March
2003
The
Rockin' Highliners Sputnik
Café Severn 18
When this group left Edmonton for Toronto, they had three jump/swing blues CD's under their belt and a solid and growing reputation as a performing unit. Then, very little was heard for a long while. Now they have re-surfaced as a very good blues/roots rock band with an American record deal. The lineup is the same and I would like to report that the re-tooling has been huge success. The model they've chosen is the late, lamented Blasters, the Los Angeles band formed by Dave & Phil Alvin that broke up for solo careers in the late `80's. In this they have almost been too successful as Robert Tycholis' vocals have now acquired rather too many of Phil Alvin's mannerisms. But that is a minor quibble indeed. As before, this is one democratic band, everyone contributes to the performances from the songwriting on down the line and the songwriting is excellent. There isn't one filler in the bunch, even choosing highlights is tough but "Quiet Man" is an excellent slow blues. Greg "Junior" Demchuk adds some fine harp to "What I Like Best". Clayton Sample & Demchuck on guitars supply that Howling Wolf sound as if they'd been playing it all their lives with Ken McMahon and Chris Byrne holding down that even lower bottom. Severn session keyboard man Benjie Porecki supplies some tasty fills in an exemplary production by David Earl & Steve Gomes. I can't wait to see this band live!
Dylan Wickens Band Fall Down Go Boom DWP SPP 0003
Guitarist Wickens is one of our younger generation of players, with his third CD. Flip Townson continues on sax with Harpo on bass and Greg Cooper on drums this time out. Wickens had five new songs ready with "Jump To Me Baby" being a rocker and Townson contributes "Tree's Blues", a sax-led instrumental with some nice Wickens guitar breaks. Townson then begins a version of "Everyday I Have the Blues" with some free blowing before this all-too-tired warhorse kicks in. "How Long Blues" is not credited to Leroy Carr but perhaps should have been. Songs like these often work wonderfully in a club setting, where the atmosphere can make all the difference. On CD, though, the competition is just too fierce and the skip button is just too close. "Enough (2)" is more original and quite good. T-Bone Walker is still a major influence and Wickens' guitar playing is strong throughout. Visit his web site at www.dwproject.tv.
The Stickmen Side One Orbit Room ORR0002
The Orbit Room, with its B3, has long been a fixture of this city's club scene and The Stickmen continue the tradition of organ-based funk purveyed by The LMT Connection and The Dexters. The Stickmen are all local session veterans, led by the unheralded Bernie Labarge on guitar and vocals, Brent Barkman at the keys, Gene Falbo, bass and ex-Downchild percussionist Jim Casson. Their sound is billed as "swampboogiestankfunk" and Side One is a half-hour, six-song effort with three songs in that style and three in a more pop-oriented but quite effective vein, with Labarge sounding very much like Stevie Winwood on vocals. Cassandra Vasik helps out on these. They play the Orbit every Friday and you can get the CD there or listen to samples of both the CD and their well recorded live sound at www.thestickmen.ca.
Various Artists Blues in the Park Vol.
1 Prospect PR0009
This CD "highlights Canadian entertainers from the Niagara Falls Canada Blues in the Park Festival". Five different acts get three songs each on this compilation. Niagara road warrior Steve Burnside did the compiling and produced some of the tracks. His three songs are from a forth-coming album as opposed to his recent The Blues Collection. "Something You Got" was a 1964 hit for Steve & The Marquis and is done here as a duet with Buffalo's Donna Rose and the re-united band. Next up is the recording debut of Gatorbait, a quartet led by Festival co-ordinator Max Hillier on harp with guitar/bass/drums. Melissa McGarry is the drummer and she takes the vocal on one of their three songs, "Start It Up", and I hope we hear more from her very soon. Ned Green and the Soul Players are 30-year veterans of Motown-styled local shows and Green does a fine job of his three songs, including a four-song James Brown Medley. This is also his first recording. As it is for Gil Hicks, a jazz-influenced singer/songwriter/guitarist originally from Louisiana with roots in the Stax sound. The Odyssey Blues Band close out the hour-long CD with three songs from Something Borrowed, Something Blue CD, featuring Suzanne Hyatt. This should be a very useful calling card for everyone involved and I certainly hope it leads to Volume 2. There is another on the way from the Peterborough area. For this one, contact prospectrecords@sympatico.ca.
Wes "The Bluesman" Mackey Second
Chance Bluesline BL02625
Vancouver's Wes Mackay is originally from South Carolina and toiled in the bands of Muddy Waters, Stevie Wonder and John Lee Hooker before leaving the music business for a few years. On the strength of this CD, he certainly deserves his second chance. It's a mix of band and solo tracks with four originals contributing to a laid back, modern soul/blues sound. The song "Second Chance", though, is about a second chance at love, one of the originals by Mackay and co-producer Laura Fisher, aided by lovely slide work from Peter Honeychurch. The three band tracks feature Robbie King on keys, Jack Lavin, bass, Darrell Mayes, drums and David Say, sax. Little Milton's "Lonely Man", BB's "Rock Me Baby" and the original "Solitary Midnight" are fine efforts with the overworked "Rock Me"'s arrangement coming up just a bit short. For the solo tracks, it appears Mackay uses a drum machine with his guitar in a one-man-band setup and on three of these Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne and Robbie King supply welcome piano/organ support. "Bluesman" and "Wham Bam" are fine songs, though, and I'm looking forward to future CD's. Check out www.bluesline.mu.
