LESTER QUITZAU
So Here We Are
LQ Productions
· Edmonton-based bluesman serves up a smorgasbord of sounds.
· CD release party at the Night Gallery on Saturday, January 13.
Listening to Lester Quitzau's new CD is a bit like taking a musical Rorschach test. Hey, is that Big Sugar I hear, or is it John Lee Hooker? And that bit sounds like Ten Years After, or perhaps John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. And what about that solo – Peter Green? Humble Pie? Cream?
This, of course, is the La-Z-Boy way to review an album: list off a bunch of influences – real or apparent – in the belief that this serves as a guide to the CD in question. And Lester Quitzau deserves much better, for on So Here We Are he transcends all his influences to produce a top-notch collection of songs. Listen to "Honey Bee," for example, which starts off like a swampy delta blues number, only to morph into the tight funk rhythms of the title track, which in turn ends as something else all together. Or try "Release Me," a sort of magical mystery tour of blues styles over the past three decades.
It doesn't always work. Quitzau's voice is a bit thin at times, and the closing track, "Heart and Soul," might have been left off and/or donated to Colin James. But all in all, this CD is far greater than the sum of its numerous parts.
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