Chris Duarte Group

Chris Duarte Group - Blue Velocity - 2007 - Blues Bureau International

Austin-based guitarist, songwriter, and singer Chris Duarte has often been compared with the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's heady stuff for the musician, who plays a rhythmic style of Texas blues-rock that is at times reminiscent of Vaughan's sound, and at other times reminiscent of Johnny Winter. The truth is, Duarte has his own sound that draws on elements of jazz, blues, and rock & roll. Although he is humbled by the comparisons with the late Vaughan, the San Antonio-raised musician began playing out in clubs there when he was 15 years old. After Duarte moved to Austin when he was 16, he began taking his guitar playing much more seriously, and at that time, Vaughan was still around playing in Austin-area clubs. Duarte was one of those lucky few thousand who got to see Vaughan at the Continental Club before the late guitarist got his first break with David Bowie. After a short stint in an Austin jazz band, Duarte joined Bobby Mack & Night Train and began getting heavily into blues at that point. He traveled all over Texas with that band before a big break came his way in 1994, when New York-based Silvertone Records released his critically praised debut album, Texas Sugar/Strat Magik. Tailspin Headwhack followed in 1997 and Love Is Greater Than Me appeared three years later. Romp from 2003 featured a cover version of Bob Dylan's "One More Cup" and was followed by the 2007 album Blue Velocity, 2008's Vantage Point, 2009's 396 and 2010's Infinite Energy. My Soul Alone showed up early in 2013. © Richard Skelly © 2013 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chris-duarte-mn0000109263/biography

Chris Duarte's name is nearly always mentioned alongside those of the late, great guitar gods Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. There is some validity to the comparison, as Duarte does specialize in that high-octane, lightning-bright, raw but intelligent brand of playing that Hendrix and Vaughan had so definitively put their names on, and he does quite often favor their tones and draw on their trademark licks. But those comparisons were only partially true even when Duarte emerged from Austin in the mid-'90s as a promising craftsman, and they're approaching irrelevancy now that he's working his way toward seasoned vet. Duarte has painstakingly absorbed his influences to develop his own signature style and gained his own coterie of fans, and Blue Velocity, Duarte's first release since 2003's Romp, is where it all comes together. With Dustin Sargent on bass and Damien Lewis pounding drums, Duarte emerges here as more of a total artist than in the past -- the guitar brilliance serves the songs, rather than the other way around. From the thudding, crunching opener "Amy Lee" to the lengthy, melodic mid-tempo showcase "Something Wicked" (OK, he does owe Hendrix big-time for the approach on that one) to the punky screamer "Never Gonna Change" and the roughly Johnny Winter-esque "Out in the Rain," each track is packed with ace musicianship, solid songwriting, impassioned vocals from Duarte and whole lot of fire. But let's face it, in the end, it's that guitar that his fans are going to be gripping onto, and yes, Duarte delivers. On Blue Velocity he transcends those abovementioned names to offer consistently superb, no-frills, ballsy axemanship that will more than satisfy those craving something new in the blues-rock arena. Duarte may never be considered one of the great innovators, but he's certainly one of blues-rock's most impressive current practitioners. © Jeff Tamarkin © 2013 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/blue-velocity-mw0000577334

Dynamic, high energy blues rock reminiscent of SRV, Robin Trower, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Johnson. Chris is as expressive with his vocals as he is with his electric guitar playing and “Blue Velocity” is another memorable, inspired album from an underrated songwriter and hugely talented guitarist. The album is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Listen to Chris Duarte Group’s great “Blues in the Afterburner” album and support tremendous blues rock and great guitar playing [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 172 Mb]

TRACKS

1 Amy Lee 6:26
2 Do It Again 4:46
3 Hard Mind 7:19
4 Something Wicked 13:04
5 I'll Never Know 5:16
6 Sun Prairie Blues 9:20
7 Never Gonna Change 4:46
8 R U 4 Real? 8:54
9 Out In The Rain 4:25
10 Leave Her Be 6:29
11 Met My Match 3:16

All songs composed by Chris Duarte except Tracks 5 & 9 by Toshihiro Sumitomo and Monji Kadowaki

BAND

Chris Duarte - Guitars, Vocals
Dustin Sargent - Bass
Drums - Damien Lewis