Rating:
Genre:
New Age
Release Date: 09/05/2006
Folks may think
George Winston is a little late on his benefit record for the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. They're wrong. This record will be issued a week after the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and in the middle of hurricane season. The sheer amount of work and money needed to rehab the region is so astronomical it'll never be too late.
Winston is donating all of his proceeds to the certain organizations around the region, and the label has pledged its "net profits." These are two different things, but on to the music. The bottom line here is that
Winston proves he can shake it on this set. He's not
James Booker, whose
"Pixie" he covers wonderfully here. Nor is he "Fess" (
Professor Longhair),
Dr. John (a cover of
"Creole Moon" is on this set), or his friend
Henry Butler -- whose crib in the Lower Ninth Ward got wiped out by Katrina. But he can play this music, and his own compositions are soulful, direct, and loaded with aural imagery from the Big Easy tradition and that's what counts. His read of
"Creole Moon" may not possess the loose, joyous, funky butt swing of
Dr. John's ballad, but it does contain plenty, plenty soul; as an interpreter,
Winston coaxes some of the more sophisticated compositional aspects of the tune out through the
blues. Likewise,
"Pixie" is a bit more formal than the fluid jump of
Booker's version, but
Winston gets the spirit across and kicks it into high
blues stride. He composed his own extrapolation of the cut as well, called
"Pixie #3 (Gôbajie)" the latter named after his cat. Apparently there will be a "Pixie #4 (Gôbajie)" on a future disc. His
blues is very pronounced and strident, perhaps too hard an argument, but it moves nonetheless. The best of the covers is
Butler's
"The Breaks"; he nails it. His interpretation is different and leans heavily on the left hand, but it's got the
funk. His own short
ballads and the brief
"Stevenson" are lovely in their way, relaxed and engaging simultaneously.
"When the Saints Go Marching In" offers the single greatest testament to
Winston's technical and soulful abilities, and he gives the tune an extended workout nearly 12-minutes long. His middle register playing is deep
blues brined in
stride-style
boogie-woogie with a gorgeously long intro. The album closes with
"Blues for Fess," a New Orleans elegy that comes whispering out of the gate and keeps its quiet dignity, even while caressing the
blues. This is perhaps the most engaging
Winston album ever, and the single one anyone who's ever been interested in him should own.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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