LARRY TAYLOR BLUES AND SOUL BAND
TO PLAY AT AUSTIN TOWN HALL OCT. 8

West Side bluesman Larry Taylor will bring his blues and soul band to the Austin Town Hall, 5610 W. Lake Street, for a free community concert at 7 p.m. Friday Oct. 8.

Larry Taylor, an Austin resident, is the stepson of early Chicago blues guitarist Eddie Taylor Sr. who played with Jimmy Reed. Larry has drummed and sung with the greats of blues and soul for over 30 years. He now heads the ferociously rhythmic Larry Taylor Blues and Soul Band composed of veteran West Side musicians such as Willie Davis, guitar; Michael “Sleepy” Riley, bass; and James Carter, drums. Larry’s own CD “They were in this House” was termed by the Chicago Sun-Times “one of the year’s best sounding blues albums.” Larry’s cover of the late Johnnie Taylor’s song, “Jody Got Your Girl and Gone,” has been among the Top 10 requested by blues fans of South Side radio station WSSD 88.1 Fm. and listed in the Chicago Defender. Larry’s website is at www.larrytaylorbluesandsoul.com

Taylor’s Oct. 8 concert will kick off the first week of a 10 week after-school blues education program at Austin Town Hall, co-sponsored by the Central Chicago Park District and Austin People’s Action Program (APAC). Each Tuesday and Wednesday beginning Oct. 5, pre-teens and teens will learn to play and sing the blues, find out where the music came from, and make up their own tunes. Teaching the workshops will be Barrelhouse Bonni, a blues piano player and educator; and David Normand, jazz musician who has been coaching the youth at the town hall for the last two years on learning to play musical instruments. Playwright/musician/author Fernando Jones will come up from the South Side to give the teens a harmonica lesson, and they will read some background on blues from his book “I Was there When the Blues was Red Hot.” Later this year, the youth will make a recording of their music under the guidance of Howard Sandifer of Chicago West Community Center. At the concert, Mr. Normand will offer an “instrument petting zoo” – a table full of guitars, drumsticks and horns, for kids (and grownups too) to pick up and try.

“Blues is a great way for the youth to connect with the elders in our community,” said Larry Taylor. “We can learn from each other and our African American culture will never be lost. All these popular musics like jazz, hiphop, rap, r&b, they’re all family and the root is the blues. The kids won’t forget it, cause we’re gonna rock the house!”

“We want to give the young people a chance to see a live professional band of their neighbors play the type of music they’ll be working on after school,” said Jeanette Stovall, Central Region Park Supervisor at the Austin Town Hall. “Chicago blues music is famous around the world, and a lot of it started right here on the West Side.”

Fans of all ages from all communities are welcome at the Larry Taylor Blues and Soul Band’s free concert at 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Austin Town Hall, 5610 W. Lake St. at Central Avenue, Chicago.