Larry Taylor

Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of the blues rock band Canned Heat. Before joining Canned Heat, he had been a session bassist for the Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis. He was the younger brother of Mel Taylor, longtime drummer of The Ventures.

Early life Taylor was born in New York City. His mother was Jewish and his father was a "WASP" from Tennessee. Taylor was the younger brother to Mel Taylor (1933-1996), drummer for The Ventures. As a boy, Taylor's family moved back and forth from Brooklyn and Tennessee.

The band's manager, Skip Taylor, gave each member of the band a nickname connected to an animal. Larry's band nickname was "the Mole." In addition to playing bass, he also played lead guitar on occasion. An example can be heard on the track "Down in the Gutter, But Free", on the album Hallelujah.

1970s In 1970, when John Mayall moved to Los Angeles, Taylor and Mandel quit Canned Heat to join him in the Bluesbreakers. Taylor served the longest tenure as a member of the Bluesbreakers in the 1970s (1970–1977). After the Bluesbreakers tours in 1977, Taylor played briefly with the Sugarcane Harris Band (later called Pure Food and Drug Act).

In 1972, Larry joined his brother Mel's band to play on the Ventures album Rock and Roll Forever. Canned Heat member Harvey "the Snake" Mandel also played on the album.

In 1974, Taylor became part of the Hollywood Fats Band led by Mike "Hollywood Fats" Mann. The pair joined Canned Heat for a King Biscuit Flower Hour concert in 1979. The bands history started around 1973/1974 when Hollywood Fats met Al Blake, Fred Kaplan, Jerry Smith and George "Harmonica" Smith, who were the touring members for Muddy Waters at the time. Fats was invited to be Water's sideman. Fats soon invited Taylor to replace Smith, and the band started touring as "the Hollywood Fats band". It was the first professional band Taylor played upright bass in. Taylor and Fats also returned to Canned Heat for two years (1978-1980). The Hollywood Fats band ended when Fats died tragically of a heart attack in 1986, aged 32.

When he left John Mayall in 1977, Taylor started studying playing upright bass. He appeared with Waits on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show, Late Show with David Letterman (in 2012) and a show hosted by Jon Stewart.

Death Larry Taylor died at his home in Lake Balboa, Los Angeles on August 19, 2019 at the age of 77 after twelve years of cancer treatment. He was survived by his wife Andrea and their three children.

Tom Waits remembered Taylor by writing on his website:

Discography

With the Monkees The Monkees (1966) More of the Monkees (1967) Instant Replay (1969) The Monkees Present (1969) Changes (1970) Listen to the Band (1991) Greatest Hits (1995) Missing Links, Vol. 3 (1996) Anthology (1998) Music Box (2001)

With Canned Heat(See full discography at Canned Heat discography)

With John Mayall Empty Rooms (1969) USA Union (1970) Back to the Roots (1971) Memories (1971) Jazz Blues Fusion (1972) Moving On (1973) Latest Edition (1974) New Year, New Band, New Company (1975) Notice to Appear (1975) Banquet in Blues (1976) Lots of People (1977) Archives to Eighties (1988) Rock the Blues Tonight (1999)

With Harvey Mandel Games Guitars Play (1970) Baby Batter (1971) Electronic Progress (1971) Snake (1972) Mercury Years (1995)

With Tom Waits Heartattack and Vine (1980) Swordfishtrombones (1983) Rain Dogs (1985) Franks Wild Years (1987) Bone Machine (1992) Mule Variations (1999) Gold Record Award Alice (2002) Blood Money (2002) Real Gone (2004) Bad as Me (2011)

