Kenny Wayne Spruell may be the last of his kind; Black Boogie-Woogie piano man, singer and all-round ENTERTAINER and while you might be able to name 3 or 4 more, the only ones in Kenny..s league are all past 70 years of age.
He..s got a musical history & heritage that explains fully why we are blessed with his presence; a Preacher father in The Bay Area of San Francisco who wanted his son to play spirituals after taking his piano lessons in the mid-1950s. But Kenny..s ear on the radio meant lots of Fats Domino, Amos Milburn and a whole host of lesser-known West Coast Boogie piano instead of Gospel practitioners of the keys. His biography is exceptionally colorful and totally fascinating as Kenny..s mastery of all keyboards and all musical genres meant he had work consistently from the early 1960s onwards. A humble and laid-back man with a solid spiritual foundation, Kenny doesn..t flaunt his resume or let the fame-game motivate him. For those of us who..ve experienced him on many occasions the thoughts and opinions are all the same; he..s a Master Entertainer who obviously does what he does because he loves people and music and playing his Boogie-Woogie Blues is his way of putting goodness into the world. In our bizarre North American music market Kenny is not too well-known outside of the Blues circuit, but in Europe he..s a Superstar! They can..t get enough of Kenny Wayne and his brand of good-time Boogie piano Blues and I..m sure if Kenny wanted to he could be working in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy for 11 months of the year.
He..s an incredible presence on stage, a man with an ..aura.. and he..s done well to transfer that deep, positive energy onto CDs with at least 3 magnificent discs to his credit. Kenny has always known that surrounding himself with talent is simply not enough; the band members must be on the same wave length and have mutual respect. This CD is a perfect example; Russell Jackson on bass has a long working relationship with Kenny and he..s a master of both electric and acoustic stand-up bass. Henry Avery and Theo Brown are Kenny..s two favorite drummers with personal and professional interaction going back to the early 1960s. Darrell Mayes is Vancouver..s Blues Drummer of Choice and the huge Vancouver talent pool also supplies Brandon Issak, Dave Dykhuizen and Clifford Dunn on guitar and the great Steve Hilliam and Pat Carey on saxophones and Kenny..s old bandmate, David ..Hurricane.. Hoerl, is on harp for 2 tracks.
The CD kicks off with a bang (or stomp!) with the good time Boogie ..Blackberry Wine.. and it establishes the identity of this album quickly. Why guitar ever replaced piano as the lead Blues/Boogie instrument will be a mystery to you once you surrender to the piano key magic that jumps out of your speakers and if there was a ..Swing Revival.. this would be a ..1 Jive/Lindy Hop hit. Brandon lays down a perfect and soulful solo on guitar sounding like he came from Central Ave. circa 1955. "Joogie to the Boogie.. is an oh-so-mellow jiver that..ll probably become an anthem on The Shag Scene in The Carolinas. Nice drum work from Henry Avery who is a master of West Coast shuffles. ..I Will Never Forget You.. is a rompin.. masterpiece that will have everyone dancing from coast-to-coast. They don..t make good-time Blues like this anymore! (If anyone ever says anything negative to you about the stage of Blues music play them THIS song..they..ll dance away, smiling!) I can picture people just ..loosing it.. over ..Let It Loose.. which is an invitation to one and all to get in touch with their TRUE SELF and have some wild fun. Life..s too darn short! Russell..s got the Willie Dixon thing down perfectly on the snappin.. percussive stand-up bass and Steve Hilliam blows sweet tenor sax to add gas to the fire.
Kenny shows his Chicago side with ..Mean Streak.., a tune that will remind listeners of Willie Mabon..s ..Poison Ivy.. with its ..don..t-mess-with-my-baby.. theme; beautiful Otis Spann-styled piano also reminds me that Kenny..s got it ALL covered when it comes to piano stylings and he..s taking it so much further by melding them all together into a hybrid Boogie and Blues gumbo that offers up endless surprises and flavors.
..Bewildered.. is Kenny..s paean to his West Coast Blues mentor and it..s totally mesmerizing. True sublime beauty. If you didn..t know already, Kenny (along with Dave Hoerl, Tim Williams, and Donald Ray Johnson) is one of the greatest Blues songwriters in Canada (and let..s face it, these guys rank high in North American comparisons) proving the fact with the traditional-meets-modern approach of ..Be a Man... (If Kenny ever gets the opportunity to play at one of the predominately Black festivals in California he..ll blow a lot of minds especially with middle-aged African-Americans who miss the great 1950s/60s R&B sounds.) ..Be a Man.. is a deceptively simple work-of-art with its heavy left-hand and stomp beat, but the vocal backing is an exceptional, special tone. It..s ..little.. things like that that tell you Kenny is a cut-above-the-rest when it comes to a creative mind. ..Lies.. is a fine, funky, modern Blues with Kenny on an electric piano (Fender Rhodes©?) and Russell getting down on electric bass. Steve Hilliam answers Kenny..s vocals with ..singing.. sax. ..Don..t Rush to Judge Me.. is all the proof Kenny needs to be called a Modern Master of True Blues; a story told so eloquently and set to soulful music. ..Blues Carry Me Home.. is a fitting closing track as Kenny gets into some primal, funky ..trance.. Blues on B-3 organ and electric piano. Putting the two of these instruments together is a formula that demands further ..expeditions.. and while it..s very much an ..African.. American song, it also reminds us just how wonderful the Blues/Funk/Rock fusion of the mid-1970s L.A./San Francisco scene was and Kenny was right there in it. So, we have further proof of Kenny Wayne..s genius level talents or rather God-given talents as I..m sure he..ll tell you it..s got more to do with The Spirit than IQ. 6 Bottles for a CD that really does stand alone for its beautiful Blues and joy-giving powers. Let..s hope Kenny ..Blues Boss.. Wayne becomes a household name in North America as we can all benefit deeply from what he dispenses.
..A. GriggI edited my profile at Doobix.com
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I edited my profile at Doobix.com
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