Duke Robillard & Herb Ellis More Conversations in Swing Guitar Stony Plain SPCD 1292/Warner
Ronnie Earl I Feel Like Goin' On Stony Plain SPCD 1289/Warner
Volume two from the legendary Robillard/Ellis session in 1999. Those of you with Volume one need read no further but for newcomers, this is the famous jazz guitarist joining Duke and his trio for six lengthy instrumental workouts, three of them Duke originals. Of these three: "Train To Texas" and "Blues for Terry" would satisfy any blues lover let alone any fan of guitar playing. For those of you who are jazz fans and especially if you enjoyed Duke's earlier jazz CD's these discs are a bonanza.
Also (almost) all instrumental, also amplified but this time rather more heavily, Mr. Earl also fronts a trio. Dave Limina plays keys (usually an organ), Jimmy Mouradian, bass and Lorne Entress, drums with Jose Alvarez guesting on second lead guitar on "Howling for my Darling". The music here is not anywhere near the blues/jazz line, being firmly in electric blues soloing style he's famous for and on that front he really outdoes himself here. The songs are varied, the solos consistently inventive, with nods to his heroes ("Blues for Otis Rush", "Wolf Dance") that are sources of inspiration and not simply copies. The "almost" refers to the gospel song "Mary Don't You Weep" with The Silver Leaf Singers front and center. It is a live-in-the-studio effort with minimal but effective solos from Earl that might seem out of place at first but matches the emotional level of the CD quite effectively. "Blues for the Homeless" is the slow burning centerpiece of this CD, eleven minutes plus of smoldering intensity. Word has it that Earl is not likely to tour any time soon so don't wait to catch this live. At almost seventy-five minutes this is truly electric blues guitar heaven.
John Primer Blue Steel Wolf 120.808/Allegro
Volume 60 (!) in this Austrian company's series of Chicago blues albums is a tribute to Elmore James. Primer was an excellent choice for this project in that he has one of the best slide guitar sounds in Chicago and he has gone to great lengths to re-create Elmore's tone. His smartest decision, though, was to hire Detroit Junior. This veteran's piano almost lets one forget Little Johnny Jones on the original recordings. In fact, The Real Deal Blues Band throughout the nine songs is so effective at replicating the records that I found myself missing Elmore's singing. Primer is a very good singer but he's not Elmore. There are fourteen songs here, though, and two are with Magic Slim dating from 10 and 15 years ago (one with slide) and three are not related to the Elmore tribute. One is a Johnny Littlejohn song and two are originals by Primer. Kudos must go to Steve Bell on harp and the late Little Bobby (Neely) filling in for J.T. Brown. At some sixty minutes of tough Chicago Blues, this a worthy addition to any collection, even with my reservations.
The Cash Box Kings Live at the King Club Blue Midnight
This is a youngish Chicago band, newly formed to play 40's & `50's vintage Chicago blues. With the exception of Kenny "Beady Eyes" Smith, Willie's son, the players are all unfamiliar to me. The live recording shows they can all play with enthusiasm and talent and they all sing (Kenny does "Hoochie Koochie Man") and I certainly will not avoid them when I'm there in June. They do have some original material that holds up quite well with the great songs of the era. Check out www.cashboxkings.com.
King Biscuit Postscript:
Thanks to John Larocca
, whom I spoke to at the King Biscuit Boy Tribute, I have more info on the Grange show that began last month's column. That band consisted of drummer Babe Myles, bassist Doug Carter and Earl Johnson (of Moxy fame) on guitar. Both Myles and Carter were in Newell's first band The Chessmen. But even better than that bailout for my failing memory, his email led me to the discovery that four songs from that lost third Daffodil album are on the Unidisc version of Badly Bent, The Best of King Biscuit Boy. They replace the two songs from the "Brown Derby" album, for which presumably they no longer had the rights. Confusingly, this CD has the same artwork as one of the two earlier versions and while it still has the excellent liner notes from Dave "Daddy Cool" Booth, it has little info on the four songs. "Steel Town Blues Wind & Rain", "Blues for Duffy's Tavern", "Caledonia River" and "Gotta be a Goodun" however make any duplication irrelevant. Incidentally, two of songs from these sessions, "Caledonia River" & "Deaf, Dumb, Crippled & Blind", were re-recorded for the "Brown Derby" album, should you be fortunate enough to own that LP.- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2003