April 2024 – Jack de Keyzer
During the pandemic shut-down, what better way for a seasoned blues guitarist and singer to keep his spirits up and stay in top form than delving into performing and recording a new CD, mainly in the acoustic and traditional style. It was Jack de Keyzer’s way of dealing with deep emotions and feelings and to process them, or even sublimate them through music? This is the solution and the medicine that Jack de Keyzer found – killing two birds with one stone, preserving a delicate balance and producing an authentic, high quality album. Among the songs covered we find classics by Reverend Robert Wilkins, J.B. Lenoir, Robert Johnson, Slim Harpo, Eddie Taylor, and even a few modern surprises like Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Steve Winwood. Recorded at his home studio, Solo is his 13th disc and the adverse circumstances that led to the production of this anthology allows us to appreciate de Keyzer with a new perspective that demonstrate his vast experience and incredible talent. Apart from Richard Thornton’s tenor sax overdub and conga on “Feeling Good” by J.B. Lenoir, this master musician plays all the other instruments including rack harmonica, maracas on guitar case, drumming on guitar case and some Fender Jazz Bass. This leading figure of Canadian blues, with two Junos and a Maple Blues Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 has a huge list of accomplishments. Additionally, during his career, he has worked with big names, from Bo Diddley to the Canadian King Biscuit Boy (Richard Newell), as well as Etta James, Otis Rush, John Hammond and so on! Jack de Keyzer is an exceptional singer, expressing soul with a rare intensity that will stir your soul on this album. He is also a fabulous guitarist, both acoustically and electrically, which is obvious on this opus. 4.5 stars out of 5! A certain Robert Zimmerman a.k.a. Bob Dylan once said “If Jack de Keyzer was from New York, Chicago or Los Angeles, he would be famous”. And as for Jeff Healey, he called Jack the best blues player in Canada. I look forward to hearing the songs from Solo live on stage stage. I believe the show and the resulting performances would deserve to be played around the world and would make people feel good, demostrating that you no longer need to be born in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles to be famous.