Al Basile – B’s Time
Sweetspot Records
17 songs time – 73:58
Marking the 25th Anniversary of Al Basile’s Sweetspot record label, here is his career retrospective, featuring seventeen songs from his solo CDs. All the tracks have been remixed and remastered. The singer-songwriter-cornetist has received the support of quite a crew of top rate musicians for his recordings. As seen here, those have included members of Roomful Of Blues and Duke Robillard’s bands. Duke himself figures prominently with his creative guitar skills on all but two songs. Al’s music incorporates elements of R&B, blues, jazz and a standard vibe among others. He comes equipped with a smooth vocal delivery and cornet skills in abundance. He also wrote sixteen of the seventeen songs in this collection.
The horn and guitar intro leading into “You Showed Me Something” is very similar to the intro to Ray Charles’ “Hit The Road Jack”. The horns give it a big band sound, while the piano of Bruce Katz is really cool jazz. Duke’s guitar hovers around nicely with a nifty riff. Duke unleashes an intense and heavy guitar attack on “I Really Miss You”. It is gospel time as The Blind Boys Of Alabama lend their heavenly voices to support Al on “Lie Down In Darkness”. Bruce Bears contributes “Sunday go to meeting” piano while Al delivers a stirring cornet solo.
The music to “Tickle My Mule” is fine, but the lyrics not so much. Bruce Katz on piano and “Monster” Mike Welch’s guitar skills help with the upbeat vibe. I suppose it is intended as double entendre. Duke’s guitar tone is Beatlesque and at times imitates their trademark backwards guitar sound on the atmospheric “Drive Me Darling”. Matt McCabe’s honky tonk piano plays well against Jerry Portnoy’s harmonica and Duke’s strummed acoustic on the melancholy “Hooray For Me (and to Hell with You). A Latin beat permeates the jazzy instrumental “B.D.”. Paul Odeh’s eloquent piano stylings and Al’s cornet solo are the icing on the cake.
Bruce Katz with his emotive organ and the poignant horns enliven the slow, romantic slow dance of “Can I Trust You With A Kiss?”. Al goes into crooner mode on “Don’t Wait Too Long”, a track from Sinatra’s “September Of My Years” album that was written by Sunny Skylar. Marty Ballou plays a beautiful upright bass solo and Fred Bates adds jazzy guitar. Variety is the name of the game as a Reggae beat and horns take the listener to Jamacia on “Causing Joy”.
Sista Monica duets with Al on “Make A Litle Heaven” and she lights it up with her gospel fueled ferocity. The horn section carries the melody. Tom West plays piano and organ on the slow and enchanting “Sleeping Beauty”, while Jerry McAllister’s rolling drums seal the deal. “While We’re Dancing” is cocktail jazz with Bruce Katz on piano and Al on stirring cornet. Melancholy once again on “You Don’t Know Lonesome”. Beautiful horn arrangement underscored by the piano and organ of Bruce Bears. Things close out with “1.843”, a tale of a botched robbery. It is upbeat Rythm & Blues augmented by stinging Robillard guitar magic.
There you have it folks! Seventy-three minutes and fifty-eight seconds of musical pleasure. With Al Basile and his emotively voiced lyrics and splendid cornet combined with a first class contingent of musical cohorts, you can’t go wrong. You guys are in for a treat!
