Duke Robillard – Roll With Me
Stony Plain Records – 2024
12 tracks; 48 minutes
In 2005 Duke recorded a session for Stony Plain but, for various reasons, it was not released. Ever a busy musician, Duke got involved in other projects and, despite always intending to complete the recording, he has just got around to doing so, almost twenty years on! There were nine tracks laid down at the time and Duke has amplified the set with two previously unreleased tunes from the sessions for Calling All Blues and one from Guitar Groove-A-Rama, making the album up to a dozen great tracks. As there are several sessions involved here, the list of musicians is considerable, but drummer Mark Teixera is on every track and bassist Marty Ballou on eleven. Matt McCabe plays piano on ten tracks, Bruce Bears substituting on the Calling All Blues outtakes and horns are on all tracks, in varying combinations; Doug James and Mark Earley on tenor and baritone sax, Rich Lataille on alto and tenor sax, Doug Woolverton on trumpet, Al Basile on cornet and Pam Murray and Carl Querforth on trombone. Sugar Ray Norcia adds harp to one cut and Chris Cote takes the vocal on two. The material includes four Robillard originals and there are eight covers of mainly classic R&B, including tunes associated with Fats Domino, Gatemouth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters.
What better way to start than with the swing and groove of “Blue Coat Man”, an Eddie Boyd tune with exceptional piano from Matt McCabe. “Just Kiss Me” and “My Plea” were written by Duke way back when he founded Roomful Of Blues. First recorded for the first Duke Robillard and the Pleasure Kings album, this is how Duke had always envisaged “Just Kiss Me”, with five horns in support and a superb guitar solo to top it off; “My Plea” has more of a Louisiana feel, the trombone here a particular feature, giving the tune a very laid-back feel. We head for New Orleans with Fats Domino’s “Are You Going My Way”, more great piano and Doug James demonstrating just why he is dubbed ‘Mr Low’ by fellow musicians. The lyrics of this one would probably not pass the censors today, with the author seemingly showing excessive interest in a young schoolgirl, but the tune barrels along in classic Crescent City style.
In the liner notes Duke pays tribute to trombonist Pam Murray who features strongly on a loping run through Big Joe Turner’s “I Know You Love Me” before the sole instrumental, “Boogie Uproar”, credited to Duke/Peacock boss Don Robey, but forever associated with Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown. It’s a fun-filled three minutes as the rocking guitar is interspersed with short solos for trombone, piano, alto sax, cornet and baritone sax, Duke even finding time to quote from “Here Comes The Bride”! A second visit to the Big Joe Turner songbook comes in the shape of a swinging, horn-driven version of “Boogie Woogie Country Girl”, originally co-written by Doc Pomus, with whom Duke had the honor to write several songs. The original nine tunes for the 2005 album conclude with two contrasting, but high quality, songs: Duke wrote “Give Me Back My Money” for the session and it’s a tough blues in more of a 60’s style than most of the album. The extra length (6.30) gives Duke the time to deliver a series of great solos while the horns, and trombonist Pam in particular, prove to be a reliable foil to the vocal verses.
Album closer “Don’t You Want To Roll With Me” is another one that dates back to early Roomful and was one side of a now very rare 45 single. This version is terrific as the piano leads the way and the whole band swings courtesy of the rhythm section, Duke’s lyrics celebrating the effects of live music, dancing and alcohol: “I want to jump and shout and have myself a ball; well I get this feeling every time I taste good alcohol. Come on Baby, don’t you want to roll with me, I can roll you better than your old-time used to be”! Add in superb horn playing and this is another great track.
The three outtakes from other albums were all left off because of issues around the vocals. Tackling the Wolf is always a daunting prospect and at the time of the Groove-A-Rama recording Duke did not feel confident, but is now glad he tackled it and “Built For Comfort” works fine with a new vocal. The two from Calling All Blues tell a similar tale, one track being in too high a key for Duke and the other suffering from what he describes as “my ailing vocal cords”. An elegant solution was to invite current Duke Robillard Band vocalist Chris Cote to overdub a new lead vocal and both these tracks now fit the album like a glove: “Look What You Done” is the Muddy tune, with Sugar Ray’s harp and Bruce Bears’ loping piano, “You Got Money” (another Gatemouth Brown tune) is an uptempo number from the pen of Rick Darnell, best known as co-writer of “The Thrill Is Gone”; this is a great swinger and another standout cut.
There is absolutely no doubt that Duke was right to revisit this session and release it because it makes yet another outstanding addition to his extensive discography – a superb release, sure to be in the list of awards for 2024.
