Roomful+of+blues

The Knickerbocker All Stars are a group of extremely talented blues musicians who have been in the business for decades. Members of the band have played with such notable performers as Freddie King, Robert Cray, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roomful of Blues as well as their own bands. Sunday night at the Knickerbocker Café in Westerly, RI featured the Roomful of Blues in the 1970’s and early 80’s. It quickly became the hottest social event in the area. Duke Robillard, the legendary blues guitarist and leader of the Roomful, would invite many up and coming musicians on stage to get their licks in as well as featured artists, the list of which is too long to mention.

These stomping tenor sax instrumentals come from the jazz and R&B repertoire of the '40s and '50s. Many Roomful of Blues alumni, such as Duke Robillard (g) and Al Copley (p), contribute. It doesn't rock any harder than this.

With their fusion of blues, rock & roll, and R&B, the Fabulous Thunderbirds helped popularize roadhouse Texas blues with a mass audience in the '80s and, in the process, they helped kick-start a blues revival during the mid-'80s. During their heyday in the early '80s, they were the most popular attraction on the blues bar circuit, which eventually led to a breakthrough to the pop audience in 1986 with their fifth album, Tuff Enuff. The mass success didn't last too long, and founding member Jimmie Vaughan left in 1990, but the Fabulous Thunderbirds remained one of the most popular blues concert acts in America during the '90s.

Bluesy jazz in the Kansas City tradition by award winning guitarist and Roomful of Blues saxophonist. Award winning jazz and blues guitarist Gerry Beaudoin and saxophonist Rich Latielle, an original member of the multiple Grammy nominated jump blues band Roomful of Blues, turn out some swinging, jumping jazz and blues in the great Kansas City tradition of Count Basie, pianist Jay McShann and of course alto saxophonist and blues shouter Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, whom they both had worked with. Five original compositions run the gamut …

With their fusion of blues, rock & roll, and R&B, the Fabulous Thunderbirds helped popularize roadhouse Texas blues with a mass audience in the '80s and, in the process, they helped kick-start a blues revival during the mid-'80s.

Various Artists - Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection (2016) {2CD Alligator Records ALCD 127/28}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.10 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 376 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 47 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Alligator Records | ALCD 127/28
Blues

It’s been 45 years since Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers entered a Chicago recording studio to cut the album that would change the face of American music forever. That self-titled release came out in August 1971 and launched an American institution, Alligator Records. Label boss Bruce Iglauer ran the operation from an efficiency apartment in the Windy City. In the subsequent decades, his imprint would issue roughly 300 titles, including releases from Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Luther Allison, and Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials, among many, many others. When quality blues records were hard to come by and majors turned their attention to the latest fashions, Iglauer stuck it out, giving a loyal fan base music they didn’t know they were missing. To see the Alligator logo on an album’s spine meant you were getting something handpicked from a friend who loved that music as much as you did. Maybe even more.

Vocalist/cornet player Al Basile's longtime friend Duke Robillard gets front cover billing, as well he should, as co-producer and guitarist on this impressive outing. The album, Basile's fifth, was even recorded at the guitarist's Pawtucket, RI studio called the Mood Room, hence the album's title. Musically, it's a combination of old-school R&B ("Baby Sister," "Be a Woman"), swamp-tinged rock & roll ("I'm in a Mood"), mid-tempo, Chuck Berry styled groovers ("Coffee and Cadillacs"), grinding blues ("Picked to Click") and even a jump blues throwback to the duo's Roomful of Blues days ("She's on the Mainline"). Robillard keeps the sound full yet stripped down – most of the tracks feature a standard three-piece – bass/drums/guitar setup – which leaves space for Basile's sly vocals and snappy lyrics. Basile, a teacher and fiction author who also has a Master's degree in creative writing, not surprisingly crafts lyrics that are far more imaginative and original than most blues artists'. But they never detract from these melodies that glide along sparked by Robillard's tasty licks.