Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Tab Benoit: The Sea Saint Sessions

Tab Benoit: The Sea Saint Sessions

By C. Michael Bailey
June 25, 2003
View read count

Houma, Louisiana native Tab Benoit has proven to be one of the most credible and enduring blues artists to emerge in the past 20 years. In the mini-blues revival that has slowly been gaining steam since the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Benoit stands alone in being the practitioner of gritty Creole swamp blues. His sound has been honed not by hours in the studio, but years on the road. His composition and performance reflect this fact.

Mr. Benoit began recording a bit over ten years ago with the Vanguard Releas Nice and Warm, which included the incendiary slow blues title track. He recorded four more discs for the label before moving to Telarc Blues in 1999. After two well received discs since then, Benoit joined forces with Jimmy Thackery for the 2002 Whiskey Store , where he and Thackery reprised "Nice and Warm."

Mr. Benoit has taken his regular touring group into The Big Easy Recording Studio (AKA Sea Saint Studios) for a set of loosely composed and arranged originals and blues standards. The Sea Saint Sessions is a refreshing take on the blues power trio. Benoit’s guitar is spare and raw and the studio people resisted the impulse to overproduce this recording. The results are immediate and real. The songs range from R&B ("Baby Blue") to standard 12-bar ("Monk’s Blues") to the straight zydeco ("Boat Launch Baby"). It is really the last of these that is the most revelatory. Without accordion and washboard support, this brand of zydeco is electric with excitement. Barry White plays a spankin’ Cajun beat. Benoit’s voice is refreshing as well, that Louisiana patois thick as gumbo. I for one would like to hear Mr. Benoit make an entire recording of zydeco!

It is rumored that Tab Benoit will rejoin Jimmy Thackery for Whiskey Store Live. This should be great fun.

For more information, please visit Telarc Blues and Tab Benoit

Track Listing

Baby Blue; Boat Launch Baby; Sufferin

Personnel

Tab Benoit

guitar, electric

Tab Benoit

Album information

Title: The Sea Saint Sessions | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Telarc Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Syncopated Taint Septet
< Previous

Rule Of Three
Next >

Support All About Jazz

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.