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
