Let It Loose

Kenny Wayne | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 24, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Electro-Fi Records
• ASIN: B0009FGX4S
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #453,464 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne is at the forefront of modern day blues and boogie woogie piano practitioners, working hard to keep this glorious music alive and kicking. Well versed in the New Orleans Blues and Jazz tradition by his Louisiana born parents, Kenny has along the way picked up a taste for Kansas City Swing and West Coast Jump which has made his dynamic live show much in demand at clubs and festivals in both North America and Europe. Here on "Let It Loose" his latest release on Electro-Fi we are gifted with the full spectrum of Kenny’s prodigious songwriting ability as well as a three song tribute to past master Amos Milburn. In a blues world populated, some would say overpopulated with wailing guitars and harmonicas, it’s reassuring that when Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne sits down at the piano bench and dances his ten digits over 88 keys, great things happen!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Disc of Real Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano, July 22, 2007

By 

R. Weinstock (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Let It Loose (Audio CD)

A few years ago I was sent a cd by a West Coast pianist, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne which was a superb disc of hot R&B and jump blues in the vein of such legends as Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon and Little Willie Littlefield. Subsequently he has started to tour at top festivals and clubs and the Canadian Electro-Fi label has issued Let It Loose, his second disc for the label and I believe fourth overall. The cd opens with a hard rocking Blackberry Wine, yet another tune of many derived musically from Amos Milburn's Chicken Shack Boogie. Milburn is clearly the main influence on Wayne who plays strong jump boogie piano that would have served Milburn proud. Joogie to the Boogie is a nice easy rocking number with some strong tenor from Pat Carey. A trio of songs, Bewildered, Let Me Go Home Whiskey, Memphis Slim's Blue and Lonesome, are a mini-tribute to Milburn who was one of the top selling R&B acts between 1948 and 1953. A more modern tone and a funk groove mark the slow reflective Wishing Well, while the title track is a high-stepping number that should prove irresistible for the swing dancers with its quick but not frenzied tempo. A more contemporary feel also characterizes the closing, Blues Carry Me Home, which is perhaps not as striking as some of the other numbers. Russell Jackson on bass anchors a solid rhythm section that never rushes the tempo and Brandon Isaak plays solid idiomatic guitar to complement Wayne. Wayne also contributed most of the songs here, and his songwriting is like his piano and vocals, first-rate. With all the albums that are supposedly extending the blues, its nice to find a disc whose playing and vocals is rooted in some undeservedly forgotten giants of the music that makes for a generally terrific recording.

This disc won the 2006 Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) for Blues. I have rated it conservatively (giving it 4 not 5 stars) as it is a wonderful recording by a gentleman who I have had the pleasure of seeing several times but not one that I consider a definitive, essential recording.