Remember the swing craze of the’90s and 2000s? They 24th Street Wailers do. The Toronto based blues/ swing combo are captured in their element— on stage in a bar, on their new CD Live In Halifax.
They set a rock solid groove from the first track, “All Around the World,” which has some interesting turns of phrases taken from other blues songs “Grits Ain’t Groceries, Eggs Ain't Poultry and the Mona Lisa Was A Man.” But lead singer/drummer Lindsay Beaver makes this one stand out.
They keep the solid groove going on the catchy, toe tapping drinking song “Jack, Jim Johnny and Me.”
Beaver is the consummate front woman behind the kit getting the audience pumped up while growling lyrics with her powerful, shaggy whiskey soaked voice which sounds like a blend of the Headpins’ Darby Mills and Janis Joplin.
“Give it up for guitarist Marc Doucet,” she shouts. Doucet adds extra guitar on “ The Pleasure’s All Mine” then breaks a string according to Beaver, then returns on “Love Triangle.”
Their main guitarist, Emily Burgess is no slouch, playing a whole lot of beautiful blues licks throughout with addictive rhythms, but shines on a hot version of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Empty Arms.”
Beaver shows how well she can hold a vocal note on “Shake a Hand,” one of the few slower moments of the CD. With an unstoppable shuffle beat, sighing saxophone and a catchy groove, the whole thing swings.
She plays with the crowd on an excellent jam on blues classic “ I Got My Mojo Working” getting them to sing “got my whoo haa working.”
Everybody gets to shine in this show, saxophonist Jonathan Wong dominates on “House Party,” though his saxophone is what makes the music swing throughout.
They end an sweaty, energetic show with a hot version of Elmore James’ blues classic “Shake your Moneymaker.”
Artist:The 24th Street Wailers.
Genre: blues
