J&R Adventures [Release date 21.06.24]
Joe Bonamassas’s ‘Live at The Hollywood Bowl With Orchestra’ is a triumph of ambition and execution, as a well chosen catalogue of songs are inbued with fresh energy and a bigger musical sweep.
You’d be tempted to say that when an artist successfully cuts a live album with a 40 piece orchestra and ancillary musicians at The Hollywood Bowl, they might justifiably be thinking in terms of having reached a career pinnacle.
No such thing with Joe Bonamassa, as he relentlessly continues to poke the rock-blues ceiling just to see what is achievable within the genre.
His biggest problem might be conquering the ageing theatre audience demographic which renders rock-blues a shrinking niche market.
He originally took his cue from the British Blues Invasion. And in doing so, he’s worked with most of the leading figures in the genre while forging his own stellar career as a superb guitarist and thoughtful songwriter.
He may not be the most prodigious of songwriters, but he has penned a handful of real gems, of which the poignant ‘The Last Matador of Bayonne’ and the more guitar centric ‘The Ballad Of John Henry’ are both included here.
‘The Last Matador Of Bayonne’ opens with Rashawn Ross’s pithy trumpet solo and an orchestral accompaniment which subtly evokes the lyrical themes of contemplation, the passing of time and changing circumstances.
It’s a combination of themes which could easily be a metaphor for the music he champions.
The strings carry the melody and the horns sound almost forlorn, while Bonamassa’s singular guitar tone expresses vulnerability.
In complete contrast, the heavy duty ‘The Ballad Of John Henry’ illustrates the synchronicity of the band and orchestra in complete service to the song.
The heavy riff driven feel is matched by lightning fast strings on a booming arrangement which has the power of an approaching steam train.
The orchestra brings undoubted grandeur and broadens the musical possibilities in terms of textures, timbre and dynamics, while the keen arrangements cater for the frequent walls of sound.
The fact that Bonamassa fills his set list with blues friendly choices works well in terms of uncovering feel and delivering moments of real emotion.
The string-led ‘When One Door Opens Overture’ features crashing percussion and brings a big vista cinematic quality.
It’s ripped asunder by the Zeppelin style bombast of ‘Curtain Call’, full of portentous sounding strings and Bonamassa’s Eastern guitar tone.
It provides a good example of the rock band and orchestra’s full combined potential, as they support Bonamassa’s fluid soloing which ultimately coalesces with Josh Smith’s piercing toned finale.
The strings bring a lightness of touch, as they subtly build behind an angst ridden vocal on the first of a couple of slow burners.
The song also benefits from its sense of time and space, anchored by the subtle drive of the of drummer Lemar Carter and bassist Calvin Turner.
Together with the supportive horns and strings they provide the platform for JB’s tremulous solo, framed by a belated choral finish.
Much of the material here is blues influenced and mid-tempo, and it’s a measure of the dynamic arrangements that three slow songs in succession manage to percolate and sparkle at their own pace.
‘Self-Inflicted Wounds’ is a good example of the way the orchestration fill out a bluesy Pink Floyd influenced piece.
It opens with Turner’s mellifluous bass solo as airy strings hover and lift the chorus. The accented string riffs then coalesce beautifully with JB’s emotive ripping solo, while the concluding vocal improvisation returns us subliminally to the Pink Floyd feel.
‘No Good Place For The Lonely’ opens as a straight ahead band work out – all guitar, Hammond and crashing cymbals – leading to a soaring Bonamassa solo flanked by resonating brass and floating strings which lock into a bluesy groove.
And just when you think they’ve finished, there’s a slight pause before JB adds a rich toned climactic solo over a featherbed of strings and brass stabs.
Josh Smith switches to acoustic and Reese Wynans to Hammond, to provide a low key intro to Chris Whitley’s ‘Ball Peen Hammer’.
A deft use of strings, percussion, horns and a delightful flute break gives the song its light and shade.
And if ‘The Last Matador of Bayonne’ provides an emotional touchstone, then ‘Prisoner’ (without the Streisand’s histrionics) provides passion and bombast on another slow burner on which the orchestra makes its presence felt on the guitar-led outro.
The real significant orchestration comes in a cover of Warren Haynes’s ‘If Heartaches Were Nickels’, as the violins shadow Bonamassa’s intuitive phrasing to help him nail a big ballad which finishes in a splash of strings and whooping bv’s.
Bobby Bland’s ‘Twenty-Four Hours Blues’ provides another example of perfect synchronicity, on a hard driving blues outing with uplifting strings and another fiery solo.
He sensibly leaves the show-stopping Ezrin/Kamen penned ‘Slow Gin’ for last. The signature keyboard intro is matched by its own expressive clean tone.
The track builds imperiously as the big chord changes are filled with orchestral bluster and choral accompaniment, which serve to give the drop-down a bigger impact.
And yet for all the significant orchestration and big horn finale, this song is really all about JB’s own intense defining guitar solo which speaks a thousand words and leads the ensemble into a fitting crescendo on a project that really is as good as it could be.
Together with a painstaking multi-camera DVD shoot which captures several magical musical moments, this double set release is an update of what existing fans love so much. ****
Review Pete Feenstra
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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