Duke is the most consistently damn good blues player on the planet.
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He's released about five of the most high lauded albums in the last five years and on top of that, continues to produce some fine records for a ton of people. However, this release along with his more jazzy-blues release from last year seem to be his real niche. Tapping into the rhythm and blues charts of the 40s and 50s is where the Duke is at home and actively creates, pulling from the obscure and the well known. Conjuring thoughts of a young B.B. King or a young Ike Turner or Eddie Vinson, Wynonie Harris, or Roy Brown; Duke funnels those guitar themes effortlessly back into the popular blues consciousness with each subsequent release and hasn't ever faltered. The Duke of the Blues is still firmly holding the standards high for all those who choose to call themselves a blues guitarist.
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This is a classy Bourbon Street band singing
fourteen American classics including "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea",
"I Got It Bad" featuring Novick on alto sax and "You're My Thrill". Producer
Robillard is on his game and Sunny's soft and warm demeanor matches the spirit
of the tunes making them believable and fun.
We should thank Robillard for reprising and reinventing classic American music in an age when real musicianship gets short shrift while shallow theatrics can earn you a stint on American Idol. Call me cranky, but I'd rather swing.
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For his latest release in a long association with Canada's Stony Plain label, guitarist and singer Duke Robillard digs deep into the American songbook of jazz classics and throws in a couple of original instrumentals for good measure.
A Swingin' Session does much more than spotlight Robillard's nimble guitar work and nuanced vocals. Backed by his longtime bandmates and some former Roomful of Blues colleagues, Robillard directs the spotlight just as often on the horns and keyboards. Like one of his heroes, Duke Ellington, Robillard plays his band like an instrument, and that comes naturally for these dozen players who share an affinity for the place where jazz meets blues. Many of these musicians hail from Robillard's Rhode Island stomping grounds, including such familiar names as Gordon Beadle (tenor and baritone sax), Al Basile (cornet), Scott Hamilton (tenor sax), and Carl Querfurth (trombone).
The songs come from familiar sources, but they're not necessarily well known to modern listeners, so the setlist sounds fresh. Ray Charles' "Them That Got" features great piano work by Bruce Katz, and Basile's muted cornet punctuates Irving Berlin's "The Song Is Ended." Robillard's charisma as a vocalist shines, especially on the Charles number.
Blues and jazz scholars might pore over the obscure song selections and Robillard's approach to the arrangements, but none of that matters to the people who go to his shows. What makes this material work is what happens on the dance floor when a band swings this hard. We should thank Robillard for reprising and reinventing classic American music in an age when real musicianship gets short shrift while shallow theatrics can earn you a stint on American Idol. Call me cranky, but I'd rather swing.
A tour-de-force, World Full of Blues, solidifies that Duke Robillard is a man charged with creative talent causing him to birth unique blues. Robillard is a man in his prime hour.
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His playing skills are legendary; so is his ability to tour practically non-stop. He has a label that has managed to promote him effectively worldwide and he has released over a dozen albums through them.
He has sessioned with the best of them, including Maria Muldaur, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, John Hammond and dearly missed legends Jay McShann, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Roscoe Gordon and Long John Baldry.
On his new double-disc release he is backed by an impressive collection of players, his regular lineup and special guests "Sugar" Ray Norica on harmonica and Al Basile on cornet among others. A tour-de-force, World Full of Blues, solidifies that Duke Robillard is a man charged with creative talent causing him to birth unique blues. Robillard is a man in his prime hour.
Duke Robillard hits another one out of
the ballpark as his 16th album for
Stony Plain turns the clock back to
the rockin’ R&B of the ’40s and ’50s
Duke Robillard’s long and amazingly fruitful relationship with Stony Plain Records has
produced some astonishing music — and his latest for the label adds horns and digs deep into
the riotous, raunchy, rockin’ ’40s and ’50s R&B that helped launch rock and roll.
