Artist

Mick Taylor

United Kingdom • b. 1949

Mick Taylor is a musician from United Kingdom, active since 1949. Their discography on Gatefold includes 5 records.

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5

Albums tracked

1

In collections

1949

Since

Biography

There are several artists with this name: 1) Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor (born 17 January 1949 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1966–69) and The Rolling Stones (1969–74). "He is regarded by many Stones aficionados as the best musician ever to play with the band, and appeared on some of their classic albums including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Goat's Head Soup" (The Guardian article, Nov 2012).

The Arc of Mick Taylor

The pivots — what forced Mick Taylor to reinvent.

  1. The Bluesbreakers Apprenticeship

    John Mayall acted as a finishing school for Taylor, pushing him to bridge the gap between traditional Chicago blues and the emerging British heavy rock sound. On 'Crusade,' you hear a teenager playing with the poise of a veteran, utilizing a pure, unadulterated tone that avoided the fuzz-box trends of the era. This period was defined by rigid discipline and nightly improvisation that sharpened his ability to play melodic leads over shifting blues structures. It was the foundation that made him a professional before he was legally old enough to drink in the clubs he was headlining.

  2. The Golden Age of the Stones

    When Brian Jones washed out, Taylor brought a structural integrity to the Rolling Stones that allowed them to move from pop-rock into sprawling, country-inflected masterpiece territory. Jimmy Miller’s production on 'Sticky Fingers' caught Taylor’s slide guitar at its peak, particularly on 'Sway' and 'Moonlight Mile,' where his lyrical phrasing acted as a counterpoint to Jagger’s grit. This wasn't just rhythm and riffing anymore; it was a dual-guitar weave where Taylor took the heavy lifting of the solos, allowing Keith Richards to focus on the rhythmic 'open-G' pocket. The tension between his technical perfection and the band’s loose sloppiness created the most fertile period in their entire discography.

  3. The Session Specialist

    After walking away from the biggest band in the world, Taylor retreated into high-level session work and under-promoted solo efforts. His work on Bob Dylan’s 'Infidels' in 1983 showed he hadn't lost his touch, providing a sharp, biting edge to Mark Knopfler’s clean production style. He became the guy you called when you needed a record to sound 'expensive' without losing its soul, appearing on tracks for everyone from Suzanne Vega to Carla Olson. While his solo career lacked the marketing muscle of his Stones years, his playing remained terrifyingly consistent, characterized by a weathered, mature touch that favored space over speed.

Influences

  • Freddie King — Taylor has repeatedly cited King’s sharp, piercing attack as his primary blueprint for blues phrasing. You hear it in the aggressive, top-end bite of his solos on the 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!' live tracks. He took King's high-register stings and smoothed them out with his own fluid legato.
  • B.B. King — The economy of movement and the heavy emphasis on vibrato came straight from B.B.’s playbook. Taylor’s ability to hold a single note and make it sing for four bars on 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' is a direct extension of the 'Live at the Regal' school of thought. It’s about vocalizing through the wood and wire.
  • Albert King — The massive, multi-step string bends that define Taylor’s lead style are rooted in Albert King’s southpaw technique. Taylor used the extra tension of his 1959 Les Paul to mimic those wide, crying bends found on 'Born Under a Bad Sign.' He focused on the physical weight of the note, just like Albert.
  • Muddy Waters — The slide guitar work on 'Exile on Main St.' is a direct homage to the Delta-to-Chicago transition Muddy perfected. Taylor took the raw, acoustic slide language and electrified it through a cranked Ampeg SVT. It’s the dirt beneath the fingernails of his otherwise polished technique.
  • Django Reinhardt — Taylor’s melodic sensibility often leaned toward jazz-inflected runs that mirrored Reinhardt’s chromaticism. You can hear this in his acoustic work and the more adventurous, non-pentatonic scales he slipped into Stones jams. He was looking for a sophistication that went beyond the standard three-chord shuffle.

Discography

Their records — most-collected first.

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