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Bailey's Bundles
Tony Monaco & Friends: Back At The Chicken Shack
C. Michael Bailey
...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...What grease was missing on East To West and Blue Bop is amply compensated for on Funk-N-Blues. Monaco has his regular guys on hand and they put the pots on, gas on high. As for Pooch, he is more Jimmy Rushing than Joe Williams. He has an expressive tenor voice that is somewhere between the chitlin' circuit and the concert stage, tending toward the humid confines of a Pentecostal tent meeting. There is plenty of church in Pooch's vocals, as evidenced on "Cross My Heart Blues, "Natural Ball and "Georgia On My Mind. Monaco is all over the organic map with his carefully shaded fills and solos. Guitarist Rick Collura conjures blue notes and chords from thin air, never overdoing it.
Funk-N-Blues finds Monaco fitting into an accompanist role with ease, introducing the old "new talent of Willie Pooch. The album is predictable, as it can only be, but it is apparent that Pooch has many more tricks up his sleeve. Monaco will surely look for them.
Tracks and Personnel
East To West
Track listing: I'll Remember Jimmy; O Barquino; Rudy And The Fox; Recordame; Don't Be That Way; Donna Lee; Roz Da' Cat; Softly As In A Morning Sunrise; Like Someone In Love; Indiana.
Personnel: Tony Monaco: organ; Bruce Forman: guitar; Adam Nussbaum: drums; Byron Rooker: tenor saxophone (3,5), alto saxophone (6).
Blue Bop
Silver Spoon; Goin' Home Bridge To Shangri-La; Sudden Samba; Well You Needn't; Remember; All The Things You Are; Walkin' With Mr. Lee; All About My Girl; Tenderly.
Personnel: Linda Dachtyl: organ; Tom Carroll, Sean Carney, Giles Ponticello: guitar; Gene Walker, Bob Frascotti: tenor saxophone; Jim Rupp, Cary Dachtyl: drums.
Funk-N-Blues
Tracks: Why I Sing The Blues; House Arrest Blues; Cross My Heart Blues; In My Lonely Room; Same Old Blues; The Thrill Is Gone; Natural Ball; Buckeye Steel Mill Blues; Willie Rap; Georgia On My Mind; Everyday I Have The Blues.
Personnel: Willie Pooch: vocals; Tony Monaco: organ; Rick Collura: guitar; Louis Tsamous: drums.
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