Denmark based Dan Klarshov has released this
CD as his first solo project, a CD comprising of 11 songs with no
original compositions. Dan has been joined with probably some of the
best players in Denmark to create this tremendous sounding album of
crafted gems.
Just lately I have been listening to a lot of Danish Blues albums and
the one thing that has struck me, is that the blues is being taken
very seriously in Denmark.
The thing though, that hit me about Dan's album, is that it has
elements of jazz and sophistication which gives it an edge over
rock/blues in my book. The sophistication can clearly be heard in
Dan's reading of T-Bone Walker songs, as Dan manages to squeeze every
last bit of feeling out of the notes he plays.
There are four T-Bone Walker songs, "Strollin'
With Bone", "T-Bone Shuffle", "Jealous Woman"
and "Git These Blues Off Me".
On "Jealous Woman" Dan conjures up a New Orleans feel which
has a great organ solo from Peter Lapiki, there is defiantly a
second-line groove on this arrangement. Peter Lapiki is to the fore
giving us a kind of psychedelic organ playing on "Git These Blues
Off Me" which he plays in a "Green Onions/Help Me" kind
of groove on a Hammond B3 which is first class. "T-Bone Shuffle"
is the classic T-Bone riff song which has some wonderful B3 playing
again from Peter Lapiki, but Dan shines through with his swinging
melodic guitar playing. Dan also gets to grips with Champion Jack
Dupree's "My Baby's Coming Home" which sounds so good as Ole
"Fessor" Lindgreen produces some funky New Orleans trombone
playing, which is matched by Hans Knudsen playing some great piano
fills.
Joe Turner's "Wee Wee Baby" contains some of Dan's finest
guitar moments on the album with a verse from "Goodmorning Little
School" thrown in for good measure. Dan even manages to add a
touch of, as he calls it Reggae/Blues on "I Wish You Were
Mine", and the Saxophone playing of Anders Gaardmand is a joy on
this pulsing soft Reggae beat. Dan's album deserves to be in
everybody's collection, it is a classy polished set of great songs,
buy it.
