Roscoe Beck
Walk On
Contemporary blues/R&B, featuring many guest vocalists and instrumentalists, including Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, David Grissom, Kim Wilson, Ruthie Foster and James Cotton.
Reviews:
Bass Player Magazine:
Roscoe’s emphatic solo debut reflects his career as a sharp-eared bassist/producer who always finds himself around good songs (in this case, his own). “Wasn’t It Fine” and “Come Back Baby” are purebred Austin blues shuffles—the former featuring Robben Ford’s guitar glint, the latter riding Roscoe’s resounding, bounding ostinato (on his signature Fender 5). Elsewhere, “Together All the Time” pairs Tower Of Power-like horns and Eric Johnson’s guitar with Roscoe’s greasy 16th groove and tremolo-effected solo. “Rhumba Nhumba #9” recalls Beck’s best work with Leonard Cohen. And the disc-closing instrumental, “Blues for a New Day,” is a Monk-meets-lounge jazz affair, framed by Roscoe’s upright and tightly-voiced horn arrangement. (Chris Jisi)
Austin American Stateman: Roscoe Beck, 'Walk On' (AusTone Records)
Bassist Roscoe Beck is not a famous name in the Austin music scene, but there might not be a player in town with a wider breadth of experience and tastes. Beck has fronted jazz bands, played the blues at Antone's, collaborated for years with singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. In 1986, he co-produced "Famous Blue Raincoat" — a critically acclaimed album by singer Jennifer Warnes that sold more than a million copies.
Beck's debut solo album, "Walk On," honors and extends his reputation as an adventurous musical spirit. The record is a fun and rootsy run through a garden of soul and blues, populated by some of the very best musicians in Austin. Rockers Eric Johnson and David Grissom on guitar. Bluesers Kim Wilson and James Cotton on harmonica. Jazzer Brannen Temple on drums. Ruthie Foster, Mike Cross, Malford Milligan and Omar Dykes on vocals. And that's just half of it . . .
Although he wrote or co-wrote every song on the disc, Beck doesn't put himself in the spotlight. "Walk On" is a composer's album all the way, and it has the happy spirit of a high-spirited revue, Hammond organ always high in the mix, the guitars turned up loud. Beck takes us from soul stomp to blues walk to gospel shout . . . and then to something that sounds a little bit like Steely Dan.
Beck has always been quite the virtuoso on bass. Check out the man's next live show with singer-songwriter Darden Smith; his accompaniment is as sensitive and as elegant as it gets. Yet Beck is very much a selfless player – and this album reflects his larger conviction to showcase a kind of spirit, something bigger than so many musicians and their formidable chops.
For its celebration of our city's root-sy musical heritage, "Walk On" will feel warm and familiar to many Austin listeners. Yet Beck's record is daring, too, in its conviction that blues and jazz and soul and funk can live together in a modern musical treehouse. You might think of it, as Roscoe does, as "Blues for a New Day." Long live the spirit.
— Brad Buchholz
Blues: Rhythm & Blues