Stony Plain Records artist: Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne - New Release Review

I just received a copy of the new release by Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, "An Old Rock On A Roll". This is a really cool recording. This recording is made up of a fusion of a lot of sounds that a session piano player may be exposed to over a period of years but all with a familiar thread, blues music. I hear boogie woogie, funk, jazz and rock all blended in there and it's a nice feel good recording. With a lineup of musicians like Duke Robillard, Brad Halle, Mark Teixeira, Doug James, Sax Gordon, Doug Woolverton and Carl Querfurth backing the "Blues Boss" it's hard not to like. I particularly liked boogie track "Searching for My Baby", "Bring Back the Love", "Don't Pretend" and "Rockin' Boogie Party". No Duke doesn't steal the show, but he does lay down some nice riffs to compliment this very professional recording!
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Boogie Woogie Mama - Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne

Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne (born Kenneth Wayne Spruell, 1944, Spokane, Washington) is an American blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, singer and songwriter. Music journalist, Jeff Johnson, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times stated, "There's no boogie-woogie-blues piano man out there today who pounds the 88's with the conviction of Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne."
Wayne was born in Spokane, but he relocated with his family to San Francisco, California at an early age. His parents alternatively advised for and against the blues, but his mother's influence led Wayne to be influenced early by Nat King Cole, Little Willie John, and Fats Domino. The family moved in turn to New Orleans, Los Angeles and Compton, California. While he was growing up, Wayne drew further inspiration from The Three Sounds, George Shearing, Erroll Garner, Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaría, Ray Charles, Charles Brown, Floyd Dixon, Big Joe Turner, and Jimmy Reed.

Based in Los Angeles during the 1960s and 1970s, Wayne was utilised as a sideman by various pop and rock musicians. In the 1980s Wayne relocated again to Vancouver, British Columbia. "Blues Boss" (his nickname was acquired from the title of Amos Milburn's comeback album with Motown Records) undertook a tour of Europe in 1994. Wayne dedicated his debut album to his parents, and 2002 heralded the issue of 88th & Jump Street, followed by Blues Carry Me Home (2003) and Let It Loose (2005).

His festival appearances have included Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival (2004) and Koktebel Jazz Festival (2006).