King Louie, Baby James - Around the World: Live At Jimmy Mak's (2008)

Tracklist

01. Introduction (Live)
02. Mood Indigo (Live)
03. Lou's Blues (Live)
04. Slow Blues in G (Live)
05. The Body (Live)
06. Big Fat Mama (Live)
07. Around the World (Live)
08. Cissy Strut (Live)
09. Until the Real Thing Comes Along (Live)
10. Straighten Up and Fly Right (Live)
11. It Had to Be You (Live)
12. You Are so Beautiful / Big Fat Mama (Reprise) [Live]



The live recording of “King Louie & Baby James” (organist Louis Pain and singer Sweet Baby James Benton) is a rollicking good time.

Benton is one of the last links—and surely the most visible—to Portland's jazz heritage. He was also the “proprietor” of a garage-turned-jazz-salon in his backyard, where the top players in town and those coming through town would meet. “The music went all day, every day,” he said with a chuckle, “and you could always eat.”

That is precisely the spirit captured on this recording.

Pain—part of Mel Brown's B-3 Organ Group, and for years Paul deLay's keyboardist/arranger—has one foot in jazz and one in the blues, exactly the tradition from which Benton springs. Add guitarist Eddie Martinez and tenor saxophonist Renato Caranto, plus drummer Micah Kassell, and you've got a delightful mix of virtuosity and deep soul.

In his 78th year, Benton is the star. He might not have the vocal chops he had 30 years ago, but the delight he takes at still being in front of an audience is obvious, as is the freedom to say pretty much what he wants.

The tunes are warhorses, old shoes the band wears comfortably. On the instrumentals, Caranto, Pain and Martinez have never sounded better.

It's hard to leave this album without a smile on your face.

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