Otis Taylor: Contraband

★★★★

The “groove-oriented blues and fascinating arrangements” on this album could only come from Otis Taylor, said Frank Alkyer in DownBeat. Taylor is “a thinking-man’s bluesman with a voice of deep emotion and soul,” and he’s created a raw sound here that suits his themes—love and the devil, who thwarts love at every turn. This is a survivor’s album: Taylor returned to recording in the 1990s after spending time as an antiques dealer, and he recently underwent surgery to remove a cyst attached to his liver and spine. Fans will recognize the “textural strangeness” of Taylor’s approach to the blues, said Thom Jurek in AllMusic.com. His guitar and banjo are accompanied here by instruments as diverse as cornet and djembe, while his lyrics—delivered in a distinctive cadence—explore “race, class, and interpersonal relationships in unusual ways.” The sum sounds like no blues you’ve heard, and like all blues in spirit.

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