Robillard, Duke – Guitar Groove-a-Rama (Stony Plain Records)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/10/06
Blues guitarmeister plays a sampler of styles, paying homage to pre-eminent guitarists and really cool vintage guitars. There’s quite a bit of crossover to rock and jazz, while still remaining firmly in the blues tradition. It all sounds good to great.
No FCCs. 1, 4, 6, 7 (apart from spoken intros to various styles), 9, 11-12, 13 and 14 are instrumentals. There are a LOT of great tracks – and a couple really long cuts so you can fix something to eat…
1. ***4:54 Slow, growly instrumental stroll – swampadelic Telecaster
2. *4:28 slow down home country blues – classic style
3. ***3:10 bouncy uptempo rockabilly shuffle
4. *5:15 jazzy uptempo instrumental bounce with nice walking bassline and crisp picking.
5. *4:59 slow swampy crawl with a bit of tremolo
6. 5:11 Slow, clean and spare instrumental working of the classic tune, judicious touches of whammy-bar. Almost 2 minutes into song it turns uptempo and jazzy. “Beatles ending”
7. **16:13 spoken intro for 20 seconds, then into marathon showcase of different blues styles, starting with slow Muddy stroll. He introduces each influence, so it’s a nice little blues lesson.
8. *3:05 jazzy, relaxed vibe, walking bass, swing guitar, cute lyrics.
9. **4:35 uptempo rock instrumental rave-up (like “Tequila” with harder edges), nod to Albert Collins guitar style.
10. ***10:19 snaky midtempo crawl with great standup bass and a bit of horn. Very sexy – now THAT’s a love song! Goes into a long 60’s-style “eastern” jam for last several minutes.
11. 0:54 extremely quiet start, “animals waking up” noises. Freeform, intro to next cut.
12. 2:14 slow instrumental, lots of tremolo, good for slow dancing. Bit of Hendrix “Little Wing” sound to the guitar.
13. ***5:36 uptempo instrumental bopper – this one will have you snapping your fingers and wiggling around in your chair, at least!
14. ***6:05 slightly downtempo tango version of instrumental classic, lots of whammy bar and a bit of horns. Switches to a midtempo stroll with the horn solo.