Piano Red - Doctor Feelgood (CD)

All Music Guide

Willie Perryman, younger brother of Rufus aka Speckled Red, is your basic, deliberate barrelhouse and honky tonk pianist whose percussive approach, stride inferences, and two-chord signatures are prevalent throughout this solo set. His singing is a bit rough and raggedy, but nonetheless sweet and tuneful. Piano Red also wrote the bulk of these twelve two+ minute tracks. The majority of the tunes are half-time 4/4, such as "Coochi" (actually pronounced "coocha"), the similar "I Know You Care for Me," the quintessential rent party blues "We'll Have a Good Time Tonight," the fun take of the classic "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone," and the beat of "Barrelhouse Boogie," whose 50/50 measured and strident/non-swinging pace is typical of this whole set. The variations are a slower honky tonk-type line on the title track, the most straight boogie-woogie with slowed down segments on the instrumental "Boogie Time," a straight 12-bar take of Leroy Carr's "Low Down Dog Blues," and the pi...ning "Let's Fall In Love," not the well-known standard, but Red's original. The rest are instrumentals, with an occasional yelp or whoop. A tonking "Jump, Man Jump," the simple song "Think She Ain't," and the joyous two-chord line of "Comin' On" all sound fine without lyrics. Red is one of those unsung heroes in the lexicon of older jazz and blues piano stylings. This is a good CD, and should be available at a discount price due to the limited length, just short of 32 minutes total. - Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide Read more Less