The Jeff Golub Band Featuring: Henry Butler - The Three Kings

 

Albert, B.B. and Freddie.  The trinity forms the foundation of modern day guitar-based blues and rock.  Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Johnny Winters, Joe Perry, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Johnny Lang, Joe Bonamassa, just to mention a few, all prayed at the three Kings’ altar.  They learned their riffs, sang their songs and added their own special flair to such classic blues numbers as “Let The Good Times Roll,” “Born Under A Bad Sign.” “Have You Ever Loved A Woman,” “Everyday I Have The Blues,” “I’m Torn Down” and “The Thrill Is Gone.”

Now it is Jeff Golub’s turn to pay tribute to the legends of the blues with his album release entitled The Three Kings. Golub, best known as a sideman for Billy Squier on 7 albums and 3 world tours from 1980 until 1988, and Rod Stewart on 4 albums and 5 world tours from 1988 until 1995, got his chops emulating  Clapton, Beck and Hendrix, and their inspirations - Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and “The Three Kings” - Albert King, B.B. King and Freddie King.  Golub also learned to play contemporary jazz, the subject of most of his eleven solo albums. After hearing a Wes Montgomery album, he enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass where he played with the James Montgomery Band.

Many tribute recordings fall short due to the need to “measure up.”.  There is the inevitable comparison to the original recordings.  In the case of The Three Kings there is also the inevitable comparison to sensational copies of the originals by some of the best musicians of the past 75 years.  Yet, Golub pulls it off.  This is one hot expression of gratitude, respect and admiration to Albert, B.B. and Freddie.  To help ensure success Golub invited Guitar God Robben Ford to play on Freddie King’s classic “Side Tracked” and world class slide guitarist Sonny Landreth to play on Golub’s one original song on the album, “In Plain Sight.”

Not all of the songs on album were written or performed by The Three Kings, although the majority were and the remainder, save Golub’s original and “Three Kings,” an original by featured pianist Henry Butler, are standards.  Butler is another stroke of genius added to the mix.  He is a New Orleans jazz icon who actually opened for B.B. King. Golub puts Butler’s piano and vocal talents to good use on “Let The Good Times Roll,” “Born Under A Bad Sign,” “Have You Ever Loved A Woman,” “Three Kings” and “Oh, Pretty Woman.”

Golub’s band also features Andy Hess on bass and Josh Dion on drums and percussion (and vocals on “Help The Poor,” “Everyday I Have The Blues” and “I’m Torn Down.”) The sound is rounded out by a B3 Hammond organ played by Chris Palmaro and a horn section consisting of Nick Lane, Rick Braun, Euge Groove and Dave Woodford.

If you love the blues of Kings you will love Jeff Golub’s The Three Kings.

- Old School

Tinsley Ellis - Speak No Evil

Quick. Name the 2010 Rock Blues Album of the Year.  Can't do it?  Try this.  Take a dose of Warren Haynes jam blues.  Stir in some Allman Brothers and Freddie King.  Toss in blues licks as smooth as Eric Clapton and as biting as B.B King.  Squeeze a dash of Stevie Ray Vaughan on top.  Add a scorching blues voice, then, simmer until it burns.  Sound pretty good?  It should because it describes the Blues Foundation's 2010 Rock Blues Album of the Year award winner Speak No Evil by Tinsley Ellis.

I heard you say to yourself  "who the H-E-double-toothpicks is Tinsley Ellis?" You would think that his continuous touring since 1988 would give him greater notoriety.  It just goes to prove that some of the greatest blues rock guitar players are obscure even when they are in plain view.

Tinsley Ellis is a power blues rocker who Atlanta Magazine once declared "the most significant blues artist to emerge from Atlanta since Blind Willie McTell."  Ellis picked up the guitar for the first time in 1965 at the age of 8.  A chance interaction with B.B. King at one of B.B.'s concerts in 1971 so impressed Ellis that power blues rock guitar became his passion and life's work. At the performance Ellis sat in the front row hypnotized by the King's guitar work. When B.B. broke a string on Lucille, he changed it without missing a beat, and handed the broken string to Ellis. Ellis still has the string.   

"Speak No Evil" is Ellis' twelfth album. All twelve are scorchers. Some would say that his album 2007 Live album Highwayman - Live is his best.  That may be because live Ellis is an inspired Ellis.  His shows pull something from deep in the soul.  His music is laced with amazing Wah Wah pedal work and blazing sustained leads.  In concert his songs carry into spirited blues jams.  However, it is on Speak No Evil that Ellis finally captures the concert feeling in his songs without the jams. From the first track "Sunlight Of Love," a driving electric blues piece that had me thinking back to the music of the Buddy Miles Express, to the twelfth and final track, "Rockslide," Ellis has you moving and grooving and rocking and rolling.  As soon as I completed listening to the album I started it again, and again, and again.  When I was done I still could not get enough and started searching for all of Tinsley Ellis' past albums.

To truly experience Ellis it is said that he must be seen in concert. He has played in every state of the union, Canada, Europe, Australia and South America. He has also shared stages with the Allman Brothers, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor and Widespread Panic. In fact, according to his website biography, he averages over 150 fiery performances a year. He is scheduled to play Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco, CA on June 2, 2010, a concert that you won't want to miss unless you catch him June 1, 2010 at the Crystal Bay Club Casino in Crystal Bay, Nevada, or on June 3, 2010 at Boulder Station Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, or June 4, 2010 at the Doubletree Hotel in Bakersfield, CA, or June 5, 2010 at the Palms Playhouse in Winters, CA or . . . you get the idea.  Tinsley Ellis - smokin' rock blues coming to a venue near you.

- Old School

Buy here: Speak No Evil