Listening to the latest release from the Terry Quiett Band out of Kansas, “Just My Luck” is a great genre mixing blend of blues, blues inspired rock and jazz with a bit of soul stirring around in the mix. Maybe we can call it “Blues Stew”! Having recently entered the world of swing and blues dance, I find myself with a keener ear towards rhythm and the swing/groove. This album is chock full of both.
The band comes out of the gate and hits you with an attention grabbing groove and some incredible guitar work in “Karma”. This is a great opening tune and sets the tone for the album by getting your feet tapping and head bobbing from the start and then taking you into a full blown dancing frenzy by the end. You add to this groove rhythms of “You’re My Kind”, “Big Man Boogie”, “The Woodsman”, “Pound of Flesh” and “Fool’s Gold” and you’ve got the backbone of a really good record.
The guitar work of Terry Quiett is clean, crisp and incredibly creative as he plays what is not expected, keeping the solos fresh and exciting. The standout guitar work can be heard on “Karma”, “Getting Through To Me”, “The Woodsman” and on “Fool’s Gold” that has an ending flurry that is awesome. The guitar work, for some reason, really jumped out at me on “You’re My Kind”, along with the crispness and clarity of the Terry’s vocals, and they stayed this way throughout all the songs.
In order for Terry to get all this guitar work and vocals laid down, there is a solid foundation supplied by bassist Aaron Underwood and Rodney Baker on the drums. When Terry takes the solo down a twisting turning road, these guys hold the line. With some added flair, they are able to reel him back in flawlessly. This kind of work is key to a power trio such as this.
There is a keyboard addition to many songs and it adds a tremendous fill to the sound. Although this makes me wonder, having never seen them live, how much it is missed in their performance. Having viewed a few videos on the web, I can easily see the addition of a keyboard on the stage. The keyboard work is especially notable in the first tune “Karma”, and on “Big Man Boogie” and “Getting Through To Me”.
The other highlights to note were “Judgement Day”, where he picks up the resonator for a tune in the old gospel blues tradition and “The Woodsman”. “The Woodsman” is some great story telling lyrically. The intro on the resonator being smooth and slow, then the song hits a nice groove with a great tempo change for the solo. It had me hearkening back to the day of Charlie Daniels and the Wooley Swamp! In addition, the band does some nice jazz and soul feeling tunes with “Some People”, “Satisfied”, and especially on “Close To You” which I could easily hear Otis Redding or Teddy Pendergrass covering.
You can clearly make out the quality production work of Jim Gaines on this album, love the cd case, cd art and artwork inside. Quality stuff, I look forward to them getting outside of the midwest states this summer!
