It is the curse of the plastic world that we live in and, by that, I mean the reliance on fixing it in the mix instead of getting it right first time. Refreshingly, it is the desire to keep it real shown by The Wayne Riker Trio that leads me neatly on to “Blues Breakout”.
These five songs aren’t going to set the world on fire for we all have heard the blues before but, equally, there is no denying that these three good gentlemen and true can strut their stuff with the kind of musical fluency that would make you wish you could pick up a guitar and play along. Wayne Riker, John Simons and Walt Riker might well be taking us on a 25 minute instrumental stroll down a well-trodden path but it isn’t going to be a journey that will send you to sleep and, while these are more workouts than songs, their casual and elegant stylisations bring a satisfying quality to the proceedings that will undoubtedly please connoisseurs of good old fashioned musicianship.
They say the blues ain’t nothing but a feeling. The Wayne Riker Trio have certainly got that feeling about them and “Blues Breakout” is as pleasant a way of passing the time as you are likely to get.