Larry Ludwick - Gone

Hear The Track Here

And this month it's the turn of Larry the Laggard to be Soundclick's tail end charlie... Yep, last review of the month from that site and it's kinda fitting that it should come from one of the brighter sparks among that community. Regular readers will be only too well aware of Larry as he pops up pretty much every month, in one guise or another. As is my habit whenever I am reviewing I go back and see what I said in reviews past to note changes and I happened to look at the first review I ever did. Nod's Ascent To Dave (July 2008) was a very classy piece of jazz which gave no indication whatsoever of the mayhem he was to unleash with following tracks. At this point, I think he's pretty much covered the musical spectrum and often most handsomely too.

However, be warned, Larry Ludwick is a somewhat - how can I put this delicately? - idiosyncratic musician, singer (kinda/sorta but more on that later), songwriter and producer as many have found out. Soundclick has quite a few of this kind of musician and I think that is a good thing because they are challenging, sometimes baffling but always entertaining. Mind you, I will admit that you might have to develop a taste for Larry's work, particularly his vocal work which often is more spoken than sung and certainly an acquired taste for many.

Put it like this, if you like Gone's style then it's a fair bet that most of his work will find similar favour. It took me a while to really get into Larry's particular musical view of the world, even though I appreciated his difference from the beginning. What has done the job for me is the man's range, and his lyrical skills and Gone is a classic example of that, Joined by saxophonist/guitarist Tim Lowe (aka Swingjazza) whose own Taking The Slow Train (December 2011) was very well received and he shows the same exemplary jazz style here too. My only quibble has nothing to do with the music or Larry, but I really. really have a phobia about Fender Rhodes sounds I must get treated...

Highly Recommended Blues with a dash of jazz.