Career
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he was raised in the state of Arkansas and moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1956. Inspired as a guitarist by Joe Willie Wilkins, he first recorded that year, backing harmonica player Birmingham Jones. In 1958, he began touring with Little Walter, and after seeing a jazz band perform was inspired to learn music formally at the Chicago School of Music.
He also began working with Howlin" Wolf, recording with him such notable blues classics as "Spoonful", "Back Door Manitoba" and "Wang Dang Doodle".
In the mid-1960s, he played with Rhythm & Blues singers Jerry Butler and Syl Johnson, before joining Ray Charles" band in Los Los Angeles While there, he recorded the instrumental "Black Fox", which became a minor popular hit reaching #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and # 29 on the Rhythm & Blues chart.
In the early 1970s, he worked with English blues bandleader John Mayall, playing on the album Jazz Blues Fusion, and recorded LPs with trumpeter Blue Mitchell. He also recorded two albums in his own name - At The Drive In and Office The Cuff, on which he was supported by Joe Sample and Wilton Felder of the Crusaders - for Enterprise, a subsidiary of Stax Records.
He also worked with Earl Gaines and Jimmy Rogers in the 1950s and 1960s, Monk Higgins and Stanley Turrentine in the 1970s, and Bobby Bland in the 1980s.
In addition to his studio and touring collaborations, Talib also recorded solo, re-emerging in 1994 with an album of his own compositions, The Real Thing at Last.