Customer Reviews

Live at the Old Absinthe House Bar: Friday Night

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At my high school reunion, a classmate named Kevin McMahon cornered me near the bar, handed me a CD, said that he liked my Roy Buchanan article-and insisted I needed to hear this guy. He was 100% right about that-Lee is the hot Daddy of Bad Blues and he commands respect. The story goes that Bryan plays in a bar in New Orleans and doesn't really leave the place-it's a home to him-and that special guests come to visit. We're talking special guests like James Cotton, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Frank Marino (of Mahogany Rush).

Quick!-my asbestos gloves, because what Stevie Wonder can do with a keyboard, Bryan Lee does with a guitar, and that is scorching good music. Oh, yeah, he's blind, too. We're talking raw, skin-it-alive Fender Stratocaster, folks. Can he sing? Nasty, raspy, and when he screeches, I swear the last time that kind of sound crossed my ears was in metal shop. The backup band's support is hot enough to melt lead, and there's five-yes, five more CDs available. For an extra treat, try his Crawfish Lady-both the music and the recipe are found on that disc, but I warn you: there's no putting out this fire with any known substance, because Bryan Lee is too hot to control except under his own terms.

A New Orleans native, I stopped in at the Old Absinthe Bar for a Sazerac on my way to taking out-of-town guests to a strip club. There was a blues band on the stage fronted by a heavy-set guy dressed all in white. His voice was pretty good, and we were into the music, but when Bryan Lee ripped into his first solo our jaws just dropped. Maybe we'd heard that kind of playing on a blues CD once or twice, but none of us ever imagined we could just walk into a bar off the street, buy our "one drink minimum," and hear someone wail like that. His companion musicians were superb as well. My guests forgot all about the strippers. We sat, hardly talking to each other, until Mr. Lee left the stage for the last time. You'll never hear exactly what we heard. The blues bar was gone long before Hurricane Katrina, another victim to the epidemic of mango-flavored daquiris. But this CD is about as close as you can expect from a live recording. It's the way I'd like to remember my home city.

This is one of the best blues guitarists alive today. This is a real nice sample of his talents with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and some other cool guests. Don't miss it!

This album highlights the best and the worst of Kazaa. The best because I discovered the album and bought a copy. The worst because so many Kazaa users relegate Bryan Lee to vocalist and give the guitar credits to Kenny Wayne Shepherd when most of the tracks highlight the amazing energy and ability of Bryan Lee. This is an exceptional live album which introduced me to an artist who has been around for a long time (40 years) and finally gets deserved recognition. There are guests, in particular: Kenny ('his adopted son'), James Cotton and Frank Marino. The second album from this gig is similarly titled: Live at the Old Absinthe House Bar: Saturday Night and is also worth a visit. Listen to 'The Sky is Crying' for the best illustration of Bryan Lee's blues guitar and vocals.

Last year I travelled to US and visited the wonderful city of New Orleans. I had the chance (and the privilege) to be in the presence of this incredible man, playing three sets of one and a half hour each (yes, 4 1/2 hours on Bryan Lee) at "The Saloon" for the price of a beer bottle and a US$ 10 tip. As a bonus I got his autograph on two CD's, the "Saturday Night" and "Live and Dangerous" (yes, Mr Bryan Lee is blind but is able to sign his name for those who ask him), a photo with the man and a little chat with him and his wife Bethanny. Now my live trilogy is complete! Let's not forget that this CD introduces Kenny Wayne Shepherd to the world and also have Frank Marino as a special guest. A must buy for blues lovers.

Awesome live cd. Frank Mariano ,Kenny Wayne Shepard and James Cotton are guest. Everyone plays real well.

When I found out (not from Amazon) that Frank Marino was on this album, plus KWS, I almost bought it sight unseen, but I gave the samples a listen and then decided to pick this and the Saturday night (part II) up.

I wasn't dissapointed, but my expectations we perhaps a little high, so it's not one of my top blues guitar albums, live or otherwise. It's a decent blues album and I like it, and although I'm no stranger to raw live blues, some of Lee's rawness comes off as, I'm sorry, but it's my opinion, sloppiness. Taken in context of a live recording in a New Orleans bar, this fits, but it's not 5-star material. Nor, IMHO is the companion album.

But don't let that stop you from picking it up, it's/they're good album(s). Lee is a decent guitarist and singer, and it's really cool that he had Marino & Shepherd sit in with him. Makes you want to blast it loud while sipping a Jim Beam.

If you're a very hard-core Marino fan like I am, you might a little dissapointed , Frank's a great player on his own and even better with Mahogany Rush, but like his "blues period" where he went from his own, post-Jimi/almost progressive self-styled fantastic sound period (IV, Strange Universe) to a more Johnny Winter vein, well, Frank's just not a blues guitarist *first*. He seems to be straining, not to play notes, but to garner feel. I can't believe I of all people am saying this about Frank!

Frank does do some nice slide playing, although I'm not sure it's actually slide, I had heard that on earlier MR albums he used his whammy bar for slide-sounds, but that be yet another Marino urban legend.

Some people are not so keen on KWS, but I have most of his albums and I like him a lot even if he's a SRV clone, at the end of the day he plays well and has good tunes. He sounds good here too.

Don't kill me for this review, someone else yeh or nay it.

THIS CD ROCKS, LIKE IT SAYS PLAY IT SO LOUD YOUR EARS BLEED,YOU WON`T BE DISSAPOINTED

This was my introduction to Bryan Lee and I was not dissapointed. This is really a fine example of how good blues can sound live. There are some really nice guests that appear on this also, by the way the same lineup was also on the Saturday night disc, this should really have come out as a double live album. James Cotton is on this and although he does not wail the same as he once did it is still James Cotton.
There is also a guest appearence by Frank Marino and Kenny Wayne Shepard. I have heard through a he said she said thing that KW was very rude to Marino at these 2 shows, it does not surprise me, he is known to be very arrogant. A kid whose father was in the music buisness and had a whole lot of breaks because of that, and really thinks he is hot stuff. He is a good guitar player , but without a doubt the 3rd best on these 2 discs behind Lee and Marino.
One thing I noticed outright was that Marino's guitar work seems to be turned way down, almost like Lee was trying to let his boy KW sound better than Frank, which is the only way he ever could, KW could not carry Marino's guitar strap if we let the truth be known.
But like I said both this one and the one on Saturday are both well worth a listen.

Someone needs to be objective here. I've got about 2000 cd's in mostly the guitar and blues genre and this guy is at best ordinary. Like a TINSLEY ELLIS without most of the chops / absolutely no songs and an average voice.
He talks about 40 years of playing the guitar. Hell , this would not be classed good playing for a student with 12 month experience. His tone is painful at times and if you think I'm harsh, have a listen to TINSLEY ELLIS. There are some similarities, but one is excellent and one isn't.
I can see that a fully drunk crowd around 2 in the morning will really get down to this, but you have to be kiding when you call this guy a BLUES MASTER. There must be at least a few hundred players with more legit claims to that title.
I've got 3 of BRYAN LEE's cds and played them continuously for a couple of weeks as I thought I was missing something as this style of blues is normaly right up my alley ( see my reviews ), but it did not get any better.