Duke Robillard - Blues Bash

This is a timely reminder that there is more to the blues than hard times. Blues can also be music that meets rock ‘n’ roll and R&B, jazz and swing. It’s foot stomping, finger snapping dance music. Duke Robillard is not only a great blues musician, but also a scholar, historian and curator of the blues. He’s Grammy nominated, and in a career stretching over five decades he has been five times the winner of the Blues Award. The album is full of energy and enthusiasm, with guest appearances from friends including vocalists Chris Cote and Michelle Wilson. Duke Robillard tells us his aim was to create a straight vintage style blues album, a blues party album, and he’s certainly achieved his goal. Recorded in two eight-hour sessions, there’s a spontaneity a to the recording that adds to the listening experience. It took me back to my days of listening to Electric Flag, Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, and Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry. Stand out tracks are ‘Ain’t Gonna Do It’ with its boogie woogie piano sound, and the wonderfully suggestive ‘You Played On My Piano’. The album finishes with a cool change of mood, the nine minute long track ‘Just Chillin’. The perfect party album. Shame we can’t throw one at the moment.

Track Listing:-

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 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'