Jack De Keyzer

It's so rewarding to see a Local Hero stepping up to the world stage - especially at this mature stage in his tireless career. De Keyser delivers his masterpiece with this surprisingly soulful take on the blues and his recent Juno nomination is a much-deserved feather in his multi-coloured cap. The songwriting on this disc deserves special attention. With the proper momentum, many of the 15 tracks presented here could make anybody else a lot of money. It's Jack's turn. "King of the Blues" is as near-perfect a blues track as possible - it's the career-boosting track that BB should have sired. Compare this to "Soul Lover"- the love song that could have rewritten your Valentine's plans - as it finds Jack slipping and sliding to a sweet funk groove. Consider Jack's Curtis Mayfield-sounding song of social conscience, "The Answer" which could chart in Motown if not take the town by storm. De Keyser's all-powerful guitar sounds are melded perfectly to his from-the-heart, passionate vocals as Jack tours his favourite influences (Robert Gordon, James Brown, Jimmie Vaughan) and makes them his in Jack's inimitable way. This is a finely-produced (Alec Fraser) disc from a fully-ripened artist which boasts local stars, David Rotundo/Michael Fonfara and deserves an international audience. Rarely do the stars align like this - my fingers are crossed.