Rating:
Genre:
Blues
Release Date: 10/17/2006
It's East coast meets West coast as the swinging, jazzy
jump style most associated with California
blues gets roughed up with a shot of Memphis
R&B, courtesy of
Jackie Payne's gutsy vocals. Bring in
the Sweet Meat Horn Section horns (
Carl Green on tenor and alto sax and trumpet player
John Middleton) for a finger-popping time and the result is a consistently engaging platter without any soft spots. Although
Steve Edmonson is a fine if slightly laid-back guitarist, this really is singer
Payne's show. His voice swells, bellows and hits the sweet upper register like
Al Green, but also has the ability to shift into a salty growl similar to that of
Bobby "Blue" Bland. He makes even standard issue fare such as the lazy shuffle of
"Woman in Kansas City" sound vital, if not quite electrifying. It's natural to compare the
soul singer/guitar slinger duo to that of
Anson Funderburgh and the late
Sam Myers as well as
Smokin' Joe Kubek with
Bnois King, and both are somewhat appropriate but not entirely correct. This is really
soul music with a shot of
blues, compared with the opposite for the other twosomes. All but four tracks are band originals (interestingly credited to all four members), with covers of material from
O.V. Wright (
"A Nickel and a Nail"),
Eddie Floyd (
"Just the One"), and
Brook Benton (
"I'll Take Care of You"), all of whom are obvious influences on
Payne's vocals. The liner notes point out the similarity in the relationship between
Edmonson as
Steve Cropper supporting
Payne's
Otis Redding, and there are certainly analogies there. Regardless, this is a successful collaboration that hits all the right notes and yields one of the finest
soul/
blues albums of 2006.
Payne is a real find and any fan of the genre will thrill to his fiery performance here.
~Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide
;)
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