Customer Reviews

Dance All Night

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is hardly a way to say a bad thing about this album! It is eceptional; all the way from the horns, to the guitar, and of course sugar ray's voice. Your feet will keep on moving throughout!

I'm a large fan of the Roomful crowd, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, Greg Piccolo,etc. Have several Roomful albums. For some reason, this is the one I always pick. Though I love Robillard, Roomful has never had a better vocalist than Sugar Ray Norcia. He may be the best swing-shuffle-jump-stroll-blues singer of the current generation. He's at his peak here, especially on "That Will Never Do", "Hey Now", "Walkin Slow Behind You", and "Mr. Dollar". Like the first Roomful album, this one is pure swinging blues, thankfully with none of the "hard rock" influence of some of the others. Superb arrangements, superb playing and some of the best vocals you've ever heard.

I first heard Sugar Ray Norcia sing on Ronnie Earl and the Broadcaster's Deep Blues cd. I was so impressed with Sugar Ray Norcia's voice that I searched through all of the Roomful Of Blues cds listed on amazon.com to identify the cd(s) that seemed to best showcase Sugar Ray's voice singing BLUES music. One cd that I ordered was Roomful of Blues' Dance All Night. Upon receiving and listening to Dance All Night, I am happy that I bought this cd. I am now fully convinced that Sugar Ray Norcia along with Kim Wilson, Robert Cray, and Susan Tedeschi are the very best of recent blues singers; Sugar Ray comes in fourth. Sugar Ray Norcia sings on all but two of the 12 songs on Dance All Night. His voice is clear and conveys a smoothness, warmth, and sincerity that make the listener deeply enjoy each of his 10 songs. All of the 12 songs on Dance All Night are excellent swinging, mostly brass, woodwind, and piano highlighted, jazz-like renditions of THE BLUES. Roomful of Blues is certainly a highly skilled jazz blues band. However, I do have one complaint about their songs and arrangements. I best like BLUES music in which the guitar is the prominently featured instrument. Only two of the 12 songs on Dance All Night prominently feature the guitar in a way that I wish most or all of the arrangements would have done. One of these two songs, Cuttin' In, is my favorite song on this cd. My appreciation and respect for jazz blues music has increased since first listening to Dance All Night. In fact, after a few playings Dance All Night won a prized spot in my car stereo. I do plan to purchase one more Sugar Ray Norcia cd, Sweet and Swingin. I want those very good to outstanding cds that feature Sugar Ray Norcia's voice singing the BLUES. Dance All Night fits the bill; it is a very good cd. I have already also purchased and enjoyed Roomful of Christmas, which also features Sugar Ray Norcia. I would not intentionally purchase a Roomful of Blues cd that contains mostly popular or jazz songs, instead of BLUES, or one that features someone other than Sugar Ray as the lead singer. Overall I give Dance All Night a four star plus rating; not quite an outstanding cd to obsess about, but a very good cd that I will quite often play and enjoy. I recommend Dance All Night to you. Let me also tell you that Sugar Ray Norcia's voice sounds even better on Roomful of Christmas than it does on Dance All Night. Roomful of Christmas (see my review) is an outstanding cd. Roomful of Christmas is so good that you'll find yourself playing it throughout the entire year. Let me also tell you about two other Roomful of Blues featuring Sugar Ray Norcia cds that I unfortunately purchased, Turn It On, Turn It Up and Under One Roof. I enjoyed neither of these two cds, and ended up selling them. I most enjoy BLUES music with an "edge." Neither of these two cds had such an "edge." Instead, these two cds were too much filled with smooth jazz-like music and were too much filled with brass instruments for my own tastes. In light of my purchasing mistake, it seems to me that if you are about to first sample Roomful of Blues' music, then Dance All Night may very well be the right place to start.

John