Gene Taylor Trio & James Harman

JAMES HARMAN was born and raised in Anniston, Alabama-quickly picked up on the black blues and soul music being played on juke boxes and the radio-sang in the church choir until age 16 when his family moved to Panama City Florida, where he found himself surrounded by like-minded blues lovers. Wearing a fake moustache, young James slipped into a still quite segregated black nightclub to see Little Junior Parker’s show. He was totally overtaken by the blues and soon became a regular, known as "That boy who sings like a man" by patrons.

While still in his teens, he started playing juke joints and dance clubs throughout the South. His performances became legendary-he was "tapped" by talent scouts, signed and taken to Atlanta, Georgia in 1964 to begin his recording career at age 18. He had a series of nine singles (45 RPM records) released during the mid to late 60's on obscure southern labels. He tried several restarts in new home bases including Chicago in '65-New York in '66-Miami in '68 and New Orleans in '69.


TAYLOR began his musical training as a drummer at age eight but two years later he had picked up both the guitar and his initial piano skills from boogie-woogie pianist-neighbours. Around the age of 16 he began working with some of the big names in the West Coast blues scene including Big Joe Turner and T-Bone Walker. In the mid-seventies he joined the James Harman Band and had a stint as pianist for boogie group Canned Heat between November 1974 and May 1976. From 1981 to 1984 he toured with The Blasters, and in 1986 finally recorded his first solo album, Handmade. His The Return of the Formerly Brothers recorded with Amos Garrett and Doug Sahm in 1987 won a Juno Award the following year.

From 1993 to 2007 Taylor played with The Fabulous Thunderbirds amongst various other projects. He recorded an eponymous second solo album for Pacific Blues in 2003 partly accompanied by James Harman and Bill Bateman. This album included a version of the boogie piano classic "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie".