fR312 PAGES 45-46-47 29/4/09 00:44 Page 1
45 f
Old School Koko
From the cotton fields to Chicago, Koko Taylor has lived
the blues life and legend. Garth Cartwright meets the
veteran queen of blueswomen.
“I
’m like James Brown says: I to her, and we began honing down a song very involved in the arrangements and
feel good!” says the undis- list. After that, we worked with her co- directing the band. I supervised the mixes.
puted queen of the blues, producer, Criss Johnson, to find the right Koko’s input came early on, first in writing
Koko Taylor, as we chat in keys for each song and to make sure that so many songs, then in directing both Criss
Chicago on a blustery spring the grooves and basic licks fit her concept and me as to the way she heard them, and
afternoon. 79-year-old Koko has reason to of the songs. Then we put together the finally in the studio, where she is the ulti-
be positive having battled a variety of band, rehearsed and recorded.” mate judge of the band’s performance
medical complaints over the last five
Koko, Iglauer and guitarist Criss John-
and especially the groove. If she isn’t feel-
years, the most serious of which involved
son are credited as co-producers: how do
ing it rhythmically, everyone works at it
emergency surgery for gastrointestinal
they allocate tasks and get the job done?
until she does.”
bleeding and then slipping into a coma.
“In the case of this album,” says Iglauer, “I
Obituaries were prepared but the will to
organised the various bands, brought
survive that has taken her from rural
songs to her, hired the studio and engi-
poverty to international stardom brought
neer, and directed quite a bit in the stu-
her back. She slowly returned to perform-
dio. Criss, who is a great player, was also
ing and then, in 2007, re-entered the
recording studio for the first time in seven
years. The resulting album, Old School
(Alligator), is magnificent, her best work
since the classic Chess sessions of the mid-
1960s, proof that Chicago remains home
to ferocious 21st century blues.
“I’m proud of it,” says Taylor of Old
School. “I got to writing an’ comin’
up with new songs. I’d write
about whatever came in my
mind an’ these new songs
they just flowed out.”
Taylor not only
writes good new songs
on Old School but sings
with a paint-peeling
intensity: she hasn’t
sounded so deter-
mined to convey a
song’s grit for years.
This suggests her brush with
mortality has focused the mind.
“I keep working hard to hold
that title [queen of the blues] but what
with having been so ill I’m not touring
for anywhere near as much as I used to. I
spent four months in hospital. I’m still
under the supervision of a doctor. Diabet-
ic, high blood pressure – I got everything
in the book! See, I still got the blues.”
Taylor’s Alligator albums have always
been solid if a little predictable. Her last
effort, 2000’s Royal Blue, was marred by
some overheated blues-rock guitar. For Old
School, she and co-producer Bruce Iglauer
focused on her strengths, so creating an
album that ranks with Muddy Waters’ Hard
Again as a masterful blues comeback.
“First, Koko had to be 100% commit-
ted to the project,” says Iglauer. “We
Photo: Chris Jacobs
agreed that we wanted to do a pure blues
album, no rock or funk, which had been
elements of her last few. Then she got
down to writing. Koko writes slowly, and
she wanted to perfect each tune. After she
presented her songs, I presented my ideas
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84