Search - Cafe Music :: Cafe Music: Cafe Blues

Sleeper Alert!

deepbluereview | SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA USA | 06/17/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is one of the best kept secrets and...possibly the best blues bargain on the net. "Café Blues" is part of a series of Café titles released by Eclipse music for the Melitta Coffee Corporation. The series includes fourteen different releases covering everything from classical to jazz to reggae to mambo to blues. "Café Blues" is an all instrumental release featuring ten songs. All of the songs except two were composed and are performed by Alan Darby. If you are wondering how good Darby is, consider this, in addition to having studied music at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he has backed up the likes of Robert Palmer, Van Morrison and has just recently completed a tour with Eric Clapton's band as Clapton's number two guitarist. The songs on the disc demonstrate this guitarist's versatility. The disc opens with the Clapton-like slow blues number "Bad Luck Blues" and then slips into an updated version of Robert Johnson's "Come On Into My Kitchen". Darby also plays a little Muddy Water's styled "Voodoo Man" patterned after "Manish Boy" and the ZZ Top flavored "Nighttrain". This is some good stuff, too bad we don't hear more solo work by this fine artist. Just to show my appreciation, I think I will buy some Melitta Coffee and, hey, I don't even like coffee."