Dan
Toler is, in these moments, very busy. He recently played with the ‘Brothers
of the Southland’, worked with John Townsend his old pal from the
Gregg Allman and Friends, a project that Jacques Dersigny enjoyed here
in May 2008.
We just forget to talk about his last project, TGZ, where we could find
Dan, the Southern guitarist Ed Zinner, and the jazz piano player Ron
Gary, who played songs of these three friends. We wanted to talk about
this reunion album, published in 2006. To try to compare, this CD is
close to Johnny Neel & the Criminal Element one, even if we just
get here more beautiful ballads, with jazz Rock influences but close
to the melody. This album begins strongly with ‘Your Smile’
and its wonderful double lead guitar intro, but we also can talk about
the sweet ‘Heart and Soul’, the very beautiful ‘Summerwind’,
a little bit like the Allman ‘Blue Sky’, and the instrumental
on guitar, piano and harmonica ‘Summerwind For Lauren’. The
only cover of the album is the blues song ‘Rabbit Got The Gun’,
powerful and swinging. Great work !
Then Dan offers us an instrumental title ‘Song For Debby’
and Ron Gary gives a typical jazz-rock title ‘One Last Set’.
And don’t forget ‘Ron Reekay’, a jazz-rock on an island
rhythm, and ‘Pour Me Another Tall One’ a bluesy song that
tries to make a combination of all these different styles. All this
gives a beautiful album, with a great work on it, a rich production
and nice arrangements, that all the fans of Sea Level, Oteil Burbridge
and The Yonrico Scott Band, and obviously Johnny Neel, will sure enjoy.
For the other musical fans, you are allowed to listen to that music,
especially if you enjoy the ballads. At the end, we just can ask ourselves
: will Dan Toler find its real way and will he find a stable formula
where he could fully express himself?
Yves
Philippot-Degand
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