Make Room for the Blues

by Willie Kent

Overview

Blues bassist Willie Kent has strong, supple bottom lines that have supported all the best groups, but he's led his own band as well. This is his fourth Delmark date, and Kent heartily asserts himself as a singer, with a tone like Johnny Adams with a rougher edge. His equally excellent band features lead guitarists Bill Flynn and Jake Dawson alternating tracks, with rhythm guitarist Willie Davis, pianist Kenny Barker, and drummer James Carter. Baritone saxophonist/arranger Willie Henderson from the old Tyrone Davis band leads a three-piece horn section on three tracks. This 13-song program -- ten written by Kent -- comprises mostly classic 12-bar, IV-V-I blues changes. A hard-swinging "3-6-9," with Dawson's swift guitar and Baker's boogie piano, supports a bitch session for Kent. He is fairly believable on the B.B. King-styled "Address in the Street." Albert King's style is more prevalent on a long, loping eight-minute title track with horns, and the more R&B-ish "I'm Hooked," again with Flynn doing a Memphis soul style of interpreting. Flynn can also play tasty Elmore James-type slide as on the easy, lowdown "I Had a Dream." Most fun is the typical Chicago blues "Do You Love Me?," which jumps and jives with all the flavor and depth you expect from the real thing. The deepest emotion is in the slower numbers. "I Know Where You've Been" is patient, deliberate, and cocksure, while "Teach Me How to Lie" is a down-home contradiction that perfectly exemplifies what everyone has to/doesn't do in this convoluted society. Unquestionably a great modern blues document, and one of the best CDs of 1998. ~ Michael G. Nastos

Product Details

Release Date:	09/22/1998
Label:	DELMARK
UPC:	0038153072322

Tracks

1. Do You Love Me
2. Saturday Night
3. I Had a Dream
4. Make Room for the Blues
5. Teach Me How to Lie
6. 3-6-9
7. Help Me Make It
8. Address in the Street
9. I'm Hooked
10. I'm What You Need
11. Me and My Baby
12. I Know Where I've Been
13. Somebody Else

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Willie Kent   Primary Artist,Bass,Vocals
Ken Saydak   Piano (Electric)
Kenny Anderson   Trumpet
Willie Henderson   Sax (Baritone)
Kenny Barker   Piano
James Carter   Drums
Jake Dawson   Guitar
Will Davis   Guitar (Rhythm)
Hank Ford   Sax (Tenor)

Technical Credits

Ken Saydak   Guest Artist
Steve Wagner   Supervisor,Engineer,Producer
Bill Dahl   Liner Notes
Robert G. Koester   Producer,Supervisor
Willie Henderson   Horn Arrangements
Willie Kent   Composer
Al Brandtner   Design
Sterling D. Plumpp   Composer
Peter Amft   Photography