I love a good blues piano player! Now, I haven't heard Jumpin' Jack play yet, so I'm lookin' forward to the RSN at the end of the month. I found this review of his playing on the web (at www.bluenight.com) and now I'm really looking forward to the night:

I’m the first to lament the rarity of piano blues players. I like a good electric guitar solo, and a great guitarist can bring people to tears or to their feet in a manner of minutes, but there is a festive, carefree quality that a good blues piano player can bring to a show or a recording that is hard to match. Plus, a piano just plain sounds good.

Jack Strobel is a piano playing man who, under the nom de blues Jumpin’ Jack, performs in the New Jersey area. His debut album, Rhumba Lee (Backbender Records), features his singing and songwriting (he penned seven of the 12 tracks), and piano playing of course, backed by a trio of solid musicians (Ron Rauso on West Coast-style guitar, DeWitt Nelson on upright bass and Jimmy L Coleman on drums) augmented either by harmonica player Dennis Gruenling or by saxist/flautist Ralph Liberto. The music, particularly for the first half of the CD, has a late night, jazzy feel. The title track, which (like “Satisfy Me Right”) features a light rhumba beat, has Liberto playing flute; even though the idea may strike you as odd, it actually works pretty well. Strobel is very much part of the band. Though he takes a few solos and liberally spices up the tunes with nice, delicate fills, he leaves plenty of soloing space to Rauso, Gruenling and Liberto, or to guest guitarist Sweet Willie Hunt on “Mother-in-Law Blues,” a typical 12-bar shuffle. Highlights include the R&B-ish “Another Fool,” with Liberto on sax and Jumpin’ Jack on organ; the ballad “There I Was,” in Charles Brown territory; and “That’s a Pretty Good Love,” taken at a lower pitch (Liberto playing bari sax?). I had never heard of Jumpin’ Jack before, but his CD proved a pleasant surprise – in fact, this is my choice for best blues debut so far in 2003.