Gene Harris & Jack McDuff • Down Home Blues

Gene Harris & Jack McDuff Down Home Blues review by Richard S. Ginell Having shared some gospel space on parts of Gene Harris' In His Hands, Harris and Brother Jack McDuff take the next step and move heavily into the blues on this one, assisted by Ron Eschete on guitar, Luther Hughes on bass, and savvy veteran Paul Humphrey on drums. Harris clearly has the edge on vitality on these sessions; while he can still build up the blues rhetoric to a convincingly shouting climax, McDuff frankly sounds tired and out of gas on "J&G Blues" and several other numbers. Quite often, though, it is Eschete who comes up with the tastiest solos on this disc, and Gene's daughter Niki and Curtis Stigers help out on soul vocals on several tracks. There are also a couple of non-blues standards, "Time After Time" and "You Don't Know What Love Is"; McDuff's mellow, Leslie-treated Hammond B-3 lead on the latter tune is his most soulful contribution on the album. Tracklist 01. Down Home Blues (7:00) 02. J & G Blues (9:35) 03. Soft Winds (7:55) 04. Time After Time (4:46) 05. Blues For Big Foot (7:28) 06. Smack Dab In The Middle (5:52) 07. You Don't Know What Love Is (5:01) 08. Stormy Monday (4:51) 09. Cayenne Blues (7:17) Personnel: Gene Harris - p Jack McDuff - org Curtis Stigers, Niki Harris - voc Ron Eschete - g Luther Hughes - b Paul Humphrey - d Rec.: Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, CA, December 11 & 12, 1996. + info ver fuente ... hay mucho por compartir ...