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July 5th, 2008
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Head full of blues

Duke Robillard makes his Prague debut
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By Frank Kuznik
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 26th, 2008 issue

Robillard has come full circle with his latest disc, a compendium of jazz and swing.
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Duke Robillard


When: Wednesday, April 2, at 8
Where: Retro Music Hall
Tickets: 385?450 Kč, available through Ticketpro, Ticketstream and at the venue
One of America’s foremost blues aficionados rolls into town next week in the person of Duke Robillard, the award-winning guitarist and bandleader who co-founded Roomful of Blues in 1967 and has been on a tear ever since. He played in the Legendary Blues Band (composed of former members of Muddy Waters’ band), replaced Jimmy Vaughn in the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and in a long solo career has played and recorded every style the genre encompasses, from jump blues to jazz to swing.
No slouch after all that time in the business, Robillard is still on the road for up to 250 dates a year, including a current 12-country tour of Europe.
“It’s going exceptionally well,” he said last week over the phone from Diest, Belgium. “I’ve been coming to Europe for a long time, like 25 years. People seem to like the blues everywhere.”
Certainly they like the type of blues Robillard plays, which manages to combine a straight-ahead playing style with fresh, sharp arrangements and the intelligence of a student of the form. Get Robillard talking about the blues, and suddenly you’re into a history of American music.
“People don’t understand that jazz, R&B, country, rock ’n’ roll and funk are all just blues played in a different fashion,” he said. “You listen to some of those big bands from the ’40s, and they’re playing blues progressions. Hank Williams, Memphis rockabilly, Louis Armstrong — the blues runs through all that music.”
Robillard has always been fascinated by the confluence of blues, jazz and swing, which he’s explored with recording partners ranging from sax legend Scott Hamilton to singer Jimmy Witherspoon to jazz guitarist Herb Ellis. “I like blues played in a jazz fashion, that’s a sound I’ve always related to,” he said. “It’s a good way to see how far you can stretch the blues.”
Lately Robillard has stretched into some interesting areas offstage. He’s in the process of recording instructional DVDs on playing blues guitar, basically passing on what he’s learned in more than 40 years in the business. “My manager, who is a recording engineer, and I decided to do it when we realized we could do it ourselves,” he said. “I purchased two high-definition cameras and it’s ridiculous how good the visual quality is.”
Robillard and his manager will also be traveling to Latvia to record a group called the Latvian Blues Band. “They play American-style roots music, and back all the visiting blues bands,” Robillard said. “They’re good songwriters, too. Last time we were there, they asked us to produce them. So we’re going to do it.”
And Robillard has a new CD in the can, A Swinging Session with Duke Robillard, due for a May release in the States. Mostly standards, it hearkens back to some of the earlier work he did with Hamilton and Ellis. “It’s been a few years since I did a jazz album, and there were certain tunes I always wanted to record,” he said. “I am extremely happy with the results.”
Local blues fans will get a preview of some cuts from the CD at Robillard’s show, which he says will offer an assortment of music from his entire career, going back to Roomful of Blues. “We’re doing jump blues, swing, straight blues — a good cross-section of styles,” he said. “It varies quite a bit.” And he’s brought a first-rate band that includes Doug James on horns, Mark Teixeira on drums, Jon Ross on bass and Bruce Bears on keyboards.
This will not only be Robillard’s first performance in Prague, but the first time he’s visited the city. “It’s a place I’ve always wanted to see,” he said. “I’m very excited we’re coming to play there.”

Frank Kuznik can be reached at fkuznik@praguepost.com


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