Artist:     Al Basile

Album:     B’s Hot House

Label:     Sweetspot

Release Date:     9.20.2019

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Prolific blues singer-songwriter and cornetist Al Basile returns with his 16^th album. Basile, as per usual, delivers a strong batch of songs, not only lyrically, but musically these represent some of the best grooves he’s put on record. Part of the credit for that goes also to producer, guitarist and bandleader Duke Robillard who plays, alongside his own talented band, throughout. Basile and Robillard go way back to their years in the ‘70s together in the Roomful of Blues, and Basile tapped some of his friends from their Roomful era for the horn section. The rhythm section of drummer Mark Teixeira, bassist Brad Hallen, and keyboardist Bruce Bears have been with Basile for his past nine albums so this is by now a well-oiled machine.

While all 14 songs are written by Basile, a seven-time BMA nominee for Best Horn Player and nominee for Best Contemporary Blues Album for his Mid-Century Modern in 2016, he continues to point to his major influences in his songwriting. They are Little Junior Parker, Jimmy McCracklin, Slim Harpo, Booker T and the MGs, and others. He splits and blurs the lines between blues and R&B, writing for what he says, “about real life issues, both at home and in the public arena.” His vocals may not be his strong suit, but he knows how to craft songs that fit his voice. And his sense of humor is terrific. He points to the Harmon mute he uses on his cornet stands up to the sound of the electric guitar, meshing his sound with Robillard especially well.

These are a wide range of songs without any single theme holding them together. The highlights include “Storyteller,” in which he tells us that telling a story credibly, whether it’s true or not, make its believable. The incisive “Razor Wire” is about the stinging effect of words. “Looking for a Cookie” is a light, fun narrative with some mystery and “I Ain’t Changing” speaks to our current political divide. At 70 Basile feels rather obliged to comment on mortality as he does in the closing “Time Has Made a Fool of Me,” a combination of humorous and serious lyrics beginning this way: “Now my body’s changing on me, it don’t run no more/My body’s changing on me, it don’t want to run no more/I tell it let’s get going but back and knees are saying no.”

This is as good an album as Basile has made, and a good place to start for those unfamiliar with his work. Basile is not only one of the best lyricists in blues, he is a celebrated lyricist as a published poet. He appears regularly in leading journals, he’s won prizes, and is an educator and panelist for major poetry conferences. His musical and lyrical talents are as strong on B’s Hot House as they’ve ever been on record.

­—Jim Hynes