Benoit Blue Boy & Les Tortilleurs - Resolument Bleu (Feat. Nico Duportal) (2020)

When he feels the time has come to record an album, Benoît does not nibble his pencil in front of a white sheet. He is the blank sheet, he sings about mental drafts. If a sentence does not pass the oral, another is sung. He always managed on his own, having understood from the start that record companies would never let him record blues in French. Its unique and fluid style, this Franco-Louisiana transatlantic rowboat, is a biological exudate caused by all these hazards. It's a bit like having blue eyes or wearing a size 44, and it's not new. The Triple B discography is a long traveling shot that swallows up six Presidents of the Republic and 18 Prime Ministers, sees the disappearance of balls, accordion kings, franc, cars with ashtrays and concert halls with smokers,and arrive the pineapple pizza, the Tex-Mex cuisine and the spritz, which crosses the Saturday evenings of Jean-Pierre Foucault unscathed, the Sunday afternoons of Jacques Martin and Michel Drucker. It is also rumored that BBB gives survival lessons to young maquisards of the FM band.

The first meeting with Nico Duportal was made in 2017, for the 25 centimeters A Boire Et A Manger In St-Germain Des Prés. Benoît could finally soak himself in the brass without having to run into a suburb of Austin, he who despaired of finding in France blowers capable of digging something out of rhythm'n'blues. It is again Nico Duportal who realizes this 17th album, and pushes like never the fire under the swamp of Benoît, generously curved shuffles, twangy baritone, this JD Miller touch which is further accentuated by a simplified harmonic game. The album, captured almost live, did not require more preparation than the others. The two guitarists, Nico and Stan Noubard Pasha, met up one afternoon at his home for a rehearsal, then Benoît relied as always on the instinct of his musicians,in particular the two who arrived from the Duportal house, the drummer Pascal Mucci and Alexis Bertein. Alex, saxophone with Nico, plays the brass section, the organ and especially the bass here.
Do you have to be sharp to get out of this frankness a record that turns so round! ~Christian Casoni