Rock & Gem – April 2024

Dave Specter - Speculatin' (2000) Music

Posted by Designol at Nov. 21, 2024

Guitarist Dave Specter has always straddled the blues/jazz fence with a hip disregard for arbitrary restrictions. On Speculatin', his sixth Delmark CD, Dave has put his distinctive mark on a collection of outstanding instrumental tunes from all corners of these related genres, tossing in a latin beat and some greasy organ in addition to his unmistakable West Side and Texas-inspired blues licks. The result will please all lovers of lean, inspired guitar work and will astound the blues buyer who previously considered instrumentals to be mere CD filler. Speculatin' features nine original compositions and covers of tunes by Charles Earland, The Meters, Dizzy Gillespie and Junior Walker. Dave is accompanied by his working band of Rob Waters, Hammond B3 organ; Harlan Terson, bass; Mike Schlick, drums; and Rich Parenti, tenor sax.

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T-Bone Walker - The Talkin' Guitar (1990) Music

Posted by Designol at Aug. 22, 2024

Modern electric blues guitar can be traced directly back to this Texas-born pioneer, who began amplifying his sumptuous lead lines for public consumption circa 1940 and thus initiated a revolution so total that its tremors are still being felt today. Few major postwar blues guitarists come to mind that don't owe T-Bone Walker an unpayable debt of gratitude. B.B. King has long cited him as a primary influence, marveling at Walker's penchant for holding the body of his guitar outward while he played it. Gatemouth Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, Goree Carter, Pete Mayes, and a wealth of other prominent Texas-bred axemen came stylistically right out of Walker during the late '40s and early '50s.

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