Album of the Week – ‘The Road to Love’ by Kenny Burrell
‘The Road to Love’ (High Note Records Inc.) by Kenny Burrell is Eastside Radio’s Album of the Week.
The legendary guitarist captures a moment in time live on stage showcasing his enduring talent and love for the instrument he has dedicated his life to mastering. The album is a perfect example of an artist effectively balancing the role of both frontman and band member. Burrell could have easily created yet another album that was centrally focused on himself and patrons would have just as willingly supported the project, but the experienced artist has made a conscious decision with this record to highlight his fellow band members equally. Each track has a minimum of two solos and traverses some of the most renowned standards to some freshly penned originals. Particularly outstanding tracks include Burrell’s finger work on the latin infused ‘Serenata’, and original ‘Brush Magic’ led by drummer Clayton Cameron.
The latter third of the album introduces the vocal stylings of Barbara Morrison, with who listener’s may be familiar with following her visit in 2002 to perform and record ‘Live Down Under’. Burrell introduces her as the vocalist who can sing anything and in her brief time on stage, they somehow manage to showcase that. To open and effortlessly transition into her set Morrison continues on with a bluesy performance of the album’s title track. She turns the crowd into a mad house audibly clapping and singing along to the performance as she wails and belts the blues out across the track. She then follows that performance on by kindly requesting to pay tribute to the one and only Billie Holiday with the Ballard ‘Crazy He Calls Me’. Many a performer might resist such a sudden change in dynamic and mood in favour of keeping the energy going, however Morrison’s experience makes it easy for the vocalist to usher the audience through change. She proceeds to sing out a faultless rendition of the standard, subtle yet sophisticated that lets the song shine for its compositional brilliance over a vocal circus act, cementing the notion held throughout the album that experience does well and truly enlighten and perfect a performance. The album also features fellow West-Coast artists Justo Almario on tenor saxophone and flute, Tom Ranier on piano and Tony Dumas on bass.
Artist Listing:
Kenny Burrell on Guitar
Justo Almario on tenor sax and flute
Tom Ranier on piano
Tony Dumas on bass
Clayton Cameron on drums (ft. track 4)
Barbara Morrison vocals
Track Listing:
1. Salty Papa
2. Serenata
3. Li’l Darlin’
4. Spoken Introduction to Brush Magic
5. Brush Magic
6. Listen to the Dawn
7. Teach Me Tonight
8. Spoken Introduction to Someone to Light Up My Life
9. Someone to Light Up Mu Life
10. Spoken Introduction to Single Petal of a Rose
11. Single Petal of a Rose
12. Spoken introduction to Confessin’ the Blues
13. Confessin’ the Blues
14. Spoken Introduction to The Road to Love
15. The Road to Love
16. Spoken Introduction to Crazy He Calls me
17. Crazy He Calls Me
18. Things Ain’t What They Used to B
You can follow Kenny Burrell’s career via his FACEBOOK or at . Be sure to tune in this week to 89.7FM EASTSIDE RADIO for your chance to WIN a copy of ‘The Road to Love’ by Kenny Burrell. You must be a supporter to win so make sure to sign up at https://eastsidefm.org/support-us-2/. Don’t forget you can also stream the station at WWW.EASTSIDEFM.ORG.
