For the Newsday obituary, click here. To add your comment, please scroll to the bottom of this page. LI and the world have lost a giant. Bluzman has passed yet he will live forever. Sam came home to LI after years in LA and Tucson and it was here that he started. A humble man, you wouldn't know he was a legend unless you specifically asked and then Sam would tell you tales taller than the Moon. He was born in Alabama and was raised by family in Brooklyn. Boxing was his first love and he was good "Golden Gloves" good. So good that he left when bookies started to hassle him to throw fights to make bigger bets on the next fight. Inducted into the USAF, Sam was stationed at the old Westhampton AFB and was soon a fixture in the rough and ready world of blues in the none too genteel black neighborhoods around Riverhead. You played good or you got a chair upside your head he once told me. From The Bluebird Lounge, Sam took the stage at Harlem's Apollo Theater where he made his debut leading Maxine Brown's band. He took that roadshow all around the Chitlin circuit until fate would have it that Sam was lead guitar in the first integrated band, Joey Dee and the Starlighters. He hit big time with them as "Peppermint Twist" stormed the national airwaves. He later played with Sam and Dave, the Isley Brothers and Otis Redding and Taylor was a stable writer in the Brill Building but left music when the royalties went elsewhere and he got the goose egg. No stranger to hard work, Sam was an electrician at the Brooklyn Naval Yard and narrowly avoided a fatal fire on one of the ships. The siren call of music kept whispering and Sam again took on the world as The BT Express rode the disco wave to hit city with Sam's "Do It 'til You're Satisfied". LA turned into a nightmare that Sam narrowly escaped, scarred by drugs and the now nearly lethal heart disease. His life came back in Tucson where a warm, loving community took Sam on as its own and clean living rebuilt his health. A big voice in the sand, Sam released many records there but something was missing and only Long Island with his family and friends could fill that void. Rediscovered by his minions at Funky Phish jams, Taylor was home and bathed in the adulation that he deserved. The Sam Taylor Band took their rightful place on top of the bluesworld first from the stage of Paula Jean's and later at Bobbique. In demand, European tours and Western jaunts filled in the time but he was home here. A staple of blues festivals, a prolific writer and mentor to many in the burgeoning blues scene of the 90s, Sam left his mark wherever he went and used many medias to do it. His book, Caught In the Jaw of the Blues is a stream of consciousness piece of history that you should read. Sam was a staple on Friday mornings from his seat in the DJ booth on WUSB's "Blues With A Feeling" radio show with his partners in crime Mario Staiano and Rich L'Hommedieu. Sam acted in Tapeheads with Tim Robbins and Jon Cusack, was a featured teacher of the blues in the AMC show Into Character and was biographied in the DVD film Unscrubbed - The Story of Sam Bluzman Taylor. Late in life, the accolades finally started with his induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1995, his well deserved honor as a member of the LI Music Hall of Fame's first class of inductees in 2006 and a lifetime achievement award from the LI Blues Society. Sam made the Riverhead Blues Festival his own party as his yearly sets brought Bluebird pals like Big Al, Little Curtis and Maxine Brown to the east end for some down home and his sets at Cedar Beach Blues Fest were jams of renown on the Sound. The ravages of a bluesman's life, diabetes and heart problems took their toll but Sam kept it going with his Wednesday regular gigs and like a mighty oak, his acorn mentorees will keep the flame burning. We'll miss you Bluzman, but you keep the jam hot up there and we'll keep you in our hearts down here. Mark "Doc Blues" Gresser President, Long Island Blues Society January 5, 2009