Life Stories

Though Ebo Taylor had been a living legend in his home country for decades, many people outside of Ghana first became aware of him after Love and Death, his first international release, came out in 2010. But he’d been composing, arranging, and gigging for close to fifty years at that point, so once curiosity was triggered there was a lot of catching up to do. Good job Strut was there to put together this in depth retrospective, which collects many of the gems from Taylor’s heyday as well as lesser-known tracks he made with his many side projects (and collaborators like Apagya Show Band, CK Mann, and Pat Thomas). “Life Stories” is a great introduction to Taylor and his music, and really gives you an idea of the breadth of styles he mastered, from the big-band sounds of his early days, all the way to calypso, Afrobeat, funk, and highlife.