Whatever else he may have been – and let’s face it his reputation probably ruled him out from the “nicest man in rock and roll” awards – Chuck Berry has a fair claim to being one of the most significant of the founding fathers of Rock and Roll. Dylan called him the “Shakespeare of rock and roll” whilst Lennon declared that “Chuck Berry” was a synonym for rock and roll. As endorsements go those are pretty good ones to have.
In his later years Chuck Berry often played live in “The Duck Room” at Joe Edwards’ restaurant in St. Louis, called Blueberry Hill. This led to Berry’s longest lasting band line-up based around his daughter Ingrid Berry on harmonica, son Charles Berry, Jr. on guitar, bassist and bandleader Jimmy Marsala, pianist Robert Lohr, and drummer Keith Robinson. It’s this band that’s caught live on a new album from Dualtone Records. It’s called, not unreasonably, ‘Live from Blueberry Hill‘ and it is out on December 17th.
