Did you get your bread and milk for the snowstorm of the century (again)? Chances are you could use some new tunes to keep you warm along with the blankets and booze. Voila, Tomás Doncker’s Big Apple Blues.
This album is an old sound with fresh twists every measure. Its deep blues meets Motown soul mixed with grade A stank funk. The guitars slay in front of the mix and jam right along when necessary. The organ sustains its notes in a way where it screeches but never offends the band. The bass thumps away throughout and the drums slyly groove along. Sprinklings of keyboards and a string section round the songs; there’s even some chromatic harmonica in there.
It would be a pretty group of songs if it weren’t for the depth of Doncker’s voice and sometimes-boorish pronunciations of words that signify him as one of those no good guitar pickin’ men. At first listen the voice may not fit the clean sound of the songs but it all makes sense when one reflects on the words of Blues Legend Muddy Waters, who said, “For the type of blues I sing, you must pay the cost out there.”
The Blues is earned, not taught. Tomás Doncker sings as a man who has survived struggle. There’s a grit, coarse flow from note to note. For anyone who’s ever had it rough, this man’s music will inevitably make you bob your head with an upside down grin on your face while verse turns to chorus turns to guitar led loose jam.
From that painful serenade comes 6/8 soul vibes that usher up images of candy red Cadillacs, lucky strikes, and a lack of jive turkeys afoot. Here’s the part of the album that turns that frown upside down. I don’t know if the word “Jazzy” should exist in the description of this album, but the chord progressions get intricate in places where it isn’t expected. Those are the fresh twists aforementioned. Have you ever seen those 4 chord 100 songs videos? Yea, none of these songs could apply to that.
For anyone looking for some New York Native old school blues you haven’t heard yet, you’re welcome: