Vinyl Vault — Johnny Taylor, “Wanted One Soul Singer”

The Vinyl Vault brings some soul to Tuesday night when we feature Johnny Taylor’s “Wanted One Soul Singer.” The album was released on Stax records in 1967 and was his first for that label and set the course of his career for the next several years.

Vinyl Vault is sponsored by Vinyl Me, Please

Taylor had been a protégé of Sam Cooke following his career path from gospel singer to secular soul singer and even replacing Cooke in a couple of bands. “Wanted” generated several medium hits and the following year, Taylor hit it big with “Who’s Makin’ Love.”

Although none of the tunes charted as big as “Who’s Makin’ Love,” the tracks on “Wanted” nevertheless hit the soul and funk bull’s eye. The tunes are a mixture of standards and compositions from Stax’s stable of writers. Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” got a funk treatment. The version here of the old country western hit “Sixteen Tons” has nothing in common with Tennessee Ernie Ford and “Blues in the Night” is the funkiest version on record.

The Stax house band was in full force for the album with Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr., and Booker T. Jones laying it down along with the Memphis Horns on most tracks.

Check out Johnny Taylor, soul singer on the next Vinyl Vault with Geoff Anderson, this Tuesday, August 16 at 8:30 pm, only on KUVO JAZZ, the Oasis in the City!

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