This gentleman blew onto the blues scene in the mid-90's drawing comparisons to fellow Texan, Stevie Ray Vaughan. I remember going to see him play a tiny club in downtown Orlando and was floored by his live presence. As far as his studio releases went? Comme ci, comme ça... His playing was fine, his songwriting was fair.
He tours quite a bit and his recorded output has been more frequent since signing with Blues Bureau International several years ago, but I haven't had the urge to consider either. I admit to adding this album to my "investigate" list for a refresher visit, but lo and behold, BKP beat me to it and sent it along in his most recent musical care package. As it has been available for about three months, I fast-tracked it into the rotation (which is bulging with other recordings from Feb. & March...gotta get busy...), but I still won't own a complete Chris Duarte disc...
The blueprint hasn't changed. Still fine fretwork, still so-so writing. Still hear the SRV bends and one track has a heavy Hendrix sound. Never quite heard the Johnny Winter connection many people attest to. This is (sort of) the title track...
This is one of the five keepers from the 12-cut album and the studio version has an air of Trower to it. Not live. Smokes waaayyy more. One of the other keepers was the final song. I thought for sure I had either downloaded an incorrect version or I had screwed up and added a foreign track to the queue when I transferred it to disc. It had this mad violin ripping across a style more at home on the Steven Wilson album than the first eleven tracks. Turns out the cat's name was Mads Tolling from the Turtle Island String Quartet (check out TISQ's "Legacy of John Coltrane" and be prepared for enlightenment).
While searching for videos, I found one that was an open letter to Glenn Hughes suggesting Duarte would be a fine replacement for JB in Black Country Communion. The guy likes to tour......hmmmm.
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