The first album from Holland K.Smith is a rich mixture of Texas Swing, Boogie and downright good playing. Jungle Jane produced by Anson Funderburgh has been available since 1997 but is still doing the business due to the quality of the material, mostly self written, and the quality playing of the musicians on this album.
The album starts off with a great boogie song "2 Dollar Woman," which sounds like it could been recorded in the 50's, with some great T-Bone walker style guitar. The one cut off the album that really got under my skin is "Ain't That A Bitch" with some great playing from Holland and good Hammond B3 organ playing from Ron Mason. The riff really is an infectious piece of playing and the vocal is spot on too. "Telephone Boogie" also showcases Holland's gritty vocal style. Although allot of the album is fast and dynamic Holland doesn't neglect playing the slow blues, which he does well on "Blood on my Hands," which has almost an hypnotic feel to it. Albert King's "It Ain't That I Don't Love You" is done very well with a great guitar solo from Holland. "Two Timin' Woman" has some great Elmore James type slide guitar playing from Holland, done to a T. Anson's keyboard player Doug Rynack also does sterling work on piano. "Jungle Jane" the title track starts off with some thunderous tom-tom playing which gives way to some great swing guitar playing and some nice piano touches from Big Al Dupree on piano. Big Al is also featured on piano on the final track "Bluebird" which has more of that great swing playing from Holland. I found the album a very enjoyable listen and one that certainly can get you rocking on your feet. This album is a must for any Texas swing fan.
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This review is copyright © 2000 by Dave Thomas, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.
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