Detroit Frank Dumont – Let Me Be Frank | Album Review

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This CD review was originally published in the October 17, 2013 edition of Blues Blast Magazine. Be sure to check out the rest of the magazine at www.bluesblastmagazine.com

Detroit Frank Dumont – Let Me Be Frank

Self Release

www.detroitfrankdumont.com

11 tracks / 48:32

The music world is chock full of half-finished albums and projects that got off to a good start but for some reason never got finished. Let Me Be Frank could have been one of those ill-fated efforts, but Detroit Frank Dumont persevered and rolled this album off the assembly line a whopping 22 years after it was started.

Originally hailing from Benton Harbor, Michigan (right across the lake from Chicago), singer and guitarist Frank Dumont has definitely been around the block a few times. He started his career in the early 70s with the Detroit Blues Band, and since then he has lived and gigged all over the globe -- from Hawaii to Amsterdam and everywhere in between. Along the way he has shared the stage with legendary blues figures, including John Lee Hooker, Greg Allman and Buddy Miles.

These days Frank is working out of Colorado Springs with his band, The Drivin’ Wheels, but the genesis of Let Me be Frank predates his work with this group. The first sessions for this album were recorded in 1991 at studios all around the country, including Louisiana, California and Memphis. Dumont held onto these tracks until 2012 when he started recording again, this time in North Carolina, Colorado, Nashville, Memphis, North Hollywood, and Alabama. This guy really gets around! Everything came together late last year when the source material was digitally mastered by Larry and Kevin Nix in Nashville. They did an amazing job of taking all of these sessions and making them come together into a singular entity.

There is plenty of heavy-hitting talent on this disc, and there is no way to include everybody that participated in this review. You will find the pillars of the blues community, the musicians that played in bands with BB King, Freddie King and Buddy Miles.

The first track up is “Key to the Highway,” which was a hit for Little Walter in 1958. This is a rich arrangement with horns, piano and the esteemed Deacon Jones on the Hammond B3. Dumont displays a smooth guitar talent, and his voice is road-worn and wise. I would like to see him perform this song live! After this, Frank belts out nine covers of songs by Freddie King, BB King and Robert Johnson.

Dumont is a Freddie King fan and he growls his way through Freddie King’s “Tore Down,” a classic 8-bar hit that was also covered by Clapton. Benny Turner’s fat bass keeps this rollicking tune moving, and David Maxwell lays down some killer piano that at times is swallowed up in the mix. “Hide Away” is a fun instrumental that lets Frank tear loose on his guitar over a complex arrangement of organ, piano and a passel of horns. The other Freddie King songs on this disc are both performed as instrumentals: “The Stumble,” and “I’ll Be There,” with the latter showing some interesting Hawaiian influences and more than enough harp (not the harmonica kind, either).

BB King is well-represented, with Dumont howling his way through “Every Day I Have the Blues” and “How Blue Can You Get.” While the rock-solid backline of Mighty Mike Doster and Caleph Emphrey Junior keep it real, Victor Wainwright provides some righteous piano work on “How Blue Can You Get.” This is one of the standout tracks on Let Me Be Frank.

Three of the tracks were penned by Robert Johnson: “Kind Hearted Woman,” “Traveling Riverside Blues,” and the inevitable “Crossroads.” In keeping with the original spirit of these songs, these are more bare bones arrangements with harmonica and slide acoustic guitar. Frank was respectful of the source material and did not go very far off the beaten path when reproducing these songs.

The album finishes up with its sole original track, “Blues for Buddy,” a tribute to Dumont’s friend Buddy Miles, who passed on before he could record drum tracks for this project. This instrumental psychedelic blues song is a grand yet casual-sounding jam that includes a few guys that played with Buddy back in the day: Deacon Jones and Jimi Hendrix’s bass player, Billy Cox.

Let Me Be Frank is a sampler of blues styles, with material written by the greats and played with gusto. It is obvious that Detroit Frank Dumont and his friends gave their all for this project, and I hope you can take the time to give it a listen.

Thank you!

The Knickerbocker All-Stars – Open Mic at the Knick |Album Review

The Knickerbocker All-Stars – Open Mic at the Knick

JP Cadillac Records

http://www.jpcadillacrecords.com

13 tracks / 47:36

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s there was a killer Sunday night jam at the Knickerbocker Café in Westerly, Rhode Island. Duke Robillard, the founder of Roomful of Blues, would share the stage with unknowns and major league players to crank out a righteous blues show. Unless you were local you probably never chance to experience it, but thankfully Westerly natives Bobby Christina and John Paul Gauthier recently gathered a troupe of killer musicians in the studio to recreate some of what you missed. The result is the Knickerbocker All-Stars new CD, Open Mic at the Knick on JP Cadillac Records.

The heart of this project is Bobby and Fran Christina on the drums, Ricky King Russell on guitar, Bob Worthington on the bass, Al Copley and Dave Maxwell on piano, and a horn section of Doc Chanonhouse, Bobby “Breeze” Holfelden, Rich Lataille, and Dennis Cook. The soul is the eight singers that split up the 13 tracks amongst themselves. They include Willie J. Laws, Malford Milligan, Johnny Nicholas, Sugar Ray Norcia, Mike O’Connell, Curtis Salgado, J. P. Sheerar, and Brian Templeton. All of these folks have been in the business for decades.

Obviously there are no originals in the playlist, and it ends up being a 45 minute set with most of the songs around three minutes long. That means there are no 5-minute solos, so the songs are all about the singers; it is a good thing they are all so talented! There is not enough space here to give a blow-by-blow account of every track, but here are a few of the high points:

-- The CD starts off with B.B King’s “You Upset Me Baby” with Sugar Ray Norcia behind the microphone and Ricky King Russell killing it on the guitar. Right away it is obvious that this is a band full of pros and the horns are really well arranged. Sugar Ray comes back later on with “It’s Later Than You Think,” a Roy Milton jump track that features amazing piano work from Al Copley.

-- Austin, Texas soulman Malford Milligan also takes on two songs: Bobby Bland’s “Turn On Your Love Light” and Gene Dinwiddie’s “Love Disease.” Milligan does Bland proud, showing great range and tone as the band sets up a slick Chicago rhythm and blues accompaniment.

-- Johnny Nicholas appears of three tracks: “Jelly Jelly”, “Reconsider Baby” and “Along About Midnight.” This Texas bluesman used to sit in with Roomful of Blues when he was in town, and he has not lost anything over the past four decades.

-- The set finished up with Mike O’Connell taking the lead on Freddie King’s “Going Down,” and they ended strong with David Maxwell hammering out the piano part and the horns gloriously accompanying O’Connell’s distinctive howl.

If you love jump blues and horns, you need to pick up a copy of the Knickerbocker All-Stars Open Mic at the Knick. The aim of this disc was to hearken back to a time where there were great frontmen on stage every week, backed by a high-octane piano and horn-fueled band, and they succeeded in this task. They ended up with nothing but good songs that are performed well and recorded with care. What more could you ask for?