{"id":20361,"date":"2021-02-09T05:30:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T10:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=20361"},"modified":"2020-12-16T09:45:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T14:45:38","slug":"album-review-ron-thompson-from-the-patio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/09\/album-review-ron-thompson-from-the-patio\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Ron Thompson \u2013 From the Patio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For more than a decade, guitarist Ron Thompson was a regular fixture at San Jose, California\u2019s famed Poor House Bistro. As this album\u2019s brief liner note essay by the club\u2019s owner Jay Meduri points out, Thompson could always be counted on to show up for Wednesday night gigs. Selections from two of those Wednesdays \u2013 June 4 and August 6, 2014 \u2013 have been compiled as From the Patio: Live at Poor House Bistro Vol. 1<\/i>.<\/p>\n

For these live cuts, Thompson was backed by a solid core of musicians: Scotty Griffin on drums, pianist Sid Morris and<\/span><\/span><\/span> organist Jim Pugh. Bass duties were held down on one date by Dave Chavez, by Gary Rosen on the other. Gary Smith played blues harp on one track, and West Coast blues stalwart Kid Andersen is featured on two cuts.<\/p>\n

But in the end, it\u2019s Thompson\u2019s show. His lived-in vocals and searing slide guitar work are at the center of these performances. Whether he\u2019s delivering an original (like the familiar melody of \u201cMardis Gras Boogie\u201d) or a blues classic like Willie Dixon\u2019s \u201cMeet Me in the Bottom,\u201d Thompson commands the stage.<\/p>\n

And Thompson explores beyond what some might consider the boundaries of the blues form: a highlight of From the Patio<\/i> is a reading of the Don Covay\/Bobby Womack \u201cThat\u2019s How I Feel\u201d (alternately known as \u201cThat\u2019s How it Feels\u201d). Thompson coveys the deep soul of the original, bending it into a blues arrangement yet staying true to the composers\u2019 intent.<\/p>\n

Equally<\/span><\/span><\/span> tasty is a cover of Guitar Slim\u2019s \u201cI Done Got Over It,\u201d with a stomping feel that evokes memories of classic early electric blues. Thompson is clearly comfortable running through these tunes; they\u2019re second nature to him. But he always leans into the material; nothing ever sounds perfunctory or dashed-off.<\/p>\n

Thompson steps back for Pugh to lay down a hypnotic, languorous organ solo on \u201cSinner\u2019s Prayer,\u201d a tune written by Lowell Fulson and previously covered by Eric Clapton on his From the Cradle<\/i> album. And Andersen\u2019s six-string work is showcased on both Buster Brown\u2019s blues nugget \u201cDoctor Brown\u201d and the Thompson original \u201cWhen You Walk That Walk,\u201d two of the strongest cuts on the collection.<\/p>\n

The recording itself strikes a balance between the clean quality of the studio and the cracking, intimate vibe of a live onstage gig. The performances themselves are assured yet relaxed, the sound of a man who doesn\u2019t feel the need to showboat or pander to his audience.<\/p>\n

Thompson dealt with health problems through much of his life, and he passed away earlier in 2000 at age 66. His recorded legacy isn\u2019t very deep, but as documented here, the intensity and integrity of his live performances capture Thompson at his best. Little Village Foundation\u2019s posthumous From the Patio<\/i> is as fine a tribute to the man and his artistry as can be hoped for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than a decade, guitarist Ron Thompson was a regular fixture at San Jose, California\u2019s famed Poor House Bistro. As this album\u2019s brief liner note essay by the club\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[4424],"class_list":["post-20361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-ron-thompson","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20363,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20361\/revisions\/20363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}