Pleasure & Pain
01.Brand New Day
02.Don't Worry About Me
03.I'm Good
04.Kill The Pain
05.Blue Over You
06.Sunday Morning Rain
07.Home Tonight
08.Try Not To Lie
09.I Want It Yesterday
10.Him Or Me
11.Hot Sauce
DENNIS JONES ~ PLEASURE & PAIN
Blues guitar heroes are like a major hurricane that blows down everything in
their path, changing the musical landscape as surely as category 5 tropical
storms alter the terra firma. Since Stevie Ray Vaughan perished tragically in
1990, the winds of change have been brief squalls at best ~ until now. Dennis
Jones, with his third release Pleasure & Pain (Blue Rock Records), has the
explosive guitar power, voice and songs to make his contemporaries quake in
their boots.
Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland. The drums were his first passion and they
still form his relentless grooves. He started playing guitar at 13, took a few
informal lessons from a friend who taught him “House of the Rising Sun” and was
rocking out with his Marshall stack two years later in a band with older cats.
His tastes evolved in tandem with his skills and the rock of the Rolling Stones,
The Who, Bob Dylan and Santana influenced him profoundly, along with 60’s guitar
greats Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and Jimmy Page. Combined with blues legends
B.B., Albert and Freddie King and the invincible R&B artists such as Al Green,
James Brown and Motown, the result is a human music machine who can singe the
strings of his Strat while singing deep from his soul.
From 1977-80, Jones was in the service and stationed in Germany where he gained
further experience with a variety of bands. In 1985, he made Los Angeles his
home and headed a Led Zeppelin-meets-Funkadelic band called Blackhead that
attracted industry attention. In the early 90’s, Jones’ formed the Dennis Jones
Band, followed his passion and made a commitment to house rockin’ blues.
Pleasure & Pain contains 11 blazing intense original numbers. “Brand New Day”
does not just swing the shuffle; it kicks it all over the lot as Jones exhorts
“Dance your blues away!”. “Don’t Worry About Me” adds an element of contemporary
vocal harmony, reminiscent of the Sopranos theme song, to the booty-bumping
minor funk. He engages in some winking braggadocio by singing “no beg, no way”
in “I’m Good” over the hardest pounding shuffle rhythm highlighted by his
stirring, punishing picking. Jones changes tack in “Kill the Pain” with a slow,
raunchy boogie exposing the futility of cocaine abuse and featuring low down
country blues licks elevated to inflammatory levels. “Blue Over You” finds him
playing infectious, funky lead/rhythm guitar, with a nod to the Voodoo Child, in
a hook-laden number that has hit radio potential. “Sunday Morning Rain” takes
yet a different turn as a pop rock ballad that would not be out of place in
Nashville as Jones croons his melancholy tale of romantic woe. The driving minor
key rocker “Home Tonight” displays an urgency that permeates the entire album.
“Try Not to Lie” rocks the blues, like a certain trio from Texas, as Jones
addresses a common theme with the ironic, “If you try not to lie, I will try to
do the same.” “I Want It Yesterday” is a nasty slice of ominous, heavy riff rock
while “Him or Me” channels Jimi in an impressive display of trio rock that
rumbles and roars with fury. Closing the astounding set is the charging and
lusty musical locomotive called “Hot Sauce” that fittingly has Jones quoting
“Third Rock from the Sun” with the dynamic “call and response” frame work.
When not writing songs for his own use, Jones dedicates his time to writing
songs for his friends and guitar heroes. Guitar Shorty in his next album coming
out on Alligator Records 2009/2010 is covering one such song, “Temporary Man”.
It is risky to make predictions, but if anyone has a legitimate shot at filing
the blues guitar hero void it is Dennis Jones. He has the head, heart and hands
to do it.
Dave Rubin, 2005 KBA Award Winner in Journalism.
DENNIS JONES ~ THE BUZZ
“He’s the rare newcomer to recording who displays mastery over his musical
expression without resorting to bombast, flash, fury or histronics. Jones
possesses a confident, smoky midrange voice and shows a deft touch on both
acoustic and electric guitar.” M.E. Travaglini, Blues Revue
“From the opening horn blasts of the first cut “Brand New Day”, Jones revels in
a passionate and fresh approach to the blues that carries through this entire
CD. He brandishes his guitar with flair, his vocal are creative and self-assured
while his songwriting has taken a big step forward. This is clearly an evolved
and self-realized Dennis Jones. Each of the 11 original songs here display an
inner confidence that he believes in himself and for the first time has
translated that to a recording,” Michael Kinsman, President, Blues Lovers United
of San Diego
“I’ve known Dennis Jones for several years and have been spinning tracks from
his first two discs, “Falling Up” and “Passion for the Blues”, both of which
were really good. When he told me he thought “Pleasure and Pain” was his best
effort to date, I took a wait-and-see attitude. Well, wait and see no more.
“Pleasure and Pain” is his best effort and truly one of the year’s best discs to
date. It will leap out and grab you from the opening notes of “Brand New Day”
with its great horn lines and doesn’t’ let up through 11 really fine original
tunes. Dennis’ guitar work has always been top notch, but on this record his
vocals are more in the forefront, thankfully, because his voice has matured. His
ability to switch from searing blues/rock to the soulful groove of “Sunday
Morning Rain” is another big plus for me on this record. But even above his
guitar work and his excellent vocals, the one factor that makes this a terrific
disc is the songs themselves. Dennis is a very gifted songwriter and his passion
for this music really shows through in every track. As I said, one of this
year’s best records. Do yourself a favor and experience some “Pleasure and
Pain”, you’ll be glad you did.”
Brett Fleming, “Soul Stew”, WEVL, Memphis, TN
“A real thrill to hear you in person again – you’re a wild man with that guitar
and you leave it all on stage! Totally big time – I know that there are big
things ahead for Dennis Jones and the Dennis Jones Band. You’ve got a great
on-stage persona too. High energy, animated, fun and pouring your heart into
those solos. Congrats again on the CD – my favorite tracks are “Brand New Day”,
“Try Not To Lie” and “Him or Me”. Killer production, too. The attention to
detail really shines through.”
Nick Gerard, KKJZ 88.1 FM, Los Angeles, CA
“Dennis Jones is a maverick blazing blues trails with great songs and blistering
guitar.”
Zac Harmon
“Dennis Jones is a helluva guitar player, vocalist, songwriter and great
entertainer. And you can’t beat him as a human being.”
Guitar Shorty
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Homepage: http://www.dennisjonescentral.com