Album Review: Eddie “Blues Man” Kirkland – It’s the Blues Man!

Though he released a string of solo singles in the early 1950s, Jamaica-born Eddie Kirkland earned his stripes touring with John Lee Hooker for more than a decade. Right around the time his run with Hooker concluded, Kirkland recorded and released his debut album, It’s the Blues Man! on the Tru-Sound label. That record initiated a long and creatively fruitful album career that would continue until 2010’s Last Train Home, made in collaboration with British blues acolytes Foghat. He passed in 2011.

Remastered and pressed onto heavyweight vinyl in 2026, It’s the Blues Man! is now reissued by Craft Recordings. Straightforward instrumentation, ensemble playing that falls neatly between tight and sloppy, and some impassioned vocal work are the primary highlights of the album. There’s a hypnotic vibe to “Down on My Knees,” and at times it feels like King Curtis’ band doesn’t know the tune, much less when to make the changes, but it still moves.

Better is “Don’t Take My Heart.” Reminiscent of Chuck Berry’s style, the tune – like everything on the set – is totally guitar-driven. A spirited sax section adds tonal color, and the arrangement switches things up in inventive fashion. And Curtis’ band seems to know how to play the song, laying down a solid rhythm for Kirkland’s solo work.

The saucy “Daddy, Please Don’t Cry” folds in a bit of piano along with the sax; to this point, the album’s sequencing is almost conceptual, what with more instruments added to each successive track. This one even adds female vocal accompaniment. And a proper solo makes an appearance. The languid “Have Mercy on Me” traffics in familiar blues tropes, but within that framework it’s still a scorcher. The same can be said about the kinetic instrumental “Saturday Night Stomp.”

“I’m Gonna Forget You” doesn’t attempt to offer anything new, but as a showcase of Kirkland’s lead work, it’s certainly a treat. Some appealing effects applied to Kirkland’s guitar on “I Tried” add interest. “Man of Stone” blurs the lines – if they ever really existed – between blues, r&b and rock ‘n’ roll. And it does it all while hanging on one solitary chord!

“I’m Goin’ to Keep Lovin’ You” benefits from an appealing and nuanced arrangement. Kirkalnd’s blues harp comes to the fore on “Train Done Gone.” As a song, it’s a bit underdeveloped, but as a harp showcase, it’s worthy of admiration. “Something’s Gone Wrong in My Life” puts some beefy sax work out front while Kirkland belts out a powerful, impassioned lead vocal. “Baby You Know it’s True” closes the record in a slightly jazz style; Kirkland’s overdubbed guitar licks are tasty indeed.

There aren’t may examples of Rudy Van Gelder’s jazz aesthetic being applied to blues with a King Curtis foundation; this album would be worthwhile if only for the fact this it serves that function. But It’s the Blues Man! stands on its own merits as well.