Editor's Note: Graham Clarkes' review of
this fine album by Jimmy Carpenter was chosen
for the Flashback feature not because it's an
older album now being re-released, as is usually
the case for this section of the site. Instead,
it's a personal flashback for me as I knew Jimmy
and used to see him regularly with his band The
Alkaphonics when I lived in Greensboro, North
Carolina back in the 1980s. I'm glad that Jimmy
is still blowing his sax. It's great to hear his
music again. --- Bill Mitchell
A 35+year veteran of the blues scene, you might
say Jimmy Carpenter knows a thing or two
about the blues. Since the early 1980s,
Carpenter has played sax for Jimmy Thackery,
Tinsley Ellis, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Eric
Lindell, the Honey Island Swamp Band, and most
recently his longtime buddy Mike Zito ---- all
while managing to release a few solo recordings
of his own in the process. It was Zito who
encouraged Carpenter to make a “no frills,
straight-up” blues sax record for his next
recording. Well, that’s just what Carpenter has
done with his latest VizzTone release, Jimmy
Carpenter Plays The Blues.
In the liner notes, Zito writes that he first
heard Carpenter with Thackery in 1999 and was
enthralled by the sax/guitar interplay between
the pair. However, Zito himself was never able
to find that sound with anyone else. He finally
realized that the sound was more about Carpenter
than the saxophone, and that he knew how to play
in a manner that complemented guitarists. Zito
produced the disc and backs Carpenter on guitar,
but also includes several other guest
guitarists, including Tinsley Ellis, Tony D of
MonkeyJunk, John Del Toro Richardson, and Anders
Osborne.
Eight of the ten tracks on ….Plays The Blues
are covers. They include Magic Sam’s rousing
“You Belong To Me” (with Tony D on guitar), the
Willie Dixon standard “Too Late” (with guests
Lewis Stephens on organ and Dave Keyes on
piano), Little Walter’s “Blues With A Feeling”
(featuring Richardson), and the Freddie
King/Sonny Thompson instrumental “Surf Monkey”
(with some nice interplay between Carpenter and
Ellis).
There’s also a stirring reading of Sam Cooke’s
“Change Is Gonna Come” (with Osborne) and King
Curtis’ “Preach.” On both of these tracks,
Carpenter gives an instrumental shout-out to
Curtis, a R&B sax pioneer who left this world
much too soon. Zito, who backs Carpenter on all
these tracks, steps up to take the mic for a
terrific reading of Otis Rush’s “All Your Love
(I Miss Lovin’).” The closer is a soulful take
on Junior Walker's Motown classic “Shotgun.”
Carpenter includes a pair of original tracks in
the set. On the instrumental “Jimmy Plays the
Blues,” he does just that, subtly backed by Marc
Adams (organ) and Zito; it's.five minutes of
slow blues heaven. In contrast, “Kid In My Head”
is two and a half minutes of rollicking rock n’
roll punctuated by Stephens’ piano, reminding us
that despite what it says on our drivers’
licenses, we’re all still kids at heart.
When it all wraps up, Jimmy Carpenter Plays
The Blues is exactly what Mike Zito
requested in the beginning ---- ”a no frills,
straight-up blues album.” Blues fans will
definitely not be disappointed with the final
results. In fact, they may be playing it over
and over for a while. This is as good as the
“straight-up” blues gets.
--- Graham Clarke
