Customer Reviews

Duke Robillard Plays Jazz : The Rounder Years

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Duke is an incredibly talented musician with a great feel and respect for the music he plays. He's one of my biggest heroes and inspirations. I would recommend any of his recordings to anyone who appreciates good blues, jazz and swing. He truly pays tribute to the masters in every note he plays- and is a master axeman in his own right.

When Duke played jazz on Rounder he chose Scott Hamilton's swinging ensemble to back him up, with good reason. I was following Scott's group at the time, and he is a mighty swinger. Scott had John Bunch on the piano, who unfortunately didn't seem to make it to these recordings but he did bring a terrific and tasty guitar player named Chris Flory, and a bassist who was burning brightly named Phil Flanigan, both of whom are backing Duke here. And Duke's playing and singing well deserves this good company. Not only are his chops more than adequate to play this music, he has a swinging feeling that not only recalls Charlie Christian, but would have made him a welcome addition to Benny Goodman's "chamber jazz" sessions if they had been contemporaries. The heratage is here: Scott played with Benny before he died and Flip Phillips, and Duke has recorded with Herb Ellis. In short, if you like real swing and real jazz that feels good, but is also blusey and not too sweet, you can't go wrong here. I was booking Chris into a small club in NY called Zazou around that time and I complimented him on the sessions. "It was great work and they paid well," he told me. "Write Duke and tell him to do some more." We can only hope he does.

There isn't a person out there who couldn't love this CD. I'm not much of a Jazz person, but I love this music. It's full of catchy swingin' tunes. This guitar playing is incredibly inspiring to guitar players. I only wish I could play like Duke!

This sort of contemporary music is just wonderful it hityou just where it mellows. just keep on making good wusic for people's listening pleasure. thank you Lincoln.