Otis Taylor

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Otis Taylor grew up in Denver, but like the old blues song said, he was born in Chicago in 1948. According to Taylor his parents were both jazz fans, “My dad worked for the railroad and knew a lot of jazz people. He was a socialist and real bebopper." His mother loved everything from Etta James to Pat Boone. The first instrument Taylor learned to play with the banjo for its association with the racist American South. Taylor would eventually return to the banjo upon discovering its African roots. Like so many musicians in Denver, Taylor drew inspiration from time spent at the Denver Folklore Center founded by Harry Tuft, where he first heard Piedmont, Delta, country, and Chicago blues artists like Son House, Muddy Waters, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. He learned to play guitar and harmonica and while still in his teens he formed a band called the Butterscotch Fire Department and later the Otis Taylor Blues Band. A brief sojourn to London in the late 1960s earned Taylor a contract with Blue Horizon Records. Disappointed that they didn’t share the same vision, they parted ways and Taylor returned to Boulder where he played with various artists including Tommy Bolin, Zephyr, and the 4-Nikators. As the music and the business changed, Taylor turned away from public performances in 1977 and developed a thriving career as an expert in high-end antiques. During the twenty years he was out of the mainstream music business he also helped organize, coach, and fund one of the first African American bicycle racing teams that eventually ranked 4th in the United States. In 1995 at the urging of Kenny Passarelli (inducted into the Hall in 2017 and renowned bass player for Elton John and Joe Walsh’s Barnstorm) Taylor kicked off his return to performing at the opening of Buchanan’s coffeehouse on University Hill in Boulder, joined by Passarelli and former Zephyr guitarist Eddie Turner. Audience response was so strong that it served as a catalyst for Taylor’s return to…

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