Sonny Black And The Dukes Free Spirit

‘Free Spirit’ epitomises what Sonny Black and The Dukes are all about. A group of highly accomplished musicians with some special guests from The British Blues scene covering a range of blues styles with considerable skill. The line-up including George Pearson on bass, Bob Haddrell on keyboards and Dino Coccia on drums, swap seamlessly between Blues and Jazz as the mood dictates. The title track ‘Free Spirit’ is an instrumental that positively swings and as this whole album has a strong Blues-Jazz feel, this is a good taster of what is to follow. Sonny Black on guitar blends perfectly with Mark Ramsden on sax and Bob Haddrell on Hammond organ. Sonny and Bob achieve the same levels of synergy on the second track, an arrangement of the Albert Collins instrumental Backstrockin’ which is given a nice funky edge. Guest vocalist Earl Green appears on ‘Love at First Sight’ which really swings and again later, on the B.B. King ballad ‘Understand’. On ‘The Nighthawk’, Sonny demonstrates his dexterity on slide guitar and later achieves a beautiful resonant tone on acoustic guitar on ‘Blues Side’ giving a laid-back, late-night feel. Alan Glen of The Yardbirds fame is the next guest with one of his own numbers, ‘Zip Your Lip’ which is high octane, amplified harmonica at its best with a tone every bit as good as Chicago’s finest. Tracks ten and eleven showcase two musicians from another of Britain’s finest blues bands: Paul Lamb and The Kingsnakes. ‘Walking with Mr Whitehill’ sees some honking horn from Mark Ramsden whilst Sonny Black and guitarist Johnny Whitehill duel it out . Sonny switches back later to a National Steel guitar for a cover of the Tampa Red tune, ‘Boogie Woogie Dance’, this time with Paul Lamb who  blows some very fine unamplified harmonica complete with whoops and hollers.
‘Free Spirit’ is an assured performance from Sonny Black pleasing both Blues and Jazz fans alike and confirming him as one of Britain’s top guitarists.