The Douce was loose as Casino Lethbridge, Thursday, Aug. 15.
I arrived midway through an extended jazz flavoured jam on Vancouver based classic rocker /bluesman Jerry Doucette’s late ’70s hit “All I Want To Do,” during which he introduced his band including
guitarist Al Walker, drummer Marco Ibero and bassist Trevor Newman.
He alternated between octane fuelled covers of blues classics and Doucette‘s own music.
A spirited version of “Talk To Your Daughter” was an immediate highlight. Some of the audience members had request and he spent a bit of time chatting with them from the stage. But when it was about the blues, it was all business.
He alternated between standing hunched over his customized red Telecaster and sitting on a stool while the band soloed.
He dedicated his song “Sweet Maggie,” to his wife and chatted with the audience about it. That lead to a version of “Crossroads,” which started off slow, then picked up the pace before turning into another jam.
Al Walker played a beautifully tasteful solo on it. Doucette aded his own beautiful guitar solos throughout. Walker took a break as Doucette invited Lethbridge’s own Paul Kype, who often tours with him, Doucette played his own hot solos after that to play a slower blues number called “I Found a Two Dollar Bill,” on which Kype showed how tastefully he could play, while Doucette watched him, a little awestruck.
They tore things up with a hot version of “Sweet Home Chicago,” which included a few bars of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” on which he had the crowd singing along after that.Doucette told Kype “You’re not going anywhere,” as they crashed into Doucette’s signature hit “Mama Let Him Play.”
This is where he showed he is far from being a slouch on guitar. He blew everybody away with his solo as Kype and Walker sang back-up vocals.
They were called back for an encore.
