2016 – Vizztone
By Phillip Smith; Sep. 25, 2016
In 2013, San Francisco
musician, Nancy Wright pulled down
the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame’s Blues Saxophonist of the Year award. She’s been touring with Tommy Castro for the past couple of years, and has just wrapped up
her latest album, Playdate!. For this project, she has enlisted a slew of
top tier blues talent – Tommy Castro,
Victor Wainwright, Elvin Bishop, and Joe Louis Walker to name a few.
Her band consists of producer/guitarist Christopher “Kid” Anderson, with Chris Burns on keys, bassist Joe
Kyle Jr., drummer J. Hansen, Tom Poole on trumpet, and Faris Jarrah on trombone, and percussionist
Martin Windstad.
Guest vocalist Wee Willie Walker gives a standout
performance and Wright gets down on
sax, as the gang breaks out the sweet funk on the Willie Harper classic, “Why You Wanna Do It”. I fall hook, line and sinker for this
track. It’s absolutely fabulous. I also have to crank up the volume when the
soulful “Been Waiting That Long” kicks in.
Sung by Frank Bey, who toured
with the Otis Redding Review in the
sixties, this killer song was written by Wright’s
friend and mentor, the late, great Lonnie
Mack. Kyle’s funky bassline grabs
ahold and doesn’t let go on “Warranty”, a smooth bluesy track featuring the
lovely and silky vocal talents of Terrie
Odabi.
Wright pulls
in the carefree and classic Motown sound on original track, “Good Loving Daddy”.
It’s a terrific listen for sure. Playdate!
winds down and closes out with the with the slow and wonderfully bluesy “Soul
Blue”, which features the spectacular guitar sounds of Chris Cain. This album is a
definite keeper.