With others

Test Patterns (Boyce & Hart, 1967) Slim's Got His Thing Goin' On''' (Sunnyland Slim, 1969) Fiddler on the Rock (Don "Sugarcane" Harris, 1971) Lost Session (Albert King, 1971) Mudlark (Leo Kottke, 1971) Rock And Roll Forever (The Ventures, 1972) The Devil's Harmonica (Shakey Jake Harris, 1972) Cup Full of Dreams (Don "Sugarcane" Harris, 1974) Summit Meeting (Free Creek, 1976) I'm a Southern Man (Louis Myers, 1978) Hollywood Fats Band (Mike „Hollywood Fats“ Mann, 1979) Rock This House (Mike „Hollywood Fats“ Mann, 1979) Anthology Previously Unreleased Material (The Grandmothers, 1980) Rock Therapy (Colin Winski, 1980) The Other Side of Town (Chuck E. Weiss, 1981) Hard Line (The Blasters, 1985) Harpburn (Rod Piazza, 1986) Best (Leo Kottke, 1987) Kristen Vigard (Kristen Vigard, 1988) The Healer (John Lee Hooker, 1989) Keith Levene's Violent Opposition (Keith Levene, 1989) Mr. Lucky (John Lee Hooker, 1991) Got Love If You Want It (John P. Hammond, 1992) Trespass (Ry Cooder, 1992) In My Time (Charlie Musselwhite, 1992) Mother of an Anthology (The Grandmothers, 1993) That's Life (Kim Wilson, 1994) My New Orleans Soul (Ronnie Barron, 1994) Long Overdue (Junior Watson, 1994) Trouble No More (John P. Hammond, 1994) Martinis & Bikinis (Sam Phillips, 1994) Blues for Thought (Terry Evans, 1994) Closer to You (J. J. Cale, 1994) To Love (Randy Resnick, 1994) Working Girl Blues (Phillip Walker, 1995) 88th Street Blues (Smokey Wilson, 1995) Adventures at Catfish Pond (Bob "Catfish" Hodge, 1996) Rough News (Charlie Musselwhite, 1997) Lost in America (Lynwood Slim, 1997) Mr. Blake's Blues (Al Blake, 1997) My Blues (Kim Wilson, 1997) Signifyin (Fred Kaplan, 1997) Back to Back (Lynwood Slim, 1998) Lookin for Trouble (Edward Taylor, 1998) Jump Children! (Finis Tasby, 1998) New Depths (The Ventures, 1998) Soul Disguise (Cesar Rosas, 1999) Zero Zero Zero: The Best of Sam Phillips (Sam Phillips, 1999) Something Good for Your Head (Blackburn & Snow, 1999)

I'm Going All the Way (Peggy Pruitt, 2000) I Can Tell (Junior Valentine, 2000) World Wide Wood (Lynwood Slim, 2000) Mo' Na'Kins, Please! (James Harman, 2000) The Toughest Girl Alive (Candye Kane, 2000) West Coast House Party (Kid Ramos, 2000) There's a Song in There (Mark DuFresne, 2000) Fool's Paradise (Dale Hawkins, 2000) Wicked Grin (John P. Hammond, 2001) Smokin' Joint (Kim Wilson, 2001) "You Can Make It If You Try" (Gene Allison, 2002) Sky Like a Broken Clock (Kelly Joe Phelps, 2001) Beggar's Oil (Kelly Joe Phelps, 2002) Harmonica Blues Orgy (Easy Baby, 2002) Magic Soul Elixer (Al Blake, 2002) Let It Rain (Tracy Chapman, 2002) Whole Lotta Love (Candye Kane, 2003) You've Never Seen Everything (Bruce Cockburn, 2003) Heart Trouble (Wanda Jackson, 2003) Villanelle (Paul Reddick, 2004) Fernando Ortega (Fernando Ortega, 2004) Think About It (Alex Schultz, 2004) Soul Sanctuary (Hollywood Blue Flames, 2005) Southern Jumbo (Colin Linden, 2005) Time Brings About a Change... A Floyd Dixon Celebration (Floyd Dixon, 2006) Hell Under the Skullbones (Graham Lindsey, 2006) Spooked (Marley's Ghost, 2006) Road to Rio (Hollywood Blue Flames, 2006) Can't Quit the Blues (Buddy Guy, 2006) Shower Some Love (Layni Kooper, 2007) Luminous (Chris Murphy, 2007) Big Plans (Mannish Boys, 2007) Like a Fire (Solomon Burke, 2008) Bluelisted (JW-Jones, 2008) Rusty Zinn & The Roadmasters, Featuring Kim Wilson (Rusty Zinn) (2008) Midnight Memphis Sun (JW-Jones, 2010) Definitive Albert King on Stax (Albert King, 2011) New World Generation (New World Generation, 2011) Driftin' From Town To Town (Barrelhouse Chuck & Kim Wilson's Blues All Stars (2013) Blues And Boogie'' (Kim Wilson) (2017)