I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release (October 15, 2021), Soul Shaker, from Robbin Kapsalis & Vintage #18, and I really like it. Opening with Jr Wells' Shake It Baby, Kapsalis gets into a massive James Brown style groove with excellent vocals, hot guitar riffs by Bill Holter, Alex Kuldell on drums, Mark Chandler on bass and Ron Holloway on sax. Excellent opener. With an aggressive walking bass line on Lost Souls, Vintage #18 really grooves. Holloway and Holter really work the solo space and Kapsalis' vocal is rich and fluid. Boogaloo is another track in the JB vein and Holloway and Holter again take nice stretches and Thomas Williams adds in some real nice trumpet. Blues shuffle, Living Large really carries a lot of weight with some of Holter's hottest guitar work on the release and Kapsalis showing strong vocals end to end. Excellent! An update on classic jazz track, Fever, is steamy. Kapsalis' vocals are deep and rich, excellent balance between Chandler and Kuldell and strong guitar lead by Holter makes this track another top contender. Lil Ed's, The Cannonball has a terrific R&B feel and again Holter sails on lead guitar. Very nice. Wrapping the release is and extended version of You Don't Deserve Me. I really like Kapsalis' voice with a deep richness that you don't find often. With the tracks' almost Rolling Stones kind of rock cockiness, and Holter's really nice guitar fluidity, this is a terrific closer.
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