Search - Ronnie Earl & Duke Robillard :: Duke Meets the Earl

Duke Meets the Earl
Ronnie Earl & Duke Robillard
Duke Meets the Earl
Genres: Blues, Jazz, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (8) - Disc #1

Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl are among blues guitar's hottest pistols, but their first studio union is no showdown. Although Robillard is steeped in all aspects of technique and Earl is a pure "soul" player, their styles...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Ronnie Earl & Duke Robillard
Title: Duke Meets the Earl
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Stony Plain Music
Release Date: 3/8/2005
Genres: Blues, Jazz, Pop, Rock
Styles: Contemporary Blues, Electric Blues, Modern Blues, Slide Guitar, Blues Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 772532130325, 3448969276529

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl are among blues guitar's hottest pistols, but their first studio union is no showdown. Although Robillard is steeped in all aspects of technique and Earl is a pure "soul" player, their styles overlap in the Texas and Chicago schools, which grant both giants plenty of space for elegant and biting single-note solos, daredevil string-bending, and chugging rhythms. Robillard sings two numbers and "Mighty" Sam McClain, whose red-clay voice is the perfect foil for their emotional fretwork, guests on Earl's heartbroken epic "A Soul That's Been Abused." The real mojo, however, is in the instrumentals, where these virtuosos who emerged from the New England scene to achieve worldwide acclaim maintain a beatific dialogue. They both swing like T-Bone Walker on "Two Bones and a Pick" and trade sliding chords and slide guitar licks on "Zeb's Thing," which dips into down-home Mississippi grit. The highlight is "My Tears," on which Robillard sings sad and dirty, Earl turns sustained notes into Zen koans, and both players stretch their flair for dynamics and brilliant, unhurried, lyrical playing to its limit. Fans of blues guitar need to hear this album. --Ted Drozdowski

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CD Reviews

Borg vs. McEnroe...sorry, Ronnie & Duke!
M. Bernocchi | Old Windsor, Berkshire United Kingdom | 03/13/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was lucky enough to have a ticket for the central court in Wimbledon and watch the best tennis final ever played in the championship: Borg vs. McEnroe. After few hours of breath taking spectacle the image of McEnroe on his knees after the winning point is still present today in my eyes. WHAT A DAY IT WAS! If you are wondering: what does it have to do with a blues record? Well it does for me. When I received the delivery from Amazon the feeling I was feeling was the same I proved that day waiting for the match to start. You know that you are about to be witness of a magnificent, historic event and your excitement grows and grows until the match starts and then, when it started, you are carried away in a roller coaster of emotions that are hard to describe in words. Here, my friends, we are in the presence of the two best blues white guitarist alive playing together and the final result in terms of emotions and excitement is very much the same. 8 songs, 72 minutes of great music played the way only Ronnie and Duke could possibly play. They hit the ball hard in each other court using all their best skills exchanging bending, sliding, stretching the notes to the limit, squeezing their guitars as I never heard before. WHAT A BLUES RECORD! We are in the presence of greatness, this is it, this is the best electric-blues album of our era! A fantastic result that I am afraid is already the benchmarking all the others modern electric blues albums will have to be measured against. Uptempo, swinging but mostly slow blues in the menu in an almost (50%) instrumental album. The CD from start to finish captures your attention and makes you experience some of the deepest and strong emotions you have ever had or will have listening to modern electric blues. It is a sterile and pointless exercise to try to find a "favourite" track in this CD because they are all stunning. However is hard not to mention the 15 minutes plus slow "My tears" in which Duke Robillard demonstrates that he is not just an incredible guitar player but also a very good singer, and the great "A soul that's been abused" penned by Ronnie and sung by Mighty Sam McClain. With the appearance of the B3 master Jimmy McGriff as special guest in two songs and a very tight and precise rhythm section the album flows from start to finish in no time and it really looks like instead of 72 minutes it has lasted only a couple. Who's the winner then? Who's the best player? Borg or McEnroe? Ronnie or Duke? That day in Wimbledon McEnroe won, however it is hard to say who was the best player in the court. In this record we have no winners my friends they both won! They both demonstrate that they are the bests around. If there is out there a must have album, this is the one. A billion stars wouldn't be enough to rate this masterpiece!"
Great Great Blues Album!!!!!!!
J. R Sategna | Martinez, California United States | 03/11/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I got this album the day it was available. Great blues from Roomful of Blues former guitar players. Each has his different style and it is very noticable on this recording. Each is featured on a different stereo side-Ronnie on the left and Duke on the right. Lots of slow and fast blues jams with an occasional vocal. I have played this album over and over and never will I get tired of it. If you love the blues and you love these guys-don't wait-get off this web site and go buy it now!!!!!!"
Outstanding blues cruise...
Addison Phillips | San Jose, CA United States | 06/10/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here we have Exhibit A for great blues: 72 minutes of two guitar masters jamming and riffing off of classic or near classic blues tunes. Although there are some nice vocal touches and the band plays some part in the whole experience, those bits are there to provide the foundation for these guys to just take off and GO MAN GO. Not too fast, not too slow, just cruise and cruise to the blues.



Too many modern blues albums are taken up with commercial concerns or featuring a specific artist. Here you get more of the feel of, I dunno, that visit to a club where the players are sitting in the smokey darkness, letting the music wash over you. No 90-second singles. No specific destination.



It's not Rachmaninov, but that, emphatically, is not the point. Someone, somewhere complains that no new ground is broken here, but that misses the point to. The point here is the pure joy of two players at the height of their powers letting us share in the joy.



If you like the electric blues and need a little injection of hot licks, get this one today."