Search - Joe Louis Walker :: Pasa Tiempo

You shouldn't be surprised to hear Joe Louis Walker performing with world-class jazz musicians on this album. The well-regarded bluesman has displayed a fiercely active musical imagination since the mid '80s, and it's only natural he should hit it off with players such as trumpeter Wallace Roney, saxophonist Ernie Watts, and bass player Bob Hurst. The result is accessible blues-based music that incorporates elements of jazz, Latin, soul, gospel, and rock. Walker is a distinctive singer, noticeably so when sharing hurt feeling with Watts on an original titled "You Get What You Give." Only on Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing" does the singer seem to be chasing an elusive epiphany. Walker's an accomplished guitarist, his Gibson perhaps at its most expressive when worked with a slider on the old standby "It Hurts Me Too." Session guitar great Phil Upchurch adds to the fun of the '50s instrumental "You Can't Sit Down." --Frank-John Hadley