By Peter "Blewzzman" Lauro © September 2011
Think of how musically knowledgeable you'd be if you were
able to remember every musician who appeared on every CD you've ever listened
to. If you could, then you'd probably know who Ivan Appelrouth is. Not being one
who can, I had to read the notes on the accompanying one sheet - then look
through several of my CD's as a cross reference, to realize I had
heard him play before. With Duke Robillard as his mentor and teacher,
and having recorded with Jumping Johnny Sansone, Li'l Ronnie & The Grand
Dukes, and Big Joe & The Dynaflows, Ivan - unbeknownst to me - was already
in my music collection.
On "Blue And Instrumental", his
first recording as a band leader, Ivan is accompanied by many of his former and
sometime band mates. Joining Ivan Appelrouth on the guitar are: John Cocuzzi on
piano and vibraphone; Dave Cwiklinski on trumpet; Tommy Hannigan and Steve
Potter on acoustic and electric bass; "Big" Joe Maher on drums; Steve Utt on
Hammond B-3; and Chris Watling on tenor and baritone saxophones. Now, you going
to remember all those names?
As the title indicates, this is a completely instrumental
recording with eleven of the fourteen tracks written and arranged by Ivan
Appelrouth.
The disc opens with
"Olsen Ranch Shuffle (Take 2)"
and closes with "Olsen Ranch
Shuffle (Take 3)". Now I don't know who Olsen is, or where his ranch is
either, but I do know that this is one hell of a shuffle. The two takes combine
for a total of ten minutes and feature lots of great Elmore style slide by
Ivan and several hot piano and sax highlights by John and Chris.
"Blues A La King" is hypnotic. Within a few
seconds of the opening notes your eyes will close, your head will tilt till your
chin rests comfortably on your chest and your body will sway in time with your
foot that already started tapping. Then, for the next five minutes the soft yet
deep notes from Steve's stand up bass, the faint tap Big Joe's applying to the
cymbals, the softness in which John's tickling the ivories, and the precision
picking of the guitar by Ivan will totally have you mesmerized. Relax and enjoy
it then hit replay several times. This is sheer musical perfection.
Don't worry about that trance you fell
into....."T-boned Again" will have the same effect as the snapping
fingers of the hypnotist. It's two and a half minutes of intense rhythm topped
off with swinging guitar leads and killer baritone highlights. Oh
yeah!
It may be another short track, but "Junior Jump"
is long enough to take your breath away.....especially if you try to keep up
with it on the dance floor. The whole band's gone totally wild on this one; the
rhythm's insane with Big Joe and Tommy tearing up the drums and big bass; John's
going nuts on the piano keys; Dave and Chris are seeing who can blow their
brains out sooner on trumpet and sax; and Ivan's deliriously at discs best on
guitar.
If you thought it was just Duke who could get that amazing
tone out of one of those wide body guitars, then you'd better think again. As
"Strollin' Blues" will prove, Ivan's mentor taught him well. Having
said that, it's actually Chris' amazing tenor playing that lead the way on most
of this one.
Other tracks - which were all worthy of mention - on
"Blue And Instrumental", include:
"Tribute To Magic Sam", "The Twisted Top", "Frosty", "Strolling With
Bone", "The Uptown, Downtown Groove", "Magic's Time", "Booky's Boogie", "Drivin'
With Ivan", and "Stranger On The Shore".
What I truly found amazing about this disc was
the fact that it was the first ever all instrumental CD that never lost my
attention. And with well over an hour of music, that's saying a mouthful. Kudos
to all the musicians on that.
If you'd like to contact Ivan Appelrouth you can look him
up on Facebook or go to ellersoulrecords.com/ Either way, please
tell him the Blewzzman sent ya.
