Bellevue Cadillac have released their recent live album Once In A Blue Moon to a large, eager fan base. This blues band, headed by Professor Doug Bell on guitar and vocals, recorded this 13 track disc at the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, Greece. Boston area fans of Bellevue will not be surprised to hear the Athens audience receive the band as enthusiastically as they are back here on their home turf.The best way to describe Bellevue Cadillac’s sound is blues that flows with the fluid, free, largeness of jazz. The horn section is responsible for much this group’s swinging, swaying mounds of sound. Yet, the others also play their instruments with a mastery that allows them to stretch the frameworks of blues song structures. Throughout the disc, these players express the sheer joy of music with an inspiring sense of fun.
On this live outing Bell and his boys jump, swing,, rattle, and roll with juicy instrumental portions, and winsome vocal lines. Bell applies his handsome vocal in a warm embrace of his street wise yet romantic lyrics. On “Snake Charmer” Keyboardist Tim “Miles” Long turns up the bluesy organ charm with rich, thick notes and swirls. Bell, with his mellifluous mid range croon, takes it around the block with much vocal power.
“1 Girl 2 Pretty” has a lilting melody with horns blowing a perfect unison of melody just after the verses, punctuating Belle’s song at just the right places. Sounding like a horn festival, the horn section carries everything else in this song like a crowd-surfing rock star.
Bellevue’s song “Guilty” curls up like a snake with its tight ensemble of horns, piano, and Bell’s guitar phrase in a curvy wave of sound. Then the gang take their time uncoiling with another pleasing expanse of sound. “Crusin’” moves at a pace inspired by the song’s title with dual vocals hinting at 1950s rock and roll. Snappy guitar lines, organ swirls, and more of that big, thick, joyous horn ensemble. If this song doesn’t make you feel like you’re going past the drive-in movie theater in a 57 Chevy then you have no imagination.
A personal favorite “Ja Ja Opobo,” based on the history of a Nigerian king, is a sweet mix of brittle guitar lines and an affectionate and gentle flute melody that makes you picture the leisurely life of a dethroned king living in exile; he gets to have his own way simply because of what he used to be worth somewhere else. Melodies here are based on Caribbean music, though more accessible to western ears with familiar instruments.
Bell’s lyrics conjure up film noir images on “Perfect Crime,” a tune with action-packed horn shots that vaguely remind of a movie soundtrack. A B3 Hammond organ flight of fancy makes you picture the drama. If this crime drama vibe isn’t enough, the boys launch into “Monkey Tune,” a comedy song about a theory that we look like simians when we get older, complete with the professor on Ukulele. “There’s something so wrong/About King Kong in a thong.”
Athens’s own Dimitrius Popodopoulos plays vibrant trumpet on “Summerset,” a song so different in color, feel, and tone from the rest of the tracks that it sounds almost as if Bellevue was doing a cover. The tune is a fond reflection on Bell’s life in the 1960s, when music seemed to be changing the world as fast as current events were. The horns are understated here instead of sounding large and celebratory as the rest of the CD. Sentimental but never maudlin, this becomes a wistful glance back at a special time in the lives of many.
Bell and his boys go in for a little Caribbean rumba on “Blow Wind Blow.” The beats and the horns are mildly Latino and the upbeat flow of the song should even bring a smile to the face of the most miserable grump. Bellevue’s piano and horns lock into a warm embrace of cocktail lounge timbres and vibes on “Lay Your Money Down.” A sense of foreboding haunts this jazzy view of a gambler’s den. Bell unleashes a feisty solo with a phrase that’s full of graceful rhythm. By the time the listener gets to “Under Your Spell” it will be pleasantly unclear whether the live audience is under the band’s spell or if the band is under the audience’s spell. This live disc has the mutual joy vibe and back and forth energy from the band to the audience that makes for a successful live recording.
This band has more nicknames than the Mafia, but that makes them really cool. Professor Doug Bell leads the band on voice and guitar; Tim “Miles” long plays piano, Hammond B3, and Melodica; Joey Stix plays drums and percussion; Jimmy “2 Suits” Capone plays tenor sax and clarinet; Bruce “The Goose” McGrath plays bari sax, flute, soprano sax, and alto; Robert “Bobby Breeze” Holfelder plays trombone, Dimitrius Popodopoulos plays trumpet; and “Andy B” Bergsten plays upright bass and Fender bass.
Thanks for the Review!