|
BONE
BLUE
Little
Chris and the Nightcrawlers
CD
Review by Pat
Benny
BONE
BLUE, released on Gusano Records, is the latest release
from one of Southern California’s premier West Coast
Swing bands known as Little Chris and the Nightcrawlers.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with West Coast
Swing blues, you need to understand that this is not
cryin’ in your beer blues.
This is toe-tappin’, get up and dance music
that is a combination of Chicago blues, a little jazz
and a lot of swing.
This is good time music, done up California style
and inspired by the late George “Harmonica” Smith.
Chris Fast is a disciple of George Smith, and he
is more than capable of carrying the torch for the blues
legend.
There aren’t many harp players out there with the
confidence to have not one, but two saxophone players in
his band. Most
players would see this as a distraction from their own
instrument. But
Little Chris is not your run of the mill harp player.
I’ve been a fan of Chris for a long time, and
I’m always reminded of Eric Clapton’s description of
J.J. Cale: it’s not what he plays, it what he doesn’t
play. To this writer, Chris Fast has always focused on his
incredible tone rather than trying to play every note at
lighting speed—not that he can’t, because there are
times on this recording when he is dazzling,.
But what is really impressive is his ability to
blend his harp playing with his band, saxophones and
all. It
takes a big man with a lot of humility to do that, and
in this respect, Chris Fast is anything but little.
Of course, having a band that can swing as hard as the
Nightcrawlers doesn’t hurt.
These cats have been playing together for some
time, and they are as polished as a West Coast Swing
band can be. They
might not have a pretty blonde playing keyboard, but
believe me, there is nothing missing in this band.
Along with Alfredo Ballestros and Bud Dehl on
saxophones, the Nightcrawlers include Hank Barrio’s
exceptional guitar, Dennis Kenmore on drums and Fred
Rivera on bass. Fred
plays a busy bass and the only thing better than listening to him is to see
him live. He
holds his bass like no one else and has a great time
doing it that is entertaining and highly contagious.
There is a great mix of original songs by Chris Fast,
including “World Lost Its Mind” and “Just Another
Bump” and some classics like Al Duncan’s “Too Late
Brother” and Willie Dixon’s hilarious “29 Ways.”
The twelfth track is an instrumental version of
“Moanin’ Blues,” which features on guitar the
author, Delaney Bramlett.
Unlike the rest of the tunes on this CD, this one
is as country as a sugar sandwich.
This
album is a barrel of fun, almost as fun as a night at
Steamer’s in Fullerton, California with Little Chris
and the Nightcrawlers.
You can check them out on the Net at:
http://www.littlechris.com.
--Pat
Benny
|
|
