The still, unmovable humidity of the deep south air provides a thickness to the sound of live music, and to those who live in the south there is something familiarly comfortable about it. It cannot be replicated in the dry air of the western states nor in the brisk wind of the north or mid-west. Brian Stoltz’s live CD, “Up all Night,” recorded in the late summer of 2006 in Oakland Park, Florida is an accurate representation of that experience.
Stoltz, who is widely known from his work with the Neville Brothers, the Funky Meters and Porter, Batiste, and Stoltz (PBS) is joined on this double CD by the Alligator Alley Allstars: Jeff Renza (drums), Carl “Kilmo” Pacillo (bass) and Bob Taylor (keyboards), all members of Fort Lauderdale’s Shack Daddys.
It is obvious that Brian spends a lot of time on the details of his guitar tone, simultaneously clean and nasty. It cuts through the humidity like lightning tiptoeing through swamp mud. The guitar solo on “Hoodoo Thing” is notable in that it covers a whole arsenal of guitar speed and soul. He has these funky triplet licks that keep you guessing at where his fingers are going to go next and he doesn’t shy away from whole tone scales. He uses the whole guitar, and that is why he has been sought out by the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Daniel Lanois, Dr. John, Edie Brickel and Linda Ronstadt.
Stoltz’s originals are true to his roots as a member of the Neville Brothers, keeping politically conscious in songs such as “God, Guns, and Money” and “War Song” but also keeping it light with your regular R&B themes of women and having a good time in tunes such as “My Debbie Lou” and “I Been Up All Night.” The Meters’ “Funky Miracle” as a lead-in to Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Woman” stands out as one of the songs covered as does Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
The mix is exceptionally good. The way the songs build, the song introductions mixed with well-placed crowd noise and the average song length being around 7 minutes there is no doubt it is a live recording, but there is not the muddled sound of a bootleg mic buried in the crowd.
This CD was recorded almost exactly one year to -the-day after Hurricane Katrina. One can only guess the full details of how the Slidell-based guitarist ended up near Ft. Lauderdale to hook up with with this strong backing band. The journey continues for Stoltz, who tours all over the world while keeping the funky fire burning back home in Louisiana.
