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Blues Lightning
The Wayne Riker Gathering |
The
last we beheld guitarist Wayne Riker was on his 2018 release
Blues
Breakout, a spectacular exhibition of fretboard heroics. Known locally and nationally for mastery of a variety styles, the previous album was Riker in a mood to blaze the blues.It was, to my ears, the most impressive display of blues guitar know-how since
Johnny Winter's fabled
Second Winter . Riker is a
very distinct, even singular stylist, of course, but what he shares with Winter
is an unerring sense of melding technique, taste, flash and feeling into
each phrase he puts out there. Wonderfully fluid , he makes it seem that he can
make his guitar convey the emotion and attitude he feels the moment he feels
it; this disc is the kind of long-form improvisation which renews itself with
each chorus. Each solo our friend Wayne essays forth is packed with what might
be called The "Wow Factor”.
The
new record Blues Lightning continues this ride, with
Riker this time availing himself of another able musicians, a quartet with
Riker on guitar, Doug Kvandal on organ, Mackenzie Leighton on bass and Walt
Riker on drums. A briefer album Blues Lightning has six
hard-sizzling tracks, recorded live on three different dates at San Diego's
Studio West. The mood up-tempo, with enough of B.B. King’s feel for elegant
hullabaloo. The band throughout demonstrates a flawless sense of what how to
play the changes, with bass and drums locked into a neat habit of
propulsion , keeping the music tight while allowing it rock hard . Riker's guitar work is a revelation to anyone
who had loved his accelerated dexterity from the 2018 release. This time his
breaks are sweet, the phrases more voice-like , with a very use
of seeming obligato statements, superbly use of pauses between riffs, and an
emotionally pulverizing feeling for the high blues bend, controlling with a
vibrato at the end of the line , compelling your author to slam his hand on the
coffee table a few times. The band mix is spicier with Kvandal's adroit
work on the Hammond B-3 organ work, producing swells of funky, grinding texture
that weds Riker's spikey guitaring and the rock-solid rhythm section. He fills
gaps, offers short phrases to underscore vocal lines, and is a glorious second
voice on his own solos, spare, resonant, eternally funky. Guitarist and
organist engage in a continuous series of quick- witted dialogues and call -and-
response.As
mentioned before, the album, this release has only 6 tracks, each of them a
glistening gem of finesse and feel. But what brings Blues Lightning
even more intoxicating is the are the six powerhouse vocalists, Leonard Patton,
Shelle Blue, Deanna Haala, Scott Mathiasen, Lauren Leigh Martin , and Michelle Lundeen. Each vocalist applies their potent skills to their respective
songs. Every hoop, holler, and belted testament to the ironic ways of life and
love, a subtle array of emphasis and insight. It’s a one of the record's added
pleasures that listeners get to appreciate the contrasting yet complementary
contrasts that makes the music even more electrifying.
We
range from the subdued and conversational truth telling of Leonard Patton's reading
of the B.B.King classic "Everyday I Have the Blues "(composed by
Memphis Slim) , a vocal marked both by restraint and conviction in the
singing while the band provides a sprite, marauding groove, to the classic
blues shouting brought on by Scott Mathiasen on Freddy King's "Tore
Down" ( written by Sonny Thompson), a snappy and strutting shuffle
highlighting the singer’s grand and soulful rasp over the percolating ensemble.
Shelle Blue’s reading of “W-O-M-A-N” ,
composed by Dorothy Hawkins, Abbey Mallory, Jean Mitchell and Jamesetta Rogers, is a sexy and assertive
response to the male-point of view of
“I’m A Man”, reminding everyone in the room that women are full partners
in the life they have with their mates.
The B.B. King arrangement of “Rock me Baby” is sufficiently growled, groaned and soulful as rendered by Deanna Haala’s declarative voice .
Michele Lundeen’s vocal on the blues -torch
song ballad “That’s Why I’m Crying” (composed by Samuel Maghett) brings a hint of the sassy earnestness of
Eartha Kitt to the testifying. Riker’s guitar fills and his solo on this tune,
incidentally, are quite thrilling, responding to the highs and lows of
Lundeen’s matchless singing.Singer and guitarist create unbearable tension
until Riker cuts loose with a bravura solo, eloquent and slashing. The solo is an
exquisite showcase of two-fisted blues work, as is , in point of fact, the
entirety of Blues Lightning. Buy
the record and do as I do and place the disc on while having your morning
coffee. Twenty minutes of that in the A.M. and I am ready to seize the day.
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