Product Description

On DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE, Otis Taylor cements his status as a true 21st-century bluesman, not just because he began recording in the early 2000s, but because of his intensely modern, syncretic style. Using the blues as a base, he venturesfar afield while still maintaining a definitive musical personality. Everything from Hendrix-like guitar licks to jazz trumpet and semi-psychedelic effects is mixed with Taylor's earthy banjo picking and country blues leanings, but somehowhe makes the whole thing work.

Track Listing

1. Little Betty
2. Black's Mandolin Boogie
3. Looking Over Your Fence
4. They Wore Blue
5. Few Feet Away
6. Something In Your Back Pocket
7. My Name Is General Jackson
8. Love And Hesitation
9. Maharaja Daughter
10. Long Long Life
11. Mexican Cowboy
12. Lifetime Of Freedom

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18850 in Music
• Released on: 2007-02-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Crackling with hypnotic energy, Otis Taylor's eighth album infuses his cutting-edge blues with a dose of rock'n'roll exuberance. The blasting opener "Little Betty" gets some rocket fuel from blues-rock legend Gary Moore's marvelously expressive, raw guest guitar as well as from drummer John Kelly, whose propulsion ignites several of these dozen tunes. Ultimately, though, Taylor's one-chord magic comes from his knack for repeating catchy riffs until they become a seductive blur--a hip-shaking platform for his colorful explorations of love, war, joy, deprivation, and racial struggle. He's also got a way with textures, spinning dirty guitar, prickly electric mandolin, his daughter Cassie's haunting alto singing, and his own appealingly hoarse baritone into mesmeric arrangements for tunes like the Hurricane Katrina contemplation "They Wore Blue" that owe as much to Pink Floyd as to Muddy Waters. Taylor also pushes the envelope hard with "Long Long Life," which blends jazz star Hiromi Uchara's manic piano improvisations with Ron Miles's free-form cornet as Taylor intones a curse on a disdainful lover. It's a brilliant collision of styles and yet another fiery testimonial to Taylor's unique artistic vision. --Ted Drozdowski

Uncut, (Nigel Williamson), March 2007
(4 stars) The haunting trance blues of his seventh album are genuinely adgy and unnerving.

Customer Reviews

10 Stars
I bought the album and the first track floored me with it's driving rythm but laid back style. Gary Moore adds very tasteful lead guitar throughout but doesn't dominate. Otis Taylor's voice is a perfect match for the music, gravelly and genuine. you could buy the CD just for this song!

The rest of the album doesn't disappoint and is refreshingly unique. The music is often driving trance blues, but instruments like piano, cornet, mandolin etc are subtle and never over-done.

All in all, this is a unique and unusual album. An album that will draw you in and you find yourself listening to it over and over. Absolutely fantasic!

(By the way, if you like this you should also try Michael Powers)

Wonderful!
This, my introduction to Otis Taylor, is a gorgeous, varied electric blues album.

Whilst the dominant feature of the soundscape is some superb, bluesy guitar playing, the variety of Otis's instrumentation and arrangements is such as to keep you hooked into this album from the first song until the very end. Piano, organ, strings, brass as well as other instruments are used to create the layer of sound on which Otis lays down a gorgeous blues beat. The addition of a female vocalist on a couple of the songs adds to the mystique of this wonderful album.

Extremely enjoyable! I will now be chasing down his back catalogue!

Blues with innovation
The sign of an artist that is keen to develop can be heard when he or she looks to expand the boundaries of their chosen field, rather than completing album after album of similar sounding songs. One such artist is Otis Taylor, who has taken a far from conventional approach to his music.

This is best demonstrated in his 2007 album Definition Of A Circle. The album features a diverse set of themes, feels and instrumentation. The instruments features on this album include electric and acoustic guitar, mandolin, electric cello, banjo, lap steel, trumpet, Hammond organ and harmonic. The album includes some guest collaborations with Charles Musslewhite and Gary Moore amongst others, plus some superb backing vocals from Otis' daughter Cassie. This is certainly not "the same old blues", indeed as Billboard have stated "Otis Taylor is one of the most innovative, thought provoking blues artists to emerge in the last 20 years." You'd do well to give him a listen.

Definition of A Circle begins with the energetic track Little Betty. Taylor's banjo and some moody Hammond organ are backed by the sharp sound of Gary Moore's guitar which threatens to dominate the song, but thankfully never does so, instead providing some sharp guitar tones after each verse of Taylor's vocals.

The second track is even better. "Blacks Mandolin Boogie" naturally features Taylor on that instrument but what adds a fine touch is the backing cello and drum pattern which help drive the song along, much in the same way as the guitar in the previous song. The lyrics relate to the plight of gypsies in Europe, which may seem a strange subject matter for Taylor, although his success has been more apparent to date on the eastern side of the pond.

A subject matter far closer to home is apparent on the track Looking Over Your Fence where Taylor bemoan the fact his possessions and indeed his wife have gone astray and he has the suspicion they are not too far way. The song is a boogie which finishes on a threatening note, before restarting a second time. Charlie Musslewhite provide superb lead harmonica on this song, which provides further variety to the song.

A Few Feet Away is a lullaby from Taylor to his daughter Casie who features prominently in the track as a vocalist herself and the tune is backed with tasteful use of the cornet and cello from Ron Miles and Zach Miskin respectively. While Long Long Life has some very entertaining interplay between piano and cornet. They Wore Blue is a song written about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina which follows a complicated arrangement, whilst Love and Hesitation is far more simple: It features both Taylor and Moore and the overall product blurs the distinctions between blues and rock.

The lyrics on the album are simple but effective. An example of this is the closing track Lifetime to Freedom with the message that freedom is more important the material possessions.

From this release it does appear that freedom is a mantra for Otis Taylor. He has freed himself from the dangers of repetition sadly quite often apparent in the blues. Instead he has brought together a bold and ambitious set of songs, which really do demonstrate that old dogs can indeed keep on performing new tricks.