Professor Louie & The Crowmatix - Crowin' the Blues Review by Gary Hill
It takes a special set of skills to create music that feels modern and yet faithful to the old musical styles at the same time. That's exactly what we've got here. I had a music teacher who used to say that you can have blues without jazz, but you can't have jazz without the blues. Similarly, there is a blues element to every piece here, but not all of it is pure blues. All of it is purely fun, though.
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Track by Track Review
I'm Gonna Play the Honky Tonks
Blues and honky tonk are combined here in fine style. This is a classy tune and a great way to start things in style.
Prisoner of Your Sound
Percussion starts this. Then the bass joins, followed by the rest of the band. This is more of a blues rock groove. It's a fun cut, too.
High Heel Sneakers
Mid-tempo guitar based blues, this is old school and very tasty. I dig the organ work that comes in mid-track.
Love Is Killing Me The soulful vocals on this are great. The whole arrangement, with its cool jazz meets blues element, is exceptional, too. This is definitely one of the highlights of the set. The vocal arrangement is among the best here, but the general magic and tone of the song stands right alongside it.
Blues & Good News A cool jazzy piece, this is very retro in texture. I like this instrumental quite a bit.
Fine Little Mama A classic blues groove, this is another of the stronger cuts here. It has some killer slide guitar built into it.
I Finally Got You
Keyboards start this. It grows out to a cool rocker with some blues in the mix. I'd say that this has a much more modern sound than a lot of the stuff to this point had. It's a killer cut that really grooves.
Why Did You Do That to Me An old-school jazzy blues number, this feels like it could have come out in the 40s or 50s. It has some great guitar soloing and is just plain fun.
Confessin' the Blues I dig this energetic blues rocker. It has an effective vocal performance and some cool instrumental work.
Bright Lights, Big City
A soulful, jazzy groove permeates this slow moving number. It's another strong piece on a disc that's full of them.
That's Alright I love the old school blues vibe on this tune. It's classic in sound. It really works well, too.
I'm on My Way
Organ leads this out here. They move out from there to a jazzy kind of jam from there. This has an interesting texture to it. It's another standout tune.
Blues for Buckwheat
This instrumental is a lot of fun. It's part jazz, part zydeco and part blues. It's a great way to end the set in style.
