Just one man and his guitar playing the Blues

IKER PIRIS : Solo (Alone)

 

Just one man
and his guitar playing the Blues. A musician´s trip back to the essence
recreating the archetype of a Bluesman.

We might
think that with just two sentences would be enough to define this work, but it
wouldn´t do any justice when Tolosa’s proposal this time represents the best
possible scenario and the greatest exercise of honesty for a true Blues
musician. Music without ambiguity or artifice as a result of an artist´s
maturity who has been in permanent movement for more than ten years

Guitarist,
singer and composer besides being the
leader of The Romantics. Iker Piris has been accustoming us to
exquisitely executed and produced recordings, plagued by Blues, R´n´ B, and
Funk where not only his virtuosity as a guitarist was already manifested, but
he also made clear a knowledge about all these genres outside of the
common.  Restless and indefatigable he
has collaborated with countless artists over the years, becoming one of the
most active musicians of the genre throughout the country.

 

Recorded at Circus Perroti studios owned
by the legendary Jorge Muñoz-Cobo in two sessions and produced by Iker and
Jorge himself, on this solo album, Iker has abandoned the security that always
provides a band to face by himself a magnificent selection of classics and own
compositions with numerous reminiscences to rural Blues with the signature and
seal of an artist who perfectly  knows
each and every subgenre and manages the language properly.

 

Iker signs “I’m going to move” under Robert
Lockwood Jr.  influence as a shuffle with
a great vocal performance just to move to the of the classic “One more chance
with you” by the Chicago harmonicist and singer Little Walter recounted in Rag
time for the occasion. Instrumental “Ike´s boogie” shows his already more than
recognized quality as a guitarist. “Dead cats on the line” written by
indispensable Tampa Red takes us to the prewar Blues in an impeccable guitar
and voice performance to reach “Black horse blues” by Texas Bluesman Blind
Lemon Jefferson, one of the most interesting recreations from one of the most
representative rural Blues authors. Iker remains true to the spirit of Robert
Johnson in “Dust my broom” while signing “Take me back” a
song that could have been written at the beginning of the last century.
Finally, Iker gives us his own version from the great Tommy Johnson´s classic
song “Canned Heat Blues”.

 

We might think that this album is just a collection of great songs
perfectly executed under the great influence of the most primordial Blues, but we would be quite far from doing justice to a
man and his guitar playing real Blues to do the trip that real musicians do and
can only  be done from honesty.