Two time Juno award winning Toronto bluesman Jack DeKeyzer is a Canadian treasure and he is ready to boogie on his new live CD “Voodoo Boogie.”
Throughout the CD, which was recorded in Hamilton back on May 1, 2009, he has a very subtle, and often jazzy feel to his guitar playing.
The show includes a variety of DeKeyzer originals and various jams on blues classics like “Shake your Moneymaker” and “You Shook Me,” obscurities like J.B Lenoir’s “ Voodoo Woman” and he gets to show off his soulful voice on R and B classic “Heard it through the Grapevine.”
He shows off his jazz chops on “Cinderella,”but cuts loose on a seven minute jam on “Cinderella” which features a tasty saxophone solo from Chris Murphy which draws some polite applause from the audience and a drum solo.
The rhythm section, bassist Allan Duffy and drummer David Colter play in the pocket throughout especially on “Cinderella.”
DeKeyzer has an amazing, tasteful feel throughout the set, which focuses on material from his first two CD and blues classics but shows some impressive licks like on “Pleasure is My Business.”
He shows some rock and roll roots on “Rock Till You drop,” which features an upbeat boogie woogie piano solo from David “Groove Dr.” McMorrow who also adds also vintage organ throughout the CD adding extra musical colours.
I love his toe tapping take on Elmore James’ “Shake Your Moneymaker.”
He isn’t afraid to sit back and relax a little like on his jazzy, laid back and groovy cover of ”All Along the Watchtower.”
The J.B Lenoir cover of “Voodoo Boogie” and “C.O.D, ” which doesn’t appear anywhere else in his back catalogue, is a highlight as is the beautiful version of the slow blues “ You Shook Me” which lets him cut loose on guitar.
The entire CD is a beautiful slice of blues, capturing the man in his element— on stage.
Artist: Jack DeKeyzer
Genre: Blues
Record label: Blue Star Records