One of the most versatile and accomplished guitarists playing today, Robillard has
always been fascinated by the roots of American popular music — and he’s tackled everything
from blues to the classic American songbook to jazz guitar duets, rock-influenced trios, small and
big band swing recordings. Stomp! The Blues Tonight is certainly different from anything else Robillard has recorded
for the Edmonton, Alberta-based label. Adding a strong horn section on many of the tracks —
anchored by long-term colleagues Doug James on baritone and tenor, and Rich Lataille on tenor
and alto — makes sure that tunes like “Stomp the Blues Tonight”, “Do Me Right”, ”Look and
Don’t Touch”, “Tore Up” and “Playful Baby” roar out of your speakers. A rock solid rhythm
section, and Bruce Bears’ inspired piano playing gives the tunes the lift they need.
The 16 tracks combine songs associated with the great vocalists of that era — Wynonie
Harris, Roy Milton, Big Joe Turner and more — with originals that are perfectly in the pocket.
The tunes also reflect the shift when saxophone-dominated bands changed to accommodate the
electric guitar as the lead instrument. The album also acknowledges the rise of the female singer
in the late ’40s — and vocalist Sunny Crownover certainly channels Helen Humes’ classic song,
“Million Dollar Secret” and “Hands Off”, a tune associated with Kansas City pioneer Jay
McShann.
And there’s also a revival of “Money’s Getting Cheaper” — a song for the New
Depression if ever there was one. Originally popularized by Charles Brown, it became a staple in
the repertoire of Jimmy Witherspoon, with a different title, “Time’s Getting Tougher than
Tough.”
COVERING THE BASES IN A MUSICIAN’S BASIC BIOGRAPHY
Any biographical summary of Duke Robillard has to cover a lot of ground. In no particular
order:
• His legendary playing skills as one of the most versatile guitarists on the planet. He’s
also a smooth, intimate and engaging singer.
• That he’s also a session player who’s recorded with Bob Dylan, Maria Muldaur, Dr. John,
John Hammond, and sorely-missed legends such as Jay McShann, Ruth Brown, Jimmy
Witherspoon, Rosco Gordon and Long John Baldry. Oh, yes, and he’s also toured with
Tom Waits.
• The W.C. Handy Awards have named Robillard “Best Blues Guitarist” no less than four
times, B.B. King says “Duke’s one of the great players;” the Houston Post called him “one
of God’s guitarists.”
Robillard had his first band in high school, and was fascinated from the beginning by the ways in
which jazz, swing, and the blues were linked. In 1967, still a teenager, he formed Roomful of
Blues, and the band was tight enough and tough enough to accompany two of his heroes, Big Joe
Turner and Eddie ”Cleanhead” Vinson on record and in live appearances.
Roomful of Blues — which still continues, 40 years on — gave Duke his first exposure to
a wide public, and when he left after a dozen years, he played briefly with rockabilly king Robert
Gordon, then cut two albums with the Legendary Blues Band (a sterling group of former
members of Muddy Waters’ bands). He led his own group until 1990, then replaced Jimmie
Vaughan in the Fabulous Thunderbirds, before fronting his own band once again.
THE ROAD, IN YOUR TOWN AND JUST
ABOUT EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD
A glance at Duke Robillard’s discography over the last 15 years since he signed with Stony Plain
in 1993 would suggest that this is a man who lives in the recording studio.
It’s a fact that he has learned to make excellent-sounding recordings in his Rhode Island
studio — and make them both fast and economically, without sacrificing a fraction of musical
quality.
This allows him to spend most of his time on tour — he’s a veteran “road dog” who has
played as many as 300 live shows a year, rivaling the legendary tour schedules of Buddy Guy
and B.B. King in his younger days. Robillard travels literally from Montreal to Moscow, from
Brazil to Barcelona, and from London, England to London, Ontario.
Now, with this CD — his 16th for the Edmonton-based label — Robillard has
demonstrated yet again the freshness of his approach to the roots of American music.
This is great, honking, squawking, sax and guitar driven music. The early years of R&B
saw the making of fabulous American music, and the new CD is proof you can recreate the past,
twist it up a bit, make it sound as tough as it used do
Play Stomp! The Blues Tonight as loud as your speakers go. Oh, yes, and dance!
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