Benoit Deteurtre

Award-winning Blues guitarist Tab Benoit, is excited to announce the release of I Hear Thunder, his first studio album in thirteen years. I Hear Thunder is the long awaited release by Tab Benoit. It will be available on August 30th on Whiskey Bayou Records. Ten solid tracks that showcase Tab’s original guitar style and the great songwriting of the Benoit / Osborne songwriting team. Guitar legend Anders Osborne’s brilliance is showcased on every song of Tab Benoit’s new record, adding a delicate touch that enhances the album’s tone and texture. Anders will join Tab on the 2024 ‘I Hear Thunder Tour’, where the two will perform simultaneously, backing each other up as they forge through their vast musical catalogs.

Tab Benoit - Best of The Bayou Blues (2006)
Blues | MP3 192 Kbps | 112 MB
Publisher: Vanguard

Tab Benoit's funky, ragged blend of Louisiana swamp blues and East Texas guitar, with hints of funk, soul, and country thrown in to give the gumbo just the right spice, has served him well since he burst on the scene in the early '90s. Since Benoit hasn't essentially changed his sound since, this collection of sides made up largely from his early releases for Houston-based Justice Records (all of Benoit's Justice albums have been reissued by Vanguard Records in recent years) makes an ideal introduction to what this guy is all about, and although Best of the Bayou Blues covers a five-year span from 1992 to 1997, the tracks all fall together in a completely coherent sequence. Opening with the Benoit original "Voodoo on the Bayou" from 1992's Nice & Warm and running through several originals and some interesting covers (including country-funk takes on Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" and Willie Nelson's "Rainy Day Blues"), this set spotlights Benoit's southern Louisiana take on contemporary blues. He also delivers a stomping version of Willie Dixon's classic "The Seventh Son" and turns zydeco for a fiery live take of Clifton Chenier's "Hot Tamale Baby." Initially one is drawn to Benoit's laser-guided guitar tone, but he is also a fine and soulful singer, and there is more than a little country in his approach as well. What makes him stand out in the crowded field of contemporary blues guitar wizards is the fact that he is fully grounded in the Louisiana bayou region, and he embraces local musical traditions while also bringing a distinctly modern vision to what he does. Benoit knows what he wants to do, he knows where to draw inspiration, and with his strong guitar playing and warm, flexible vocals, he knows how to make it happen.

Contemporary jazz pianist and composer David Benoit has chosen to forgo many of the tropes and methods of working he's employed for the past 30 years on Heroes. Simply put, this is a tribute record to a select group of musicians who have inspired him and shown him a way forward. Before getting to the music, it's worth noting that in his brief liner essay, Benoit spells out that this is by no means a complete list, and points to those he left off for justifiable reasons, which is a nice touch. The music he has chosen stays well within the parameters of contemporary jazz, but lends a deeper focus to Benoit's approach in general. How many recordings are there where you will see tunes by the Doors placed next to those by Clifton Davis, Horace Silver, Dave Brubeck, Dave Grusin, pianist Bill Evans, the Beatles, and the teams of John Bettis and Steve Porcaro, as well as Elton John and Bernie Taupin…

Benoit was bitten by the jazz bug after watching a Charlie Brown special on television and listening to the music of Vince Guaraldi in 1965. “I was already a fan of the comic strip,” he says, “but when I heard that jazz piano trio, that was the defining moment when I decided that I wanted to play like Vince Guaraldi.”

Tab Benoit - Live: Swampland Jam (1997)
Blues | MP3 192 Kbps | 91 MB
Publisher: Vanguard

This is by far the best album this Louisiana blues/swamp-rocker has come up with to date. Benoit is playing with basically a three-piece, with Doug Therrien on bass and Allyn Robinson on drums. The rest of the sound is filled in by various guests, some exceedingly strong Louisiana players. Therein lives both the problem and the strength of this disc — the sound is a bit thin when there's no guest taking up some space. Only on the slow burner "Heart of Stone" and "Gone Too Long" does the basic band fill up the airwaves. The music is good, but without that fourth player, it doesn't have enough density. When there is another player, the sound is as gritty and raw as they come — Cajun-based blues with a swampy sensuality. Benoit's singing and guitar playing have taken giant steps forward and are up there with the best.

Soulful singer and guitarist Tab Benoit has never made secret his devout allegiance to the Louisiana music tradition. With The Sea Saint Sessions, Benoit, ably assisted by several Crescent City stalwarts, takes his music back to the source, setting up shop at the famed hit factory to cook up a sonic gumbo that successfully recaptures the spontaneity of the classic Sea Saint sound. Benoit's guests conjure up some of the studio's old musical magic as "Big Chief" Monk Boudreaux infuses Mardi Gras Indian spirit into "Monk's Blues," Meter man George Porter Jr. funkifies "Making the Bend," and Cyrille Neville sings on his own "Plareen Man". But it is Benoit's distinctive guitar lines–somehow both supple and hard-edged–and the impeccable elasticity of his regular rhythm section that makes the music work. Most of the material is Benoit's own, although he pays tribute to Louisiana legend Guitar Slim with a take on the classic "Sufferin' Mind" and dips into the Howlin' Wolf songbook for a rendition of "Howlin' for My Darling".