The 17th Street Band
Positively 17th Street
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also available on amazon
Harvey Brooks has a energetic new pop blues band and they display the chops and musical prowess of all the bands he has been part of; from Bob Dylan’s backing band on the album “Highway 61 Revisited” to The Electric Flag to his work with Miles Davis on “Bitches Brew” to the “Super Sessions” of Mike Bloomfield/Al Kooper/Steve Stills In this aggravation he provides that always steady support of his bass that gives the music the foundational structure from which to take the risks. However a band is more than one and he is surrounded here by some exceptional players; Arthur Migliazza is a wizard on the piano and brings his love of boogie woogie and New Orleans R& B, Tom Kusian’s jazz and blues roots show up in his very tasteful guitar playing, Tom Walbank does all of the soulful vocal except on “Same Mistakes” (Harvey sings that one), Tom also adds some harp and slide guitar on a cut or two, Dustin Busch adds his country and blues influences with his lap-steel playing, and all anchored by the other half of the rhythm section, Darryl Roles drumming which keeps the dancers feet moving. There are 13 songs and 3 are nice original takes of some well known songs and the rest were written or co-written by Mr. Brooks and the band. There is a great jump blues tune, “Sing Sing Gramps” that is very reminiscent of the big band sound of yore, the heartbreaking slow blues, “Midnight Got Me
Crying,” and the bands theme song/train song, “Positively 17th Street.” There is definitely energy, good songwriting, and some very solid playing in this group. Blues and Live at the House of Blues in Chicago the video and audio quality is not the best; however there is some great energy here that was a trademark of his performances. The energy at the HOB with Junior Wells’ Band is just fantastic and there is some very inspired playing and interplay of the musicians, that more than makes up for murky video and not the best sound quality. The quality of video and audio at the Chicago Blues Festival is wonderful, but then it is an outdoor festival so there is plenty of light, as opposed to a blues club, and there is a feeling that the clarity of sound might be attributed to taking it directly from the sound board. The music here will give you a taste of what his shows were like, the word incendiary might be an understatement of his performance prowess. This is a way to see an often ignored legend and one of the most accomplished guitarist to bless a stage.