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Doug Wamble
Doug
Wamble
July 23, 2005 @ Marblehead Jazz Festival
 “We
like to play lots of kinds of music…so buckle up!”
Such was the introduction to one of the biggest rising stars on the jazz
scene today.
And it was appropriate, as Doug Wamble and his talented trio (pianist
Roy Dunlap, bassist Jeff Hanley, and drummer Peter Miles) demonstrated
why they were the first non-Marsalis artist to be signed to Marsalis
Music (www.rounder.com) and why Gene Arnould was so keen to add them to
the 2005 Marblehead jazz Festival (www.marbleheadjazz.org). From Cole
Porter and Hoagy Carmichael to Peter Gabriel and Stevie Wonder to a few
original compositions by himself and his college friends-turned-bandmates,
Wamble welded his mighty Gretsch hollow body through a wide variety of
genres, all washed with a tasty recipe of southern Blues and Gospel that
felt right at home in the converted church setting. Though a bit
preachy, the liberally syncopated poem “If I Live to See the Day”
allowed Wamble’s band plenty of time to take their licks. Throughout the
cool seaside night, Miles’ tight and snappy (thought at times
overpowering) skin and cymbal work and Hanley’s well-considered
pluckings built solid foundations for Wamble and Dunlap’s melodic
explorations. Gabriel’s “Washing of the Water” was a Jarrett-inspired
effort that revealed years of dedicated reworking and Wamble’s version
of Carmichael’s “Stardust” provided two new interpretations of the
oft-covered classic- one with his rich and open guitar work and the
other with his honeyed vocals. “The Place from Whence I Came” was a
contemporary Gospel-Rock number that previewed Mose Allison’s return to
Marblehead August 20. Among the group efforts in which Wamble’s mates
were often allowed to shine brighter than their friendly front man,
Wamble took a few solos, including a folky rendition of “Hard Times,” a
show-closing rollick through the swampy original “The Bear and the
Toad,” and the encore slide through “His Eye is On the Sparrow,” which
made it obvious that Wamble sings because he is happy and made the
audience even more happy to have heard it.
- Matthew S. Robinson
c. 2005, M. S. Robinson, ARR
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