AL BASILE

QUIET MONEY

2017-11-05

Singer, songwriter and cornet player Al Basile has been on a tear the past few years with at least five discs of all original material since 2010. As the original cornet player in Roomful of Blues 44 years ago, he had the chance to delve into the sounds of Buddy Johnson, Lowell Fulson, Saunders King and others. His career since then has seen repeated references to that era of music and this disc marks a headlong jump into the jump blues, swing, R & B and Texas blues championed by these legends and others. Joined here by the Duke Robillard Band as well as Roomful saxophonists Rich Lataille and Doug James, Basile turns his eye towards the tough road always traveled by the blues and its adherents, "Blues Got Blues", the fact that simple choices are not all that easy to pull off, "Simple Ain’t Easy", the reality that truth gets its own facts so often these days that even those making things up lose track of the real score, "Do You Even Know?", the need to follow the money to figure why you are on the outside looking in, "Quiet Money", the perils of suspending judgment in a relationship, "I Woulda Been Wrong", and a duo of tunes about looking the end in the eye, "Not Today" and "Who’s Gonna Close My Eyes?" While he is often pretty serious, he’s not above a little mischief as revealed by the saucy Put Some Salt On it where cooking is not quite what it seems. With musical references to classics by Ella Johnson and the Buddy Johnson Orchestra, Charlie Rich and Duke Ellington this disc will find a comfortable home in the hands of those who enjoy a swinging horn section and well-honed lyrics. Smitty

review by Mark