All Night Boogie Band - Taste These Blues

All Night Boogie Band

Taste These Blues
​self-released; 2022

4.0 out of 5

By Dino DiMuro

The All Night Boogie Band is an aptly-named group formed out of the Burlington, Vermont college basement show scene. They’ve just recorded their debut LP Taste These Blues at the University of Vermont Music Department studio. The members are Jessica Leone (vocals), Brendan Casey (guitar), Van Garrison (keys), Bruno John (bass) and Zach Santos (drums). The horn section features Sam Atallah (trumpet), Thaya Zalewski (saxophone) and Leo Fish (trombone). They first hit Vermont’s live music scene in September of 2021, playing a sold out gig at Higher Ground and hosting a residency at Nectar’s. 

The band describe themselves as “the best of all American music thrown into one soup.” Besides their obvious blues influences, they also touch on R&B, soul, ’60s rock n’ roll, folk and jazz. Similar groups include the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones meets Elmore James, BB King, Otis Redding and Chuck Berry. In that way, their purposely retro album cover is totally fitting. Guitarist Casey is the chief songwriter, with some help from vocalist Leone. The album was mastered by keyboardist Van Garrison.

Interesting that the band compares themselves to the Tedeschi Trucks Band, as I’m seeing Susan Tedeschi live in just two days. Jessica Leone’s voice definitely has a Tedeschi quality, and in “Kick You When You’re Down” the players fill the sound space with the barrage of a full-on blues band. Vocals and guitar are prominent, but still leave plenty of space for piano (nice solo here), bass, drums and especially horns.

“I’ve Paid My Dues” quickly slows down the tempo for a torchy vamp, where the imaginary club in our heads is filled with bluish smoke and stale whisky. As such, it’s a perfect showcase for a killer vocal turn by Leone, along with another fine piano break by Van Garrison. Brandan Casey takes us home with a great B.B. King-style guitar solo. “A Little More Time” is medium tempo blues-pop with a great sing-along chorus and cool tremolo guitar riffs.

“Nothing Wrong with Feeling Blue” starts with all instruments kind of “trilling” on the same note that ended the previous song, as if to build anticipation. No real surprise when this song becomes a classic 12 bar blues, because that’s what this band does! Given almost nine minutes to stretch out, this one is both bluesy and smooth jazzy at the same time, with a lot of laid-back jamming in the second half.

“Taste These Blues” wears its Stones influence on its sleeve, especially the Exile and Sticky Fingers eras. The piano, horns and guitar move the tune along while Leone belts out another amazing vocal performance, so let’s just allow that she’s that good ALL the time. Casey takes a fuzzy slide solo that totally satisfies. A mid-album favorite!

“A Woman Like I” slows way down for a true ballad, starting with quietly understated guitar and vocals, gradually building power like Janis used to do. Love the use of volume dynamics in this song, where it sometimes goes full-tilt before quieting down again. Another nice Casey lead solo marks the mid-point.

“The River Song” is a 12-minute epic co-written with keyboardist Van Garrison. It starts in a gently folky style, with Garrison not surprisingly adding some genuinely sweet, classically influenced piano work. The horn section seemingly went out for a smoke break, and for anyone who was getting blues fatigue, this tune has a bit of a Vince Guaraldi jazz feel that nicely expands the Boogie Band sound.  Casey takes a twangy guitar solo with his amp near overload. The album ends in more traditional territory with Elmore James’ classic “Shake Your Money Maker.”

​If you’re a fan of blues and smokin’ hot female vocals, click on that Bandcamp link without delay!

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