Duke Robillard

Guitarist Duke Robillard is renowned for playing the blues. He founded Roomful of Blues and stuck with them for a decade, later playing with the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Legendary Blues Band. But the eclectic Robillard has always been fascinated with jazz, swing, and jump blues, and has variously collaborated with the likes of Herb Ellis, Jay McShann, and Jimmy Witherspoon. That genre's also the focus of his latest album, A Swingin' Session (Stony Plain), which matches Robillard's supple guitar work—here sometimes reminiscent of Charlie Christian—with an equally limber rhythm section, Bruce Katz's bubbling keyboards, and a shifting array of horns, including saxophonists Scott Hamilton and Sax Gordon. Robillard also dusts off an engaging, hipster-ish vocal style that owes debts to Louis Jordan and Mose Allison. The sublime vibe throughout is sophisticated swing, whether covering standards like "Deed I Do" and Ray Charles's "Them That Got," or delicious originals like "Swinging with Lucy Mae." $20 at 7 p.m.; $15 at 9:30 p.m.
Tue., Sept. 9, 2008