Duke's Blues Changes Things

April 20, 1997

It's not like I was expecting a night of gut-wrenching blues at the Junkyard last Friday. After all, Duke Robillard's home of Providence, Rhode Island, isn't exactly the heart of the Delta. But as it turns out, this might be a good thing.

As a student of the blues, Duke Robillard learned his trade from the likes of T-Bone Walker, Magic Sam, and all the Kings. He founded the legendary Roomful of Blues in 1967 and led The Fabulous Thunderbirds in the early 1990s. But even with these credentials, this modern day guitar great is about as unassuming as a Greyhound bus driver.

Duke Robillard is one serious musician; showmanship seems irrelevant to his craft. And so it was at the Junkyard last Friday night. There were no gymnastics, musical or otherwise, and little banter with the audience. Robillard and his band simply led a fascinating tour through the historic and diverse neighborhoods of jump, shuffle, swing, jazz, R&B, and good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll.

Unlike his early days with Roomful, Robillard tours with a small but still potent band of players. Beatish Bostonian Marty Ballou manned the upright bass. The wiry "Sax" Gordon Beadle alternated tenor and baritone saxes. The young and able Marty Richards rounded them out on drums, though Robillard also brought to the stage a veritable museum of big, deep, vintage Gibson guitars.

Through two full sets, Robillard weaved originals from "Duke's Blues" and his upcoming Pointblank release "Dangerous Place" with one shining tribute after another: to Pee Wee Crayton, T-Bone Walker, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Big Joe Turner, and Count Basie. From the opening "Texas Hop" through the stirring T-Bone classic "Glamour Girl," Robillard and the band took us on one helluva tour. So varied are his styles and accomplished his techniques, in fact, I can't help but wonder whether Duke Robillard might one day lead us beyond the outskirts to a whole new genre.

Curtis Hewston
Geez, I've been living in Orlando since the early 1970's. I did two years at the University of Florida, two more at Disney, and then graduated from UCF in 1980-something with a degree in philosophy. Since then, I've worked as a writer and editor at a lot of places. Besides sleep and coffee, my major preoccupation is the blues. I also squander my spare hours online. I do a Web site called The Blue Highway and poke around the blues newsgroups several times a day. Oh, I've got a cat named Biff.