DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE - OTIS TAYLOR
Taylor continues his extraordinary string of recordings with “Definition of a Circle,” his seventh album in as many years. His music grows from a distinctively personal vision that is at once mindful of the blues tradition and thoroughly unencumbered by it. He has returned the banjo to the blues idiom — he plays the instrument on almost every track on the record — and has created a body of original work that sounds like nothing else. Here he adds such instruments as coronet, cello and piano, artfully embellishing a sound that always has been rich and shadowy. Make note of the exquisite arrangement on “Few Feet Away” and the mighty groove of “Little Betty” and “Something in Your Back Pocket.” Also check out daughter Cassie Taylor, who has come of age on bass guitar and vocals. (Telarc Records) Billboard
