“I want to be remembered for my music, for my art and as Ebo Taylor the man.”
- Ebo Taylor (1936–2026)
Born in 1936 in Saltpond, Ghana, Taylor emerged from the highlife tradition, a genre rooted in palm-wine rhythms and Afro-Cuban influence and expanded it with jazz, funk, and African polyrhythms. Long before Afrobeat became a global movement, Taylor was shaping its DNA, crafting grooves that balanced sophistication with raw African identity.
Inspired by pioneers like E.T. Mensah, Taylor learned early that music could carry history, politics, and emotion all at once. 
Finding His Sound
In the early 1960s, Ebo Taylor moved to London on a government scholarship to study music. There, he connected with fellow African musicians in the diaspora, including Nigerian saxophonist Peter King and a young Fela Kuti. Their exchanges would prove transformative.
“Fela never understood why as Africans we like playing jazz; he wanted us to be ourselves, be original and tell our stories.”
Taylor recalled spending long hours with Fela listening to records, discussing African unity, and imagining a sound untethered from Western imitation. That philosophy became central to Taylor’s work: African music should be African first.
When Taylor returned to Ghana in the mid-1960s, he became in-house guitarist, arranger, and producer at Essiebons Records, one of West Africa’s most influential labels. Over the next decade, he recorded more than ten albums and helped shape projects by Pat Thomas, C.K. Mann, and Gyedu-Blay Ambolley. Essiebons became a creative hub for musicians across the region, powered by Taylor’s musical direction and meticulous ear.
Yet political upheaval and economic instability throughout the 1970s and ’80s stalled Ghana’s music industry. While Taylor’s influence spread quietly across West Africa, international recognition remained elusive.
Until the world finally caught up.
Decades later, crate diggers, DJs, and collectors rediscovered Taylor’s catalog. His tracks resurfaced in the growing global appetite for African funk and Afrobeat. Taylor, already in his seventies, suddenly found himself touring internationally and recording new material for a generation that had just discovered him.
He saw clear connections between his era and today’s afrobeats movement, noting how contemporary artists were returning to authentically African arrangements after years of heavy Western influence.
Even in his later years, Taylor never slowed creatively. He collaborated extensively with Tony Allen, the legendary drummer and longtime Fela associate, describing their sessions with awe:
After suffering a stroke in 2018, Taylor continued recording. In 2022, he performed in the United States for the first time. In 2024, he released his final album, Jazz Is Dead 022, with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, a closing statement that reaffirmed his relevance across generations.
Despite his late-life acclaim, Taylor never embraced celebrity. In Saltpond, he remained “Uncle Ebo.” He spoke often about loving the process more than the praise.
A Legacy That Lives On
Ebo Taylor passed away at 90, leaving behind a catalog that helped define Afrobeat, Ghanaian funk, and the foundations of modern African music.
He didn’t build an empire.
He built a language.
And that language continues to travel, through vinyl crates, dance floors, samples, and the pulse of African music worldwide.