Robin Banks - Modern Classic - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Modern Classic, from Robin Banks and it has an appeal all it's own. I've listened to this a number of times now and it has a clearness and clarity that is rarely heard in today's music. Opening with A Man Is Just A Man, Banks demonstrates the clarity of her voice and also her intentions of making a album of music that came out of a '57 Chevy. It has that kind of simple human quality. Superhero is a easy bop with really nice guitar work from Duke Robillard. Again the sound is early sixties pop. I Really Dig You goes back even a bit further to possibly Dinah Washington and that early pop jazz sound. Bruce Bears on keys and Robillard spice up the track with clarity and swing and Mark Early lays out a real nice sax solo as well. Crazy has some really cool guitar effects and Doug James really lays in some nice Bari sax. Mark Teixeira keeps the rhythm tight giving it a nice sparkle and again Early steps up and kicks it! My Baby Loves Me has a real nice easy swing and Doug Woolverton hits the muted trumpet. The bluesiest track on the release is also my favorite and possibly the best demonstration of Banks vocal style. Robillard lays down some really nicely articulated guitar solos and Doug James bottom supplied sax is tops. A Little Bit Of Heaven has a Latin feel with Teixeira coaxing pure rhythm out of the track. Bruce Bears riffs sound like they were born in Cuba and Banks is spot on vocally. Robillard lays in a light fingered Latin guitar solo and Brad Hallen takes on the lead instrumentally with Bears as the track steps up to full swing. I'll Meet You There has an Al Green R&B feel but with more southern soul vocals. Early again steps up with a hot sax solo and Banks vocal duet and Woolverton on trumpet gives it that Memphis sound. Bears opens Tonight with spy piano riffs and Banks gets into that pop jazz swing. Bears and Robillard trade instrumental lead on this track and even Hallen and Teixeira get into the action. Cool! Bite Your Tongue has that good southern funky soul with horn punctuation. Bears takes a hot organ solo and Robillard throws down as well. A sassier vocal style on this track really lends itself nicely to the styling. On boogie track, You Boogie Too Fast For Me, Bears and Hallen give the boogie a ride. A slick piano interlude by Bears adds significantly to the overall feel. Ballad, A Place In The City, finds Bears delivering a gospel or Robbins if you will, piano style giving the track a country sound. Robillard lays down some double stop guitar work that even more enforces the overall country sound. Wrapping the release is Some Day Soon, another pop jazz track with Banks swinging out. Bears is light and bright on the keys and Teixeira on brushes allows the warmth of Hallen to come through having the feel of a true jazz trio (quartet with vocal). This is a different kind oof blues for a lighter listen but I believe that there is a strong audience out there for exactly this.

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Canadian Roots Music Singer Robin Banks Creates a "Modern Classic" on New CD, Produced by Duke Robillard, Due November 25

Canadian Roots Music Singer Robin Banks Creates a Modern Classic on New CD, Produced by Duke Robillard, Due November 25

Toronto, ON – Canadian roots music singer Robin Banks announces a November 25 release date for her self-released CD, Modern Classic, with distribution through CD Baby. Produced by acclaimed guitarist/producer Duke Robillard, who also adds his amazing guitar tones throughout the album, Modern Classic features a dozen all-original songs that showcase not only Robin’s sultry, soulful vocals, but also her strengths as a composer. Along with Robillard, she’s backed by an all-star band: Bruce Bears (keyboards), Mark Teixeira (drums), Brad Hallen (bass) and a horn section that includes Doug James (baritone sax), Doug Woolverton (trumpet) and Mark Early (sax) of the Roomful of Blues Horns. 

Based in Toronto, Robin Banks has already amassed a lengthy career as a touring and recording artist in both her native Canada and all over the world. She’s played extensively in the U.S. as well as Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, France and Jamaica. The songs on Modern Classic reveal an artist comfortable in a variety of idioms from jazz and pop to blues, soul and R&B. With the sympathetic support of Robillard and company backing her, Robin has crafted an album of scintillating grooves that alternately percolate with heat, and float like a butterfly around the musical notes the band creates in the air around her. She has a voice that’s been compared to such greats as Etta James and Dinah Washington. Rather than just a collection of songs, Modern Classic, with its insightful lyrics, strong melodies and flowing, artful presentation, commands listeners to embrace its entirety, similar to the way albums were recorded (and listened to) in the golden age of music recording from the 1960s and ‘70s.  

