Chris Duarte and Bluestone Company
Blues Alley Japan January 11, 2008
Chris Duarte – Guitar
Toshihiro Sumitomo – Guitar
Yoshihiro Ogasahara – Bass
Taizo Takafuji – Drums
Taro Takagi – Percussion
The second tour of blues-rock man Chris Duarte and local powerhouse Bluestone Company was a vital, high-energy drenching in the blues, and even better than their tour last year. Duarte's rhythmic Texas-style guitar has already been compared to the late legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan. There's a lot to compare between the two, but Duarte is his own man, and his own guitarist, with plenty of amazing licks, thrills and emotion to place him in vaulted company, but also to let him work out his own musical style.
Duarte and Bluestone put on an impressive, impassioned show.
More together this tour than last, they relax into great grooves, honest blues and blistering jams. They start the songs at a high energy level and then just keep cranking it up. Their go-for-it jams, though, never lacked variety, with plenty of funk and feeling all through every tune. Playing new tunes like the blues-life anthem, "Do It Again," from his new CD "Blue Velocity," alongside original gems like "Cleopatra," from 1997's "Tailspin Headwhack," the five musicians dug deep into them all.
Crunching, gutbucket solos came fast and furious, so it was no surprise that Duarte kept breaking strings, and busting foot-pedal fuses. But, it was surprising that he recited Shakespeare sonnets as he paused to change them between songs. You got to like a bluesman who recites 500-year-old iambic pentameter in between belting out blunt, earthy blues lyrics. But maybe the two are not so different as it first appears! If only old Willy S. had had an electric guitar…!
Bluestone really held their own and then some. Sumitomo on guitar was a marvel. His tasteful slide guitar lines rested easily on top of Duarte's hard-punching, funky chords. From time to time, they leapt into Allman Brothers-like twin guitar lines that really soared. Sumitomo's solos packed in plenty of feeling with his amazing chops, knowing how to use the slide not just to lift off and fly but also to get right into the heart of the blues.
Drummer Takafuji kept everyone rolling forward with right-to-the-point drive that matched Ogasahara's bass in a way that only musicians who have played together for years can do. Takagi's percussion accented every move of the group, dropping in colors, textures and his own percussive voice. Even though everyone has their muscular, aggressive style, they never got in each other's way. The five pegged out plenty of space inside every tune, making every tune brawny and fresh, with a sound that stayed ripened and rounded. The whole band worked tight rhythms together on tunes like the Meters' "People Say."
This kind of band-blending project is fascinating in all kinds of ways. The blues conversation between Duarte and Bluestone was packed with the right kind of friction. Like jazz before it, blues is nowadays coming into its global stage when bands with different styles and backgrounds can get together and make terrific, authentic music. Jazz was always a music that traveled, though, while blues has taken longer to travel away from its old, local springs. Duarte and Bluestone's magic made it clear that the live houses of Tokyo and those of Austin, Texas are no longer so very far apart. And for the packed-in, excited fans at Blues Alley in January, that was a wonderful thing indeed.