When vocalist Larry “Big Twist” Nolan died of heart failure in 1990, a lot of people wondered what would become of his band. Twist was a legendary showman, a beefy R & B shouter with a booming baritone; he radiated an avuncular enthusiasm and specialized in both hard-driving R & B barn burners and novelty blues like “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy.” His band, the Mellow Fellows, complemented him with unerring tightness and unwavering slickness.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Allbritton, though, has proved a more than worthy successor to Big Twist. He’s got a much grittier voice, capable of a wider emotional range, from churchy, hard-soul testifying to deep balladry, and his onstage demeanor is passionately intense. He doesn’t warm up a room the way the charismatic Twist did–Allbritton sometimes seems almost convulsively wrapped up in his own emotions, twitching and shaking like Joe Cocker used to do, pouring his energies into the song rather than concentrating on keeping the people entertained. But for sheer listening pleasure, he’s got a depth and breadth to which Twist seldom aspired.
Perhaps more exciting is what’s happened to the band. They’ve always been distinguished by tight arrangements and accomplished musicianship, but when fused with Twist’s roaring exuberance on flag wavers their sound occasionally segued from brawn to bombast, and on less declamatory numbers professionalism sometimes overwhelmed passion. Allbritton seems to have lit a spark under the musicians: longtime tenor-sax player Terry Ogolini uses long, supple improvisational lines to complement his yakkety-yak puckishness, and trumpeter Don Tenuto coaxes growling imprecations out of his instrument with enthusiasm and wit. Guitarist David Mick lacks the nightclubby smoothness of his predecessor Pete Special and his solos too often descend into jazz-rock cliche, but his chording is crisp and on up-tempo numbers he’s incendiary.
Distinctive arrangements have always been a forte of this band; through the years various members have contributed charts, but these days Gene Barge does the lion’s share, at least for the horns. Barge didn’t play at the B.L.U.E.S. Etcetera gig, but his presence was strongly felt: he’s an R & B legend, a prototypical R & B tenor man with the passionate commitment of the true believer and the musical sense of a sophisticated studio musician. His arrangement of “Let the Good Times Roll” was especially arresting: fierce guitar chording punctuated by a horn riff borrowed from Jimmy Forrest’s “Night Train.”
That knack of wringing every drop of emotion from a tune without resorting to histrionics or crowd-pleasing gimmicks is what sets the current Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings apart from many contemporary R & B outfits. The Kings still have a way to go before they can claim the mass adulation they enjoyed with Twist: Allbritton’s lack of stage polish may be charming, but it leads to too many empty spaces in what should be a fast-paced show. And it seems to me the band’s selections are still a bit heavy on the standards. Yet there’s something refreshing in an outfit ballsy enough to take on both the harshest soul imprecations and smooth ballads, intersperse it all with the blues, and still retain a healthy dose of street-level rawness. That raw edge is what Allbritton has brought to the band–these fellows are no longer mellow, and the music is all the better for it.
