Below you’ll find a sample of HDRnB Press clippings. Please click on links provided for extended articles, reviews and interviews to get the full story… Enjoy!
HDRnB offer up huge swells of good music on Vital Signs 2: Amore’s Prayer
Bill Copeland | Bill Copeland Music News | 11.28.2018
Henley Douglas RnB play with instrumental wizardry on Vital Signs 2, Amore’s Prayer. Named after Henley’s daughter, this double disc masterpiece offers many different approaches to the funk-jazz match up. The listener feels he received a huge meal that satisfies on many levels. Along for the ride with saxophone man Douglas Jr. is trumpeter Garret Savluk, electric guitarists Charlie O’Neal, Brandon Tarricone, and Peter Fedele, trombonist Squantch, bass player David Walker, drummer John Litis, and percussionist Yahuba.
Title track “Amore’s Prayer”
opens the disc with Douglas blowing a soft, slow, and very smooth jazz line. Its waves of motion are large, all encompassing yet at the same time, mellow, easeful. He’s just getting warmed up. He soon leads his combo through this jazz pop piece like a pied piper of rhythm and groove. It’s impossible to not get hooked on Douglas’s melody line as it is rich with all good elements of horn playing. His backing outfit offers a spicy percussion run as well as solid but unobtrusive bass and drums. A fluid guitar line reminds of the best of jazz players as the horn continues its spiral of warm melodic flow. It’s that sense of many moving parts that keep this a feast for the ears.
“Bombs For Peace”
makes a sprightly appearance here. Douglas blows a wildly loose line that screams with joy amidst a pushy groove and alongside a bristling guitar line. This action packed piece grabs the ears and doesn’t let go. It makes us feel like dancing fast. That is due to all of its moving parts. A twitchy electric guitar line provided by Charlie O’Neal is alone worth the price of admission to this E-ticket ride.
“Soul Albo”
slaps its way into our consciousness with a riffy groove. An electric guitarist dashes off light chords, keeping pace with Douglas’s jumpy saxophone ride. When this piece speeds up, your feet might want to go with it. It’s like Soul Train married to some of the great jazz arrangements, boogie groove underpinning a freewheeling sax and a bright electric guitar line that cuts through the sounds cape, making it seem as easy as a big flashlight cutting through darkness. …to read the full review, please click here.
At Plymouth Spire Center, saxman Henley Douglas embraces R&B
Jay Miller | The Patriot Ledger | 08.11.2016
Saxophonist Henley Douglas has had a lustrous music career, first as a founder of the Heavy Metal Horns which delighted audiences around the country with its mix of rock, funk and jazz, from 1989 to 2000, and then later as a key member of The Boston Horns, the more funk-oriented group that evolved out of Heavy Metal Horns after 2000. But just a few years ago he contemplated what he really wanted to do musically and had an epiphany under rather difficult circumstances.
“I had a tumor, and had to have it removed, so I was in the Intensive Care Unit for three or four days, with plenty of time to think,” Douglas said this week from his North Shore home. “You could say a moment of truth hit me. Life is so precious, you should take the time to do exactly what you want to do. Although I had almost always played in bands with vocalists, we had always had really strong instrumentals. I just decided what I really wanted was to build a band around that concept. Just instrumental music that