When you’re someone like Peter Frampton, who’s pretty much done it all, there’s no better place to turn than to the blues. Though his touring days are winding down due to a diagnosis of the autoimmune disease Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), a progressive muscle disorder, the guitarist is doing anything but crying the blues. Instead, he’s made All Blues, his first-ever blues album with the Peter Frampton Band
All Blues features Frampton’s take on his favorite blues tunes like Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want To Make Love To You,” Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” and Slim Harpo’s “I’m A King Bee.” In addition to his longtime touring band — Adam Lester (guitar, vocals), Rob Arthur (keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Dan Wojciechowski (drums) — Frampton is joined by Kim Wilson, Larry Carlton, Sonny Landreth and Steve Morse on various tracks.
Standouts on the album include an achingly beautiful rendition of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind” that has Frampton expertly bending the strings to match the melody. The title track is the classic Miles Davis number from the seminal 1959 jazz album Kind Of Blue, and it features Frampton and Carlton carefully maneuvering the song’s exotic 12 bars in a delicate, thoughtful, and precise manner. The Prince of Darkness would have been impressed.
On the songs he sings, Frampton’s voice seems to have a more gravelly feel, which serves the material well. All Blues, which was recorded in Nashville, has already made a splash, debuting at #1 on the Blues Album chart and making it Frampton’s first hit and best seller since 2006’s Grammy winning Fingerprints. We may not be able to see Peter Frampton in concert after his 2019 tour, but if he can keep making records like this, there may be still be a few more musical tricks up his sleeve.
~ Shawn Perry
