FREDDIE ROULETTE
Jammin' With Friends
Indie Release

By James Porter

Evanston native Freddie Roulette has done a lot for establishing the lap steel in the blues field. He developed his stinging style working with legends like Earl Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite and the recently-departed Bo Dud. While he has occasionally retreated back to the Chicago area to record, he has made San Francisco his home since the early seventies, releasing the occasional solo album. The steel guitar is most identified with country and Hawaiian music, with the whining slide often milked for extra drama. However, the steel is far more versatile than usually given credit for; in Roulette's two hands, it's like a more fluid guitar that you wouldn't know was a steel unless you looked at the credits.

His current album features the talents of noted artists from both California and Chicago. From the Bay Area: David LaFlamme (violinist with It's A Beautiful Day), Barry Melton (guitarist from Country Joe & the Fish), Pete Sears (formerly bassist/keyboardist with Silver Metre, Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna); and there’s former Chicagoans: Harvey Mandel (guitarist from Canned Heat, John Mayall, Rolling Stones), Rich Kirch (guitarist for John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rogers) and Kathi McDonald, a veteran session and backup singer (Rolling Stones, Ike Turner, Leon Russell) who unfortunately passed on not long after these sessions. The album is titled Jammin' With Friends, and that is exactly what we get -- nothing terribly ambitious, just Roulette and his impressive buddies knocking themselves out on a program of standards and semi-standards. 

If you've spent significant time hanging around blues joints, some of these song selections will be well-worn from frequent use: "Mojo," "Flip, Flop & Fly," "Killing Floor," "Reconsider Baby," "Key To The Highway." Frankly, the last thing the world needs is newly-recorded versions of the same old. Just seeing those over-familiar titles had me anticipating the worst, but despite this, the musicians play quite well and sound great together.

Of special note are the two songs that pair Roulette's sweet funky steel with LaFlamme's violin, "Directly From My Heart To You" and "Funky Chicken" (not to be confused with Rufus Thomas' "Do The Funky Chicken"). Pete Sears also gets in some fine organ licks as well. While the idea of the album was indeed a jam session, Roulette is a fine artist and I would love to hear him work out on a few originals, or less time-travelled material.

For more info on Freddie: http://www.michaelborbridge.com/freddiepixs.html

 To buy the CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/m/cd/freddieroulette1

http://www.downhomemusic.com/?page_id=989&product_page=2