Reviews Of Roger Eckstine

 The release of Live It Up Live It Down was the feature article in Blues Life Journal. A young "Beast" Roger Eckstine shared the stage with harmonica great Carey Bell many times during the 1980s. Here they are together on the cover of Blues Life Journal playing at Tramps in NYC on July 4th weekend 1983.

offBEAT, New Orleans & Louisiana's Music Magazine, May 2003

Eckstine
Live it Up/Live it Down (EMA)

Roger Eckstine
The Bourbon Street Beast (EMA)

Tenor saxophonist Roger Eckstine's sound is New Orleans and Louisiana jazz and swamp pop influenced. Much of it is Chicago blues influenced, as well, Eckstine having spent considerable time there, backing blues harmonica legend Carey Bell. On this record, Eckstine put together a talented assemblage of musicians, including former Steely Dan lead guitarist Elliott Randall, former Herbie Hancock drummer Mike Clark, bassist Zev Katz who recorded with Patti Austin and James Brown, and Rob Schwimmer who plays a mean grand piano and Korg M1 Synthesizer. All but three of the 11 cuts on this CD are Eckstine originals, including a three-and-a- half minute tribute to his former employer entitled "Careyin' On." Appropriately, there is a Bell tune, "Easy to Love You," that is one of the best on the CD, featuring some great guitar work by Randall that rivals his widely recognized lead-in and solo on "Reelin' in the Years." Eckstine's sax playing is top-drawer, especially on an up-tempo version of the Otis Redding R&B classic, "Try a Little Tenderness." The CD closes with a slow, smooth, bluesy tribute to Lonnie Hillyer, a former Charles Mingus trumpeter and another of Eckstine's mentors.

Bourbon Street Beast, a later release, is the name of Eckstine's band, consisting of Bill Allison on guitar, Marcus Stroud on bass and Malcolm Pinson and Vernon Daniels trading off on the drums. Unlike his previous CD, there is only one original Eckstine composition on this disc and it's a seven-minute cover of an instrumental from the first CD entitled "Squish." Among the seven cuts are two Muddy Waters compositions, "Trouble No More" and "Born Lover," and one of J.B. Lenoir's best works, "We Can't Go On This Way." Eckstine displays some really outstanding sax wizardry using the wah-wah pedal. Especially on the opening cut, a Jimmy Rogers composition entitled "Sloppy Drunk" that features a New Orleans second line beat. Not especially well-known, despite having been on the music scene for several decades, Roger Eckstine will hopefully get greater recognition in the years to come.

-Dean M. Shapiro

"Traditions are celebrated, yet Roger Eckstine's no nonsense voice and tenor sax breathes a fresh approach in a modern setting. A testament to the robust nature of America's classical music. Strength, swagger, even wah-wah sax. Bless the Beast."
--Trevor Bull, The Groove Merchant WRMN Chicago
Click to hear interview (18 meg in MP3 format)

"Genuine house rocking music. The tenor saxophone of Roger Eckstine is big bold and mean. In and out of Blues fusion with a little jazz thrown in for good measure. Superb and well thought out."
--Dan Pollock Sound Choice Magazine

"Be prepared for an all-out frontal assault. It is a no-holds-barred barrage of overtones, honks and blasts. He wields his horn like a weapon, aggressively challenging his highly able cast of backup musicians to compete with his strident example."
--Larry Benicewicz, The Maryland Musician

"At your disposal, jazz, blues, soul and funk of the first order. Roger Eckstine is different and holds above all else "Impulse", which with his talent he forms into a personal, captivating style."
--Blues Life Journal Vienna, Austria

"Well recorded and expertly played. Exuberant."
--Option Magazine

"Eckstine is a tenor player with a muscular sound and manages to avoid the cliches that can trap certain players working from a blues orientation."
-- Cadence Magazine