Blues Bash

by Duke Robillard

Overview

While the blues lie at the heart of everything Duke Robillard does, he is also an adept at jump, jazz, swing, and roots rock & roll. His desire for Blues Bash was simply "to make a straight vintage style blues album...danceable blues with plenty of bright-sounding Fender guitar like the blues records I bought when I was a kid...." To that end, he created a party atmosphere. He reunited with the original Roomful of Blues horn section (saxophonists Rich Lataille, Greg Piccolo, and Doug James), enlisted old friends, including vocalists Michelle "Evil Gal" Willson and Chris Cote, harp wizard Mark Hummel, stride piano great Mark Braun (aka Mr. B), a second horn section with cornettist Al Basile and tenor man Sax Gordon, and of course, his core band -- keyboardist Bruce Bears, drummer Mark Texiera, and bassists Jesse Williams or Marty Ballou. The music here is continuously joyous, loose, and raucous. Opener "Do You Mean It," with a killer vocal from Cote, is modeled on Ike Turner's original; Robillard goes to pains to emulate the composer's guitar tone and style. The horns swing like mad, and the stops underscore a ringing piano and kit shuffle while Robillard adds wicked whammy bar fills and a biting solo. Cote also delivers an inspired vocal on the rowdy cover of Roy Milton's jump blues "What Can I Do," which includes a fine duel/conversation between Lataille and Bears. Robillard reprises Al King's 1966 Sahara single "Everybody Ain't Your Friend," which he first recorded it in 2006 with Ronnie Earle and Jimmy McGriff for a Stony Plain compilation; he goes easy on the six-string pyrotechnics in favor of a punchy balance with the horns. Instrumental "Rock Alley" offers a deep, twanging guitar break and greasy dialogue with Piccolo's tenor. Willson lends her commanding vocal to the strolling "You Played on My Piano," underscored by a slippery Robillard guitar break and James' punchy baritone solo. "Ain't Gonna Do It" is pure NOLA R&B with the Basile/Gordon horns ablaze as Mr. B's piano pays homage to Huey Smith and Professor Longhair simultaneously while Robillard growls the lyric. Cote plays blues shouter to Robillard's canny evocation of his hero T-Bone Walker on "You Don't Know What You're Doin'" as gritty horns swing it on home. Set closer "Just Chillin'" is a ten-minute instrumental based in smoky, late-night jazz blues, fueled by Bears' sultry, humid B-3 -- his solo is a set highlight -- steamy, moaning tenor sax from Piccolo, and Robillard slipping and sliding along the fretboard in complete control of the band, to send Blues Bash off with a sly, satisfied grin. Fans can argue forever about which of Robillard's many albums is best, but Blues Bash, with its good-time vibe and relaxed approach, ranks among them. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	11/20/2020
Label:	Stony Plain
UPC:	0772532142328

Tracks

1. Do You Mean It
2. No Time
3. What Can I Do
4. Everybody Ain't Your Friend
5. Rock Alley
6. You Played on My Piano
7. I Ain't Gonna Do It
8. You Don't Know What You're Doin'
9. Give Me All the Love You Got
10. Just Chillin'

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Duke Robillard   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Mark Braun   Piano
Marty Richards   Drums
Marty Ballou   Bass (Acoustic),Bass (Electric)
Doug James   Sax (Baritone)
Mark Hummel   Harmonica
Jesse Williams   Bass (Acoustic),Bass (Electric)
Rich Lataille   Sax (Alto),Sax (Tenor)
Michelle Willson   Vocals,Featured Artist
Chris Cote   Vocals,Featured Artist
Greg Piccolo   Sax (Tenor)
Mark Teixeira   Drums
Bruce Bears   Piano,Organ (Hammond)
Bob Welsh   Piano

Technical Credits

Ed McConnell   Design
Ike Turner   Composer
Lefty Bates   Composer
Jack Gauthier   Photography
Duke Robillard   Composer,Producer
John Mailloux   Mastering
John Paul Gauthier   Engineer
Roy Milton   Composer
Dave Bartholomew   Composer
Al King   Composer
Holger Petersen   Executive Producer
Cy Coben   Composer
Dick Shurman   Liner Notes
Ace Adams   Composer
Horace Holmes   Composer
Pearl King   Composer