Archive Review: Dave Specter’s Live In Chicago (2008)

Guitarist Dave Specter came up through the ranks differently than your typical blues artist. Specter didn’t pick up the guitar until the relatively old age of eighteen, but quickly immersed himself in the instrument. While working at the city’s famed Jazz Record Mart, the Chicago native took lessons from Steve Freund, Sunnyland Slim’s former guitarist. Freund subsequently hooked him up as a touring musician with Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist, and Chicago blues legend, drummer Sam Lay.

Before putting his own band together in 1989, Specter made his bones as a guitar-for-hire, touring with such major league talents as Son Seals and the Legendary Blues Band and recording with artists like Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and Jimmy Rogers, among many others. When it came time, Specter signed with Delmark, and released his debut album, Bluebird Blues, in 1991. In the decade-and-a-half since, Specter has recorded six highly-regarded studio albums and a live album.

Dave Specter’s Live In Chicago

Specter’s Live In Chicago, released on both CD and DVD, documents two August 2007 performances – one at Buddy Guy’s Legends club, and the other at the legendary Rosa’s Blues Lounge. The talented guitarist doesn’t sing, so he enlisted the help of several friends to handle the microphone while Specter did what he does best…play. Tad Robinson, Jimmy Johnson, and Sharon Lewis lend their voices to the event. To back him up, Specter put together an incredible collection of Chicago blues talent, including keyboardist Brother John Kattke (formerly of Buddy Guy’s band), bassist Harlan Terson  (Otis Rush’s band), and drummer Marty Binder (a veteran of Albert Collins’ band).

Live In Chicago opens with the lively instrumental duo “Boss Funk/Riverside Ride.” Specter brings a jazzy tone to his playing, a fluid ease similar to B.B. King. Whereas King often imbues his songs with a darker hue, Specter’s fretwork is bright and playful. The opening song includes some tasty Southern-fried keyboard courtesy of Brother John. As Kattke double-taps the keys with a funky flair, Dave and the boys strut through the song with a smooth groove. 

Vocalist and harmonica player Tad Robinson joins Specter onstage for “What Love Did To Me, blowing the harp with a soulful self-assuredness. Robinson’s vocals are where his strongest talents lie, however…sweet, bluesy, gruff, and welded to the energetic harp passages. The song shuffles along to a fast-walking beat, Specter adding guitar flourishes throughout that add to the emotion that Robinson is pouring into the performance. 

How I Got To Memphis

A cover of Tom T. Hall’s urban country classic “How I Got To Memphis” is a fine example of Dixie soul that mixes a slight country twang with rough-hewn vocals and a deep rhythmic groove. Specter’s playing here is transcendent, displaying a tougher edge, trembling tone, and plenty of heart. Robinson’s potent vocals convey the song’s heartbreak and anguish. The instrumental “Texas Top” showcases the fine talents of the band that Specter assembled for the recording. Drummer Marty Binder keeps a steady, if subdued beat alongside Terson’s muted bass lines. Specter picks out a nasty sort of Lone Star state funk, channeling both Stevie Ray and T-Bone Walker on a red-hot six-string workout. Brother John Kattke’s fingers fly across the keys, lending a honky-tonk feel to the song.    

Guitarist Jimmy Johnson joins the band for the old-school Jimmy Rogers’ tune “Out On The Road.” Johnson’s style compliments Specter’s, the guitarist achieving a blunt, rich tone shorn of its edge, but stinging nonetheless. Johnson’s higher-pitched vocals, although not as strong as, say, Robinson’s, are just as expressive. The rocking standard 12-bar blues structure of the Chick Willis classic “Feel So Bad” benefits from Johnson’s opening six-string salvo, the bluesman playing off Terson’s bass groove before launching into a sorrowful tale of love gone wrong. It’s a classic blues tune, full of energy yet always just bubbling under the boiling point.

Singer Sharon Lewis hits the stage for the raucous, up-tempo “In Too Deep.” Lewis is an entertaining vocalist, capable of really belting out a song with heart and soul. Specter adds his tasteful fretwork astride a slip-sliding rhythm while Lewis delivers a crowd-pleasing performance. An original Lewis song, the soul ballad “Angel,” closes out the too-brief Rosa’s set. Specter’s delicate guitar intro reminds of the Jimi Hendrix’s classic “Little Wing” with beautiful tone and enchanting space between the notes. Lewis displays the other end of her great vocal range, delivering an emotional reading of the song in a Gospel vein. 

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

A gifted instrumentalist with a variety of styles at his disposal, Dave Specter is an unsung talent on the Chicago blues scene. Specter is no blues purist, but rather an enthusiast who incorporates elements of bluesmen like T-Bone Walker, Magic Sam, and Otis Rush in his work, along with jazzier influences like Kenny Burrell and, although it’s understated, B.B. King. Live In Chicago is an incredible display of Specter’s talents as a guitarist, as a stylist, and as a bandleader. This is a good show, and well worth hearing for any dedicated blues fan. (Delmark Records, released 2008)