Jim Duffy, a Brooklyn-based keyboardist, presents a set of sparkling, original instrumental tunes. Duffy has been behind the scenes for a while now, playing in the band Martin's Folly and backing up the likes of Wanda Jackson, Freddie "Boom Boom" Can [+]Jim Duffy, a Brooklyn-based keyboardist, presents a set of sparkling, original instrumental tunes. Duffy has been behind the scenes for a while now, playing in the band Martin's Folly and backing up the likes of Wanda Jackson, Freddie "Boom Boom" Cannon, Eric Ambel, the Damnwells, the Bottle Rockets and many others. Now he steps out front with refreshing compositions played by some of New York's hardest-rocking musicians.
"Side One" is Duffy's first solo album. All the sounds were recorded in vintage analog stereo, for a warm texture that harkens back to the halcyon days of Burt Bacharach. The opening track, "Knowing What You Want," reaches for those heights with string passages by members of the Flux String Quartet, culminating in a soaring flugelhorn melody from Mac Gollehon.
The concept was to scan the past 50 years of American pop music and do an original take on it, using musicians who came up through the rock basements. Dennis Diken of the Smithereens plays drums on every track. Bassist Paul Page and Guitarist Lance Doss, both from John Cale's band, fill out the basic lineup. Jim Duffy leads with piano or an early-'60s Wurlitzer electric piano.
"Get Up for Ray," Duffy's take on a Ray Charles-type groove, rocks from side to side with a raucous saxophone arrangement. "Broken Field" harkens back to the dramatic soundtracks of NFL highlight films. If you listen closely to the creepy "Gentle Panic," you'll hear a musical saw. In the moody "Your White Raincoat," if you start flashing back to "Midnight Cowboy," well, who's to blame you? In the closing track, the flag-waving "Morning Rays," the band revs up a Booker T groove, then Gollehon lets it rip with a flying trumpet solo that brings it home in style.
The overall effect is bracing and unpredictable. Jim Duffy's "Side One" is suitable for parties of all sizes.
-- Derek Shackwell-Smith
St. Cleve Chronicle
I love this totally instrumental disc. Go to CD Baby and get it right away. Jim Duffy is channeling Bacharach, early Chicago and Peanuts, as in the cartoon. There isn't a loop to be found, but it is loaded with strings, horns, piano, wurlitzer, guitars, lap steel and even a glockenspiel. It is buzzing from the heart and soul of real live musicians, and some notable ones to boot: Denn
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