Chaz DePaolo - One Night Live In Iona

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 2014
Time: 67:38 
Size: 155,6 MB 
Label: Smoke Tone Records/Rojer Records
Styles: Blues/Blues Rock
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Chicago 101 - 3:23
 2. Down So Long - 4:50
 3. I Want to Get Funky - 6:52
 4. Woman in a Black Dress - 7:59
 5. No More Doggin' - 6:45
 6. You Know My Baby - 5:27
 7. Stormin' - 4:32
 8. Look at That Girl - 6:57
 9. Cadillac Baby - 5:15
10. Voodoo Style Chazy - 7:21
11. Slo Bite - 8:12

Chaz DePaolo is not only an extremely talented blues and rock guitarist, he is also one of the hardest working men in show business.  He has been on tour for ages, playing 150 shows a year all over the U.S., Canada and Europe, sometimes barely making ends meet, but always plugging along for the love of the music.  Along the way he has earned a loyal cadre of fans and caught the ear of some fine artists, and has shared the stage with the likes of Buddy Miles, Jose Feliciano, David Maxwell, Blue Lou Marini, and Blues Blast Magazine perennial favorite Michael Packer! Besides releasing four solid albums, he can also be heard on projects from Little Milton, Kim Wilson, Rory Block and Charlie Musclewhite.  One Night Live in Iona is Chaz’s disc provides his fans with something fresh as he has not released a new CD since 2009.   This is a recording of the March, 2013 show at Lebanon, Pennsylvania’s Zion of Iona Methodist Church.  DePaolo handles the vocal and guitar chores, and he is joined by Hank Kaneshige on bass, Cliff McComas on drums, and Rob Chaseman on the sax. This is no ordinary church performance — they made up for a relatively small stage by bringing in a full lighting truss and a fog machine, and visually it is appealing.  Chaz has a hearty voice with obvious emotion and his guitar work is complex.  His command of electric blues is undeniable, and his playing is flavored with hints of jazz and funk.  His technical skills are tempered by a genuine feel for the music, and Chaseman, Kanashige and McComas have a tight connection to DePaolo so that they work together as a single entity. The band runs through two tunes from, Flirtin’ with the Blues, including the opener, “Chicago 101.”  DePaolo starts this short instrumental with a classic 12-bar blues riff, and introduces each member of the band before trading solos with Chaseman.  Kanashige and McComas hold down a solid bottom line and deliver the goods without showing off, which would be a temptation with such a small ensemble.  The other song from this album is “Stormin’,” a blues rocker with a slightly funkier backline and an assortment of tones that show that his Stratocaster is not a one-trick pony. Much of the evening was spent covering five songs from his most recent release, Bluestopia.  A standout of these was “Woman in a Black Dress.”  This is a sexy slow-rolling blues number that Chaz belts out with heartfelt emotion while never missing a cue on the guitar.  DePaolo accepts this leadership role with ease and he is truly a bluesman of the highest order. Chaz draws on his history with The Groundhogs, the English band that he fronted for 2 ½ years, by including two of their songs.  “No More Doggin” is a fun rock and roll song that can also be found on his Bluestopia album.  “Cadillac Baby” is of the same ilk, though on this evening he got the Iona audience involved with a little call and response (and they actually did it!).  Of course, Chaz is first and foremost a guitar player, and he proved it handily with “Voodoo Style Chazy,”his interpretation of Jimi Hendrix’s classic blues rocker.  In this same vein, for the encore they pulled out a new song, “Slo Bite,” a tribute to the late Roy Buchanan.  DePaolo shows off his chops on this slow-burning instrumental that is packed with innovative guitar pyrotechnics and a dynamic sax interlude from Chaseman. 

One Night Live In Iona