Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Louisiana Soul Revival: Louisiana Soul Revival Featuring...

2

Louisiana Soul Revival: Louisiana Soul Revival Featuring Doug Duffey

By

View read count
Louisiana Soul Revival: Louisiana Soul Revival Featuring Doug Duffey
Louisiana Soul Revival (LSR) frontman and primary composer Doug Duffey—already enshrined in the Louisiana Hall of Fame (in 2001) and the National Blues Hall of Fame (2009)—sure knows his musical roots. "North Louisiana, in the Mississippi Delta, has deep musical roots in the blues, Memphis soul, southern gospel, rock 'n' roll, folk, and hybrids that are uniquely its own," Duffey explains.

This eponymous debut gives voice to Duffey's extensive repertoire of funky, soulful originals primarily written between the 1970s and '90s. For example, its irresistible opener "Funky Bidneh" and "Be What R Ya" were written around the same time that Duffey was working through the iconic "One Nation, Under a Groove" with Parliament Funkadelic . (Other funkmeisters who have recorded Duffey tunes include George Clinton and Rare Earth.)

To steal and slightly twist the title of a famous Jay Geils Band tune: This set ain't nothing but a party, and sounds like a lost gem discovered midway between the Albert King blues and Bar-Kays funk-rock titles in the classic Stax-Volt label catalog. Guitarist (and arranger and producer) Dan Sumner opens "Funky Bidneh" with rhythm licks that feel like an instrumental puppy wriggling to get out of your hugging grasp; alto saxophonist Mason Howard solos with the early rock raunch of New Orleans' famous Specialty Records and Sumner's solo shows off his major-league fastball—high, hard and nasty. Duffey's tightly wound three-minute nugget "1-900-For-Love" would have been a great tune for Little Milton or Z.Z. Hill to sing.

"It Ain't What Ya Do" keeps the rhythm rocking back and forth, a funky see-saw for your ears to jump on, while Duffey's vocal overflows with authentic southern soul: A little bit country, a little bit funky, a little bit rockin' but all the way soulful. "There's a real tangible difference that you can hear in Louisiana's music. It's more rhythmically intricate," Sumner suggests. "In Louisiana, music is uniquely rhythmic across all styles."

It's also uniquely rhythmic across genders: Betsy Lowe and Naomi Holder shimmy and stomp through the lead and backing vocals of "Do It Right" (which Duffey originally wrote for The Brides of Funkenstein). These female vocals may introduce a new sound, but the music behind them remains a rolling and tumbling caldron of steaming funk. "We have energy coming from lots of different places in life," Sumner concludes. "It's a big, blasting full sound. It's a big gumbo."

Track Listing

Funky Bidneh; It Ain’t What You Do; I Don’t Need Ya Anyway; Do It Right; 1-900-For-Love; The Joke Is On You; Just For Tonight; B What R Ya; Love Into My Life.

Personnel

Doug Duffey: vocals, piano, keys; Dan Sumner: vocals, guitar, arrangements; Ben Ford: bass; Adam Ryland: drums, percussion; Cody Holder: baritone sax; Jonathan Patterson: trombone; Mason Howard: alto sax; Bert Windham: trumpet; Betsy Lowe: vocals; Naomi Holder: vocals, Alex Noppe: trumpet (7).

Album information

Title: Louisiana Soul Revival featuring Doug Duffey | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante
All In Motion
Dave Redmond
Cat & The Hounds
Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds Featuring Catherine...

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.