Sweetman with His South Side Groove Kings - Austin Backalley Blue

ревью:

JazzTimes:
reviewed by Patricia Myers

"Dirty, lowdown Texas-style blues are the meaty menu served around Austin by tenorman Sweetman. A strip-joint bump-and-grind, get-down rhythm-and-blues sound is his stock in trade, from the first to the last greasy note. Little is left to the imagination, but Sweetman gives a lot in return. He and the Kings are sassy and strutting, slow and sultry, greasy and grinding, fiery and funky. Hide your grandmother`s hearing aid when this one goes on the disc player."

May 1996

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Stereophile:
from QuarterNotes by Wes Phillips

"Sweetman`s Southside Groove Kings are "proudly filthy sounding" this is the kind of band you`d hear in a sleazy back-alley dive, and the sound of this disc brings all of that heady atmosphere into your listening room. This is the band that I`ve searched for in a hundred bars and never found. (Yes, that was research, darlin`.) Sweetman has a nasty tenor sound, normally playing in that roughed-up King Curtis style, but he can play as sweet as Coleman Hawkins when he has a mind to, as on the title song. The sound stage is totally believable, setting the group in a somewhat cramped acoustic that seems appropriate. The dynamic shadings are impressive, and, even when the band flatout cooks, the sound remains articulate and focused. We`re talking the aural equivalent of barbecue here: saturated with smoke, sweet and tangy just being in the same room with it will get you greasy. And if you ever need to start a party, all you have to do is put Austin Backalley Blue on the box it could corrupt a bishop."

September 1995