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LYNWOOD
SLIM "LAST CALL"
Source: Blues &
Rhythm Magazine
Date: 06/2006
Writer: Phil Wight |
‘Last Call’ is Richard
Duran aka Lynwood Slim’s fifth album and
is his debut recording for Delta Groove. Core
backing musicians include string benders Kid Ramos
and Kirk Fletcher, John Bazz on bass, and Richard
Innes or James Gadson on drums.
Slim
picked up the harp at age fifteen and gigged
around the Southern California scene, however
in the mid 1970s he relocated to Minneapolis
where he worked with Leonard ‘Baby Doo’
Caston and Walter Horton. A return to LA found
him joining Dave Specter and they moved to Chicago
in 1995. Several years later with the upswing
of the blues scene in California Slim returned
to the Coast.
This
disc combines several Slim originals with covers
of numbers by Sid Wyche, Clifton Chenier, Mickey
Baker, Duke Ellington, and Lowman Pauling. Opening
with a swing style run through Sid Wyche and
Mayme Watts classic swinger ‘Well Alright,
O.K. You Win’ with Slim delivering a couple
of choruses on chromatic harp. ‘All Night
Long’ is given a downhome bluesy treatment
with mandolin ace Rich Delgrosso guesting.
‘I’m
Tired’ is a Mickey Baker composition with
Ramos delivering those familiar guitar licks
and Ron Dziubla on sax. Duke’s ‘Nothin’
But The Blues’ is taken at a lazy tempo
with Slim laying out on harp and turning his
hand to the bongos.
The
Lowman Pauling composition ‘Say It’
finds Slim in the company of The Chicago Blues
Angels who include guitarist Armando Cortez
and bass player Nick Moss in their ranks. Django
Reinhardt is the inspiration for ‘Me,
Myself And I’ with Jeff Ross providing
some pretty nifty guitar licks in the style
of the Belgian gypsy. Slim gets his harp out
for his own composition ‘Across The Sea’
(he doesn’t play a lot of harp on this
CD); it’s a good old-fashioned downhome
slow grind with hints of Sonny Boy 2.
‘Not Your Clown’ is another swing
style composition with Ramos demonstrating a
neat line in jazzy chording and a relaxed vocal
from Slim. ‘I’m Sorry’ is
a Bo Diddley penned slowie with a co-writer
credit given to Harvey Faqua and Alan Freed
(pinch of salt possibly required?) Again Slim
lays out on harp and delivers a really cracking
vocal. Slim switches to flute for his own composition
‘You Never Cried For Me’, now, I
have to say unless it’s in the hands of
Roland Kirk or Eric Dolphy I’m not a big
fan of flute players however Slim has a decent
set of chops on the instrument. Kirk Fletcher
displays a pretty decent facility for jazz guitar
and Slim’s vocal is in a suitably late
night jazzy vein.
I
enjoyed this album a lot, mixing up straight
ahead blues and r&b with swing jazz provides
a nicely balanced set and one that Lynwood Slim
fans should certainly appreciate. |
