Search - Jimmy Witherspoon, Duke Robillard :: With The Duke Robillard Band

For the love of Jimmy Witherspoon

David G. Lucas | Tsukuba Japan, Chicago IL, Milwaukee WI, Monroe WI | 09/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A re-release of Stretchin' Out: Live, your second and last chance to get Jimmy Witherspoon live in the 90's. This recording is Jimmy Witherspoon's last before he passed away, leaving behind a long legacy of great blues recordings, some of the best of which can be found on Rockin' With Spoon, one of the Charly Blues Masterworks collection, Vol.41 (Live). Well, if you've heard that album, you will hardly recognize the elderly gentleman jazzing with Duke Robillard in the graveliest of voices (he's drowning or gargling in places--throat cancer surgery will do that to a singer), but you can still enjoy this album. I especially like the banter with the audience; the jokes and inuendo on the recording that make it valuable as a live testament to the man in his waning years. On this recording, Jimmy's still got it; still fancies himself a ladies man, and is still working for a living. He struggles with some notes, but if you know him and love him, you'll be struggling along with him, singing along. The Duke Robillard Band is fabulous, of course, pushing this recommendation to 4 stars. You'll find lots of 5 star recordings with no trouble at all, but this one is for the love of Jimmy."