T-BEAR & THE DUKES "ICE MACHINE"

When you’ve been around on this earth for a while, that thought does come to you once in a
while. It could hit you when you see a nice old car, a music instrument, a real ”old school”personality being interviewed on the TV…. and if you’re into the blues, this thought definitelycomes more often as the years keep passing by. Our heroes pass away, and many of the young
musicians who try to pick up this heritage will sound like scholars for a long time before they
might come out as a full-fledged blues musician.But here’s a guy that startles you as soon as you hear the sound of his guitar, his voice and the way he deals with the tradition. Raw and direct, well not ”too raw” but just sounding like himself.A straight-forward approach, with that special ”bite” that we associate with some of the greatbluesmen.Where does he find it? Maybe in the deep forests of Värmland, a sparsely populated region inSweden, near the Norwegian border. But mostly in his deep long-term love story with the blues,with heroes like Albert Collins, Albert and Freddie King, Luther Allison and other greatrepresentatives of modern electric blues with a twist of funk. And one thing he has in common with these musicians is that he will never play a set with only shuffles, but keeps varying his tempos and beats. Not only is he a natural talent on the guitar, but his expressive and direct voiceand his creative songwriting contribute to his sound, raw and mature at the same time.The band T-Bear and the Dukes of Rhythm was started by Torbjörn Solberg in his hometown Arvika, Sweden, in 2004, and they have released two CD’s with their previous lineup, including a horn section: ”Let The Sweet Talk Flow” and ”Broadway Twist”.The new band is a quartet, featuring Hammond wizard Paul ”Palle” Wagnberg, a professionalmusician since 1985, including 20 years in soul jazz group ”The Real Thing”. Bass player JanLillsäter has been supporting T-Bear for more than 20 years, steady as a rock, no matter if he’splaying electric bass or upright. The new drummer Henrik ”Henke” Berg was carefully chosenfor his good beat and good spirit, and the new band made a great impact during their first tour in Benelux May 2013. T-BEAR & THE DUKES