Guitarist Danny Petroni teamed up with Frank Lacy to create a modern blues, jazz, and soul band that he bills as the “Sound of Asbury Park.” The result is the self-titled release The Blue Project.
The album is a collection of hymns about the common man’s struggle and inner city view of modern life, mixed with good, old-time, horsing-around fun. Vocalist and trombone man Frank Lacy has a comedic delivery akin to Rufus Thomas or Big Joe Turner, with his gravely baritone and salty wit.
The album kicks off with the lively jump swing tune “I’ve Seen Everything,” that finds Lacy giving a dance club update to the ode to a flying elephant. The horn section keeps the swing rolling, backing Lacy as he extols the glory of the feminine mystique on the double entendre “Tastes Like Chicken,” highlighted by raucous bone and guitar trade-offs.
The mood then shifts to the serious with a Tower of Power-style funk rock protest song, “God of War,” followed by the expansive Gershwin-esque composition “Requiem for the Working Man.”
Guest vocalist Jo Wymer trades barbs with Lacy and Petroni on the slow blues burner “I Changed My Ways.” The smooth horn-based funk instrumental “Cracker Jack” is a welcome palette cleanser in the album’s center. The second half then kicks in, with a greasy “My mama done told me” blues bump called “Peanut Butter & Jelly,” followed by the tale of a man who’s been done wrong — “Mouse In The House,” where Lacy gets as low down as a man can get.
The album closes with the forward-thinking “Hey You’re Looking So Good,” with Lacy and the backing vocalists delivering vocalese lines, mimicking a horn section over a slinky groove.
http://daniel-petroni.wix.com/theblueproject
http://theblueproject.bandcamp.com/
Rick J Bowen
