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A
Stony Plain
artist
biography:
A
Swingin’ Session
with Duke
Robillard
and special
guests Scott
Hamilton, Bruce
Katz, Doug James
& Carl Querfurth
A dozen CDs, and
as many
different
approaches to
American music.
The common
links: Heart,
soul, stunning
playing and —
most importantly
— integrity.
Actually, the
new Duke
Robillard CD,
A Swingin’
Session with
Duke Robillard,
is the 14th
CD the virtuoso
guitarist has
recorded for
Stony Plain —
and that’s not
counting half a
dozen other CDs
he’s produced
for other great
artists, and a
live in-concert
DVD.
But the new
recording is, as
always, a
different outing
than his others.
Duke Robillard
does not stand
still; his
musical
curiosity
continues to
take him to many
different areas
of the American
musical palette.
Duke is a superb
technician, in
total command of
his instrument,
and he’s
prepared and
willing to
tackle different
American musical
genres — blues,
jazz, small and
big band swing,
original
material, and
songs from the
golden age of
the great
American
songbook. The
heart, soul and
integrity of the
small band swing
era, shines
through every
note.
And this music
isn’t limited to
recordings —
Robillard has
always brought
his music to
audiences all
over the world.
Like B.B. King
and Buddy Guy,
he keeps up a
performance
schedule that
has included as
many as 300
dates in a
single year,
from Moscow to
Montreal, from
Boston to
Barcelona, and
from London,
England to
London,
Ontario.
SOMETHING’S
IN THE WATER IN
DUKE’S HOME
STATE
Bob Porter,
Producer of some
of jazz finest
classic
recordings,
acclaimed writer
and broadcaster,
insists that
there must be
something in the
water up in
Rhode Island,
from where
Robillard
hails. In the
notes he wrote
for the new CD,
he cites an
“honor roll” of
musicians from
the smallest
state in the
Union — many of
whom are on this
record — and
points out that
Duke was always
a prime mover.
He formed
Roomful of Blues
in 1967, Duke
Robillard and
the Pleasure
Kings in 1980
and finally, the
Duke Robillard
Band, which has
been on the road
for more than
twenty years.
Writes Porter:
“In an era when
the media tends
to put everyone
in little
well-partitioned
boxes, Duke is
an anomaly: a
musician who not
only works both
sides of the
street but takes
great joy in
doing so. Duke
has stated that
his favorites
are
‘blues-oriented
jazz musicians’.
If we think of
him in the same
way, it will
help to
understand why
he does what he
does.”
Robillard has
always insisted
that there is a
very thin line
indeed between
what was
originally
called jazz and
what we call the
blues. Ben
Webster, Lester
Young, Jack
Teagarden,
Johnny Hodges,
and Count Basie
were all rooted
in blues …
Charlie Parker
was a great
blues player,
and so
was Louis
Armstrong.
COVERING
GROUND IN A
MUSICIAN’S BASIC
BIOGRAPHY
Any biographical
summary of Duke
Robillard has to
cover a lot of
ground.
• His legendary
playing skills
as one of the
most versatile
guitarists on
the planet.
He’s also a
smooth, intimate
and engaging
singer.
• That he’s a
session player
who’s recorded
with Bob Dylan,
Maria Muldaur,
Dr. John, John
Hammond, and
sorely-missed
legends such as
Jay McShann,
Ruth Brown,
Jimmy
Witherspoon,
Rosco Gordon and
Long John
Baldry. Oh, yes,
and he’s also
toured with Tom
Waits.
• Duke has
recorded duet
albums with Herb
Ellis, Ronnie
Earl, and — as a
member of New
Guitar Summit —
with Jay Geils
and Gerry
Beaudoin.
• The W.C. Handy
Awards have
named Robillard
“Best Blues
Guitarist” no
less than four
times, B.B. King
says “Duke’s one
of the great
players,” and
the Houston Post
called him “one
of God’s
guitarists.”
• He won
Canada’s Maple
Blues Award for
Best
International
Musician three
years in a row.
Robillard had
his first band
in high school,
and was
fascinated from
the beginning by
the ways in
which jazz,
swing, and the
blues were
linked. In 1967
while still a
teenager, he
formed Roomful
of Blues, and
the band was
tight enough and
tough enough to
accompany two of
his heroes, Big
Joe Turner and
Eddie
”Cleanhead”
Vinson on record
and in live
appearances.
Always ahead of
his time, Duke’s
first band
pre-dated the
renewed interest
in jump blues by
more than a
decade — and
almost 20 years
later, in 1986,
when he recorded
with jazz sax
master Scott
Hamilton, he
recorded a
collection of
classic big band
tunes from the
’30s and ’40s,
thus skillfully
pre-dating the
neo-Swing craze
of the mid ’90s.
Roomful of Blues
— which still
continues, 40
years on — gave
Duke his first
exposure to a
wide public, and
when he left
after a dozen
years, he played
briefly with
rockabilly king
Robert Gordon,
then cut two
albums with the
Legendary Blues
Band (a sterling
group of former
members of Muddy
Waters’ bands).
He led his own
group until
1990, then
replaced Jimmie
Vaughan in the
Fabulous
Thunderbirds,
before fronting
his own band
once again.
In 1993, as he
was about to
sign a
world-wide
recording deal
with
Virgin/Pointblank,
he met Holger
Petersen, head
of the Canadian
independent
roots music
label Stony
Plain Records,
at a folk
festival in
Winnipeg. In
conversation, he
mentioned he
wanted to record
a complete album
of blues,
without the R&B
and jazz
influences of
his work to
date.
Petersen was
interested,
Virgin gave the
go-ahead, and
the resulting
album, Duke’s
Blues,
earned rave
reviews. It was
so successful in
fact, that
Virgin licensed
the record from
Stony Plain and
released it
around the world
(except in
Canada, where it
continues in the
Canadian
company’s
catalogue).
Later, with the
Virgin contract
over, Robillard
signed a
world-wide
exclusive
contract with
Stony Plain,
which continues
to this day.
THIS SWINGIN’
SESSION BREAKS
NEW GROUND
A Swingin’
Session with
Duke Robillard
is, indeed, just
that. There are
classics like
“Deed
I Do,”
“The
Song is Ended,”
“Them
That Got”
and
“When
Your Lover Has
Gone.”
Rhode Islanders
Scott Hamilton,
Al Basile and
Doug James,
along with half
a dozen
musicians who
have played (or
still play) with
Robillard, help
power bluesy
fare such as
“They
Raided the Joint”
and”
Swingin’ with
Lucy Mae.”
Bruce Katz’
organ playing is
superb
throughout, and
horn
contributions
from Carl
Querforth (of
Roomful) and
Gordon “Sax”
Beadle are
pushed along by
a rhythm section
that
effortlessly
lifts the band.
Constantly
inventive, there
is no
grandstanding.
It all seems so
easily put
together; great
music made to
sound simple as
well as subtle.
This is music
for a late night
party, a couple
more whiskeys
than you should
have drunk, a
forbidden
cigarette, and a
turn on the
dance floor with
an attractive
partner.
For Robillard, a
master of many
kinds of jazz
and blues and
American roots
music, this new
CD is a modern
day gem that
looks back at
the past, grins,
and says “Let’s
swing this one.
And let’s
dance.” |
