afterlife as he was in life itself.
(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic & spontaniouslunacy.net)