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 Taylor played bass guitar in The Gamblers one of the first rock groups to play instrumental surf music Its personnel also included Elliot Ingber a future member of Frank Zappas Mothers of Invention Fraternity of Man and Captain Beefhearts The Magic Band Bruce Johnston half of the Bruce and Terry duo with Terry Melcher from 196266 and longtime sixth member of The Beach Boys for a time brother Mel Taylor and guitaristsongwriterbandleader Derry Weaver who would record and perform in several capacities during the early 1960s The Gamblers had a local hit in the Los Angeles area with Moon Dawg and Taylor played on the recording Taylor played bass for Jerry Lee Lewis in 1961 Taylor played bass on the majority of the albums produced by The Monkees including The Monkees 1966 More of the Monkees 1967 The Monkees Present 1969 Instant Replay 1969 and Changes 1970 He would play bass on their hit Last Train to Clarksville Taylor was asked to join Canned Heat in 1967 after receiving a phone call from member Henry Vestine to join on bass Taylor played with Canned Heat from 1967 to 1970 and appeared with them at various festivals including the Monterey International Pop Festival and Woodstock The bands manager Skip Taylor gave each member of the band a nickname connected to an animal Larrys 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 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 19701977 After the Bluesbreakers tours in 1977 Taylor played briefly with the Sugarcane Harris Band later called Pure Food and Drug Act When he left John Mayall in 1977 Taylor started studying playing upright bass Taylor became a leading exponent and practitioner of the acoustic upright bass in the contemporary blues scene He was quite prominently seen with his upright bass in the live blues film Lightning in a Bottle He started playing upright bass with Rod Piazza eventually cutting ties with him when Honey Piazza started getting involved as he thought that she couldnt play and she was horrible Larry Taylor died at his home in Lake Balboa Los Angeles on 19 August 2019 at the age of 77 after a 12year long battle with cancer He was survived by his wife Andrea and their three children