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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Fingers Taylor
Fingers Taylor
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Uptone
1 post
Nov 26, 2023
12:03 PM
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Greg “Fingers” Taylor passed away on Nov. 23. He is best known for his many years with Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.
I was a fan of Fingers since I was a kid in the 1970’s and saw him with Jimmy Buffett. Over the years I got to see him play many times at festivals and in clubs around MS. I always thought he was the perfect sideman, and when he was the main attraction he always put on a good show. I met him a few times in clubs, and he was always friendly and willing to talk for a few minutes. It is almost entirely his playing that made me interested in playing harmonica myself.
I’ve not seen much about Fingers on this forum, but he meant a lot to me and I thought he should be recognized.
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Slickone
13 posts
Nov 26, 2023
12:32 PM
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He was an excellent addition to Jimmy's sound
I know he had been sidelined with altzheimers for a while
Always founfd it interesting that unlike most players that played with " country folk style bands" he seemed to do most of his stuff crossharp
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Gabriel.Harmonic
100 posts
Nov 26, 2023
2:23 PM
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Blessings for Greg "Fingers" Taylor on his next journey. I only met him in person one time and otherwise it's been by association, as example he endorsed the original Sonny Jr 4 x 8" amps and Sonny Jr (whom I first met in 1976 same time as Fingers) would share with me. To the encounter though, which to me attests to the comments above referring to him as a nice person. It was 1976 (maybe '77 early) and Buffett was performing at the large Van Wezel (Purple Cow) theatre in Sarasota, FL (hometown). I had been playing 2 years on harp and had the notion that perhaps they would be doing a mid-day sound check and I could meet Greg. I went to the Theatre (close to home) and it was closed so I went to the back door......as I approached to see if it was open, out popped Fingers! I said hello and that I was a 2 year harp player (I was a teen) and loved his playing. We chatted and I had an A harp in my top pocket, played him a few licks to share my early ability. He asked for my harp, took a big drag from his cigarette and proceeded to WAIL out of my harp....smoke was billowing out of the harp and I did not smoke (ugh) but did not care at all. I could not grasp the huge level of volume he was able to produce from my Marine Band. Then he invited me inside and took me on stage (the place was empty except some stage hands since sound check was done) and he showed me his Green Bullet mic with added volume control, plugged into his Super Reverb. The whole experience was inspirational, encouraging and I knew I better keep practicing. At that point I was 2 hrs. per day but I jumped it 4 hrs. per day. They let him really blow on some extended solos for the show. The next day I bought a Green Bullet and the music Store guitar tech installed a VC. Within a week or so I found a Super Reverb used and that was my rig until 1978 when I met Norton Buffalo and he show me his rig....Tweed Pro, Reverb Unit, Shure 545S mic so I switched over. Within the next year I moved to Cali and was able to help launch a band a go full-time pro. Fingers, Norton, Peter "Madcat" Ruth, Charlie McCoy....similar experiences with all of these, they seemed to like helping a next younger generation player. If anyone is not familiar beyond Fingers being the first and original member of Jimmy Buffet's band, check out any of his solo albums, some great Straight Up Chicago Blues and other great harp playing on all. Peace & Prayers for Greg Taylor.
Last Edited by Gabriel.Harmonic on Nov 26, 2023 2:27 PM
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Slickone
14 posts
Nov 28, 2023
5:20 AM
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Great story,thanks for sharing
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mpharpsax
57 posts
Jan 04, 2024
11:21 AM
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Great story, Gabriel.
I met Fingers in the mid-80s at an SF Giants game in Candlestick Park. I knew that Jimmy Buffet was playing a post game concert. I looked in my binoculars (I was such a baseball and music nerd) and saw Fingers and some of the band sitting in the bleachers. I walked out and introduced myself and only remember that he was a nice, gracious cat—RIP
Norton Buffalo was also very nice and encouraging to me too.
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Michael Peloquin
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