Roomful+of+blues

Some changes for the better. Piccolo has emerged as a dapper little songwriter, and his earthbound vocals get a needed lift from harmonies by ensemble members and an evangelic quintet called 14 Karat Soul. The band sound is now cut from an early-day rock 'n' roll cloth, which elevates drummer John Rossi to prominence alongside the lately crackerjack horn section.

"Go Back Home to the Blues" is the second Knickerbocker All-Stars record, building on the enthusiastically received "Open Mic at the Knick". Once again the deep pool of New England blues talent has provided knockout versions of blues and R&B classics, this time adding some new songs which are perfect fits stylistically. The Knickerbocker All-Stars are celebrated veterans and masters of their craft. Original Roomful of Blues members and other Roomful alumni, members of the Duke Robillard Band, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, and vocalists Willie J. Laws and Brian Templeton all make a powerful blend, and among them they've garnered literally dozens of BMA and Grammy nominations. The songs are characteristic of the ones played in the heyday of the Knick, first done by early Roomful influences Bobby Bland, Freddie King, Guitar Slim, Cleanhead Vinson, and many others, and this crew reanimates them with authority.

Best known as the founder of Roomful of Blues and for his short stint with the Fabulous Thunderbirds (replacing Jimmie Vaughan), Duke Robillard had only released two blues albums between 1996 and 2002. Although he was awarded the W.C. Handy Best Blues Guitarist award for 2000 and 2001 and his tireless road work always included plenty of stinging solos, Robillard left the jazz and worldbeat tangents behind for this welcome return to his first love. Those who have followed Robillard's career know that he's never been tied to one style, and Living With the Blues highlights his eclectic talents. Robillard crackles on everything here, from the straight-ahead Chicago approach of Willie Dixon by way of Muddy Waters' "I Live the Life I Love" to the Roomful-styled hard swing of the obscure Willie Egans' "I'm Mad About You Baby" to the acoustic treatment of Tampa Red's "Hard Road" and the jump blues of his own "Sleepin' on It" (reprised from the Roomful years).

Texas Rhody Blues, featuring Jimmie Vaughan and Duke Robillard, is the third Knickerbocker All-Stars CD release. The project was supported by the Knickerbocker Music Center, a non-profit organization formed in partnership with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. The Knickerbocker Music Center will have an exciting performance venue and an exceptional center for music education. This CD has its roots in The Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals of the late 1950s and early ‘60s which turned many white soul searchers on to blues, rhythm and blues, and jump blues. In 1963, Blues at Newport was recorded live at the Newport Folk Festival, which featured many of the greatest folk and delta blues musicians.

In 1967 Duke Robillard formed “Roomful of Blues”. Ten years later their self titled first album was released, and although Duke Robillard left in 1979, he began the band that is still in existence today. Count Basie once called them “the hottest blues band I’ve ever heard.” Duke Robillard then formed the Pleasure Kings and in 1990 joined the Fabulous Thunderbirds as Jimmy Vaughan’s replacement. After leaving the T-Birds two years later Duke continued to perform and record as The Duke Robillard Band. He is a four time Handy award winner as Best Blues Guitarist…

Rounder's four-CD Box of the Blues is, by looking at its inclusion of tracks, seemingly an ambitious proposition. But looks can be deceiving. Compiled and introduced by vice president of A&R Scott Billington - a man whose credentials, when it comes to fighting for and preserving blues traditions, are unassailable - these discs become a kind of theme-oriented blur of Rounder's substantial catalog holdings. Billington's schemata are quirky, sometimes ironic, and sometimes downright scary and profound as the set's first and second discs' "61 Highway" and "One More Mile" attest. The first CD concentrates its energies on the revelation of blues as it came up from the Mississippi Delta in the music of Fred McDowell, Johnny Shines, Etta Baker, Blind Willie McTell, John Hurt, and others and mutated up north to Chicago with Otis Spann, Robert Nighthawk, and others…

Six time 'Blues Award' winner Duke Robillard is one of the most respected blues and roots music guitarists working today. Guests on Blues Full Circle include Jimmie Vaughan, Sugar Ray Norcia and Kelley Hunt. Robillard has worked with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Roomful Of Blues, Fabulous Thunderbirds and dozens of blues legends. “On Blues Full Circle, Duke Robillard slams out the blues like the all-time great he is, with impeccable support.”