Hey, Peter Frampton, bless his soul, is a Big Joe fan! Peter plays guitar on 2 tracks on this CD and actually I wasn't at all surprised, as I knew Frampton way before the 1970s glam-rock idol stage in his career. (He co-lead the great British Blues/Rock band Humble Pie with Little Stevie Marriott and that band kicked ass from 1969 to '71.) Frampton is now a Cincinnati resident and met Big Joe at a 9/11 benefit concert there and was smitten by Joe's authentic Boogie-Woogie Blues.
What's really attractive/interesting for hard core Blues fans is that KING Records veterans (KING/FEDERAL, Freddy King's old label, was based in Cincinnati for 20-odd years) Philip Paul (drums) and Ed Conley (bass) make up the rhythm section and they work perfectly with Joe, the last of the great 1940s Boogie-Woogie pianists. At 83 years young, Joe Duskin was a youngster in his mid-twenties when the Boogie-Woogie piano craze overtook the world and it was perhaps the biggest and longest running music 'fad' in history with thousands of 78s, EPs released by hundreds of pianists. But, as the liner notes point out Joe had promised his Blues-hating father that he wouldn't play Blues/Boogie-Woogie on the piano until Dear Old Dad was dead and in the ground. Unfortunately, after making that promise, Joe soon realized his father (Perry) was trying to set a Guinness Record for longevity. He didn't die for another 26 years at the age of 105! Poor Joe didn't touch the piano from 1938 to 1963! Cincinnati Blues fanatic Steve Tracy 'discovered' Joe in 1972 and with Steve's help (from his record collection) Joe re-learned Boogie-Woogie piano from the classic era of the 1940s (Joe's a huge Pete Johnson fan) and in 1977 Arhoolie Records released the superb Duskin LP "Cincinnati Stomp".
While Joe has slowed down due to old age and diabetes, he's still the rich-voiced, two-fisted piano pounder and Joe Duskin at 83 is still dynamic dynamite. As pointed out in the liner notes, this is just his 3rd 'studio' album in 27 years (and only his 2nd recorded for an American label), but he does have a handful of other 'live' albums (all recorded for European labels during his repeated tours there). That's a shame, but at least Joe got to tour extensively over the last 25 years and turn tens of thousands onto the real Boogie-Woogie Blues. This really is an historic album as it may possibly be the last recording by a Cincinnati Blues Legend (the other survivor of the 1940s, H-Bomb Ferguson, is in ill health).
Joe runs through a fine procession of his favorites (some of which have become his standards like "Down the Road Apiece") and like a true master transforms other artists' hits into something completely Joe Duskin, like Memphis Slim's "Beer Drinking Woman" and "Everyday I Have the Blues". Highlights for me include his original "Mean & Strange" and "Get out of My Way" (Roosevelt Sykes).
Frampton's guitar work shows why lead guitarists and pianists have always had an uneasy coexistence (excluding Matt Murphy/Memphis Slim, of course), but co-producer William Lee Ellis fares much better on acoustic. Big Joe Duskin is a living legend and a giant among Blues pianists. He delivers an excellent set here despite his health problems and he deserves to be acknowledged as a Blues King and Patriarch of Boogie-Woogie Piano. Yellow Dog Records has done both the Blues world and Big Joe Duskin a great service by recording this very fine album. ("North to Alaska" highlights the link between Honky Tonk music and Boogie-Woogie.) Joe's story of his fiery relationship with his preacher father is another memorable highlight to cherish. 5 bottles for a wonderful piano Blues album, which we all know, are as rare as an honest Republican. Thanks to all involved.