The music on Modern Classic covers ground ranging from Memphis and Muscle Shoals-rooted blues and soul, to swing, boogie-woogie, honky-tonk and sweet sounding jazz, compliments of Robin’s amazing pipes. After the recording sessions, Duke Robillard declared, “the songs on her new CD bring together all her talents in a way that shows her as a major force in roots music;” while keyboardist Bruce Bears called her “a hidden gem from Canada who deserves much wider recognition; I’ve never worked with a vocalist who had as much command of musical language and nuance as Robin.”

Robin Banks grew up 50 miles east of Detroit on a tobacco farm and drove a taxi in Toronto in the ‘80s to help support her singing career’s beginnings. In 1992, she put her blues band together near Windsor, Ontario, and was mentored by George “Wild Child” Butler and Alford “Chicago Pete” Harrell, while performing regionally. In 1997, Robin won Canada’s Maple Blues Award for New Artist of the Year, which was followed by performances at some of Canada's most-prominent jazz and blues festivals. That same year saw the release of her debut CD, Permanent Record, which included seven original compositions, and was followed by Robin going to Memphis and competing in the world-famous International Blues Challenge. She was later nominated in 1998, 2010 and 2011 for Female Vocalist of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards.

In 1999, she moved to Texas and stayed for seven years, forming several bands around the Dallas/Fort Worth area with such blues/roots luminaries as drummer Marc Wilson (Anson and the Rockets), bassist Drew Allain (Mike Morgan and the Crawl), guitarists Brian “Hash Brown” Calway and Johnny Moeller (Fabulous Thunderbirds), drummer Danny Cochran (Delbert McClinton), bassist Bill Campbell (LaVern Baker) and tenor sax man Marchel Ivery (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers), among many others. During this time, Robin formed a very close and special personal friendship with the legendary singer/harmonica player Sam Myers, leader of Anson and the Rockets, who also played on her Honestly CD in 2000, comprised of 13 original songs that she wrote, arranged and produced. A year later, Robin recorded and released a live CD, titled Live after Dark, and toured regionally for the next four years throughout the region, as well as performing at many festivals.

In 2003, she toured Europe for the first time, with stops in Belgium and Holland. And in 2006, she relocated to Jamaica and became a hit there for three years, performing at nightclubs, festivals, resorts and hotels across the island with some of that country’s most-prominent musicians, including members of Bob Marley’s band. Robin returned home to Canada in 2009 and has been based there ever since. She now performs in two bands: one a straight blues group and the other a bit more diverse in its musical spectrum, including elements of jazz, jump blues, soul, R&B and even reggae. She continues to gig around 200 nights a year. 

Her last CD, released in 2010, was an album she co-wrote and produced in Dallas, titled Livin' Life, with pianist/artist Christian Dozzler, and was comprised of 14 original compositions. She also toured behind that CD with visits to Jamaica, Canada, Texas and three tours of Europe, including numerous concert and festival shows. One of the big festivals that she played in Europe behind Livin' Life was Gaildorf, the oldest (and one of the most prized) blues fest in Europe/Germany.

“Since returning to Canada, I have traveled back and forth from Jamaica probably 20 times to perform and remain prolific there,” Robin says. “I keep all my ties in Texas strong and open. In Jamaica, much like Texas and Canada, I am blessed to play with some of the highest level international musicians on the island, including Grammy award winners and the head of the music program at the arts college in Kingston.”

International Recording Artist MISS ROBIN BANK$ 2012 European Tour and Cew CD with Duke Robillard

International Recording Artist MISS ROBIN BANK$ 2012 European Tour and a new CD with Duke Robillard

Toronto based recording artist Miss Robin Banks is set to embark on her third Eurpoean tour with Texas based Viennese piano player Christian Dozzler to continue promotion for their duo CD "Livin' Life", which was recorded in Texas and released internationally in 2009. Popular on the European blues festival circuit, Banks and Dozzler will be performing in Austria, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Banks' first appearance in France at the Boogie Woogie Festival in Beaune in December.   Miss Banks is currently in preparations to for her next CD, with recording scheduled for February 2013 which will take place in Rhode Island. The CD will be produced by award winning artist, guitarist and producer Duke Robillard and will be recorded with Robillard's band in his studio. "I'm really excited to be working with Duke on this one." Banks explains "He's an artist and a man that I've admired and respected for so many years. I really love his work, and his band is as good as it gets. I have a feeling it's really going to be a lot of fun musically. And this will be the first all original full band studio recording I've done in 11 years, since "Honestly", so I'm definitely due! I'm putting everything I got into this one - the whole of my heart and spirit. I think I'm a different singer than I was on "Honestly". I think I've grown as a vocalist and a songwriter... Duke seems to like the batch of tunes I sent him and that's a great place to start! I'm feeling real good about the record." Stay tuned for more information   Miss Robin Banks has her roots deeply dug. Clearly comfortable with Jazz, Classic R&B and Soul, even Reggae, she's also known for her bold and brassy, classy but sassy, Texas and Chicago electric Blues style. In 1999, Miss Banks became a staple in the Texas music scene and continues to enjoy, and record in, the Lone Star state. She has 4 independently released CDs and one single to her credit and makes regular tours to Europe and the Caribbean, but recently made Toronto Canada her home. A master of tone and phrasing, Robin Banks has a vocal style, strength and clarity that has been compared to Etta James and Dinah Washington. She is a recipient of a Maple Blues Award for New Artist of the Year and was three times nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year. In 2010, she performed at Massey Hall in Toronto as part of the celebrated annual Women's Blues Revue event. No matter the genre, she is known in the industry as the real deal.   Christian Dozzler is an accomplished Blues musician of 40 years. In Europe and Texas he's known as "Vienna Slim" or "Two Metres of Blues". He performs regularly with American Blues guitarist Anson Funderburgh. He sings and plays harmonica and accordion as well as Blues piano very much in the style of Otis Spann.   www.dozzler.com www.cdbaby.com/cd/dozzlerbank               "Robin's got soul, class and most of all good taste!" - Duke Robillard "Robin Banks is Canada's first lady of the Blues! She has an electrifying presence and one of the best Blues Bands in the country" "She's a pro's pro!" - Mike Fitzpatrick, Downchild Blues Band "Robin sings with a simple coolness that can break your heart and still make you beg for more. She is absolutely my favorite blues singer" - Teddy Leonard, Fathead "Robin Banks is the real deal, playing in her world class band is a joy" - Gary Kendall, Downchild Blues Band Robin Banks, she'll kick your ass and break your heart, all in about a minute! - Lee McBee Upcoming Performances   November 23 Davis, Vienna (Austria) November 24 Altes Kino, St.Florian (Austria) November 29 Schalander, Seligenstadt (Germany) November 30 Jazzkeller, Sargans (Switzerland)   December 1 Incontri, Rohrbach (Germany) December 3 The Maple, Ertvelde (Belgium) December 7 & 8 Boogie Woogie Festival, Beaune (France) December 10 Jazzland, Vienna (Austria)     Contact:   Miss Robin Banks robinbanksblues@hotmail.com

 

T-Bone Shuffle - Robin Banks

MISS ROBIN BANK$ has her roots deeply dug. Clearly comfortable with Jazz, Classic R&B and Soul, even Reggae, she's also known for her bold and brassy, classy but sassy, Texas and Chicago electric Blues style. In 1999, Miss Banks became a staple in the Texas music scene and continues to enjoy and record in the Lone Star state. She has 4 independently released CDs to her credit and makes regular tours to Europe and the Caribbean, but recently made Toronto Canada her home. A master of tone and phrasing, ROBIN BANK$ has a vocal style, strength and clarity that has been compared to Etta James and Dinah Washington. She is a recipient of a Maple Blues Award for New Artist of the Year and was twice nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year. She recently performed at Massey Hall in Toronto as part of the celebrated annual Women's Blues Revue event. No matter the genre, ROBIN BANK$ is known in the industry as "the real deal"!
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”