RICK ESTRIN & THE NIGHTCATS

You Asked For It – LIVE!

Alligator

By Brian K. Read

What’s in a name?  Would The Who have gone bigtime if they called themselves The What?  What if Led Zeppelin had gone with Concrete Boxcar?   The Butterflies just wouldn’t be the same band as The Beatles.  Gertrude Stein wrote: “…rose is a rose is a rose” in her 1913 poem “Sacred Emily.” Contemplate eros and a rose while you ponder: what if “The Nightcats,” a band long led by Little Charlie Baty, were to suddenly become “Rick Estrin & The Nightcats?”   A lot goes along with that name!

After 30 years and nine albums, “Little” Charlie Baty announced his (semi) retirement from playing in 2008, much to the disappointment of Nightcats fans around the world.  After an all-too-long hiatus, the band regrouped and reemerged, with the band’s original vocalist and blues harpist Rick Estrin stepping up to become the new lead Nightcat; if anyone has any doubt, they are alive and well.  And well, there’s no other way to put it…they raise some hell on “You Asked For It – LIVE,” on Alligator.

Make no mistake, Rick Estrin (who holds the 2013 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist–Harmonica) is, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “an amazing harmonica player, a soulful lead vocalist and a brilliant songwriter.”  This new live album, with Estrin at the mic, was recorded October 5, 2013, at San Francisco’s Biscuits & Blues.   That’s his birthday too, by the way.  What went down was pure live blues magic, and it’s evident on every cut of this runaway release.

I hate to drop names, but it’s hard to go wrong with a nomenclature of musicians like the one behind Estrin.  Norway’s Kid Andersen, guitar and background vocals, began playing as a teen, backing American blues artists who came to his country since back in the early ‘80s, from Homesick James to Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, and Nappy Brown.  He got his green card and came across the pond to California at age 21, and was called an “Alien Of Extraordinary Ability.” 

After a 2004 stint with harpist Charlie Musselwhite, he joined Estrin & The Nightcats, where his standout picking provides a solid backing for Estrin’s harp.  Little Charlie is a hard act to follow, but Andersen exerts his own slick style, and fits right in with the band.  “Kid’s a fearless nut on the guitar!” says Estrin. 

Take a listen to the opening cut, “Handle With Care,” and you’ll hear some of Andersen’s tasty licks bouncing along in bebop style, countered by Estrin’s catchy lyrics.  “It’s okay to nibble, but baby please don’t bite!”  And sure enough, this opening track is a real nice nibbler, setting things up for the blues romp to follow.  Andersen is capable of some truly remarkable blues playing, and he really deals them out; he just has a great feel going for this live show!

Tagged on a plethora of instruments, from electric and standup-bass to piano, organ and synthesizer, Lorenzo Farrell keeps up the bottom end of the rhythm, adding a lot of nice keyboard and effects along the way.  Another Californian, with a degree in Philosophy from Berkeley that he earned during a respite from his musical career, Farrell joined the band in 2003, bringing his jazz-influence and nice touch on the keys.  You can hear some of his fine work on the 88s on “Dump That Chump,” a song that not only carries the torch, but also seeks to extinguish it as well, chumplessly.

Slammin’ the skins and helping out with the vocals is J. Hansen, who chooses to stand while he plays.  He’s a prolific songwriter, and as any bandleader will tell you, represents a golden musical mean as a singing drummer, that sought-after combo that so many bands crave to add.   A veteran on the California music scene since the ‘80s, he was mentored by multi-instrumentalist Clint Baker, eventually leading to a chance to hone his chops playing in the Preservation Hall Jazz band in New Orleans.  He joined the Nightcats in 2002, after fronting his own Bay-area funk band, “Vero.”

The band has the crowd from the downbeat, and they ramble through a catalogue of blues styles as the show rocks on.  Some homage to the Coasters on “Clothes Line” lets Estrin show off his uncanny ability to ramble through a dense flock of words that tickle the funny bone too.  He sounds like Sonny Boy on harp one minute, Little Walter the next, then some Junior Wells stabs sneak in too, on songs with names like “Smart Like Einstein,” “You Gonna Lie,” and “Keep Your Big Mouth Shut.”

Rick Estrin is not only one great musician, he’s also a funny, stylin’ entertainer too.  You can hear the audience getting into the show, hollering back to his monologue on “New Ex-Wife,” and later he banters in between songs with some nice stories I won’t spoil for you here.  Blues is about storytelling, soul and feeling, and Estrin brings these primal aspects of his blues to life on every song he sings, every story he tells on You Asked For It - LIVE!

It’s hard to name anything wrong with this monster concert-release.  The band is tight as tinfoil, and they easily shift gears behind Estrin for each new groove, sliding smoothly from song to song as the night goes on.  You can roll up the rug and dance the night away, as there’s ample time on this nearly one-hour record to boogie!  I found I had to be careful listening to it while driving, as I was getting a lead foot during some of the upbeat numbers.

This is raw live stuff, with the right chemistry between band members, the band and the audience, to provide for one high-energy recording, from start to finish.  There is nothing more fun that listening to great musicians having fun, LIVE, and this is one release that delivers, true to its name: You Asked For It – LIVE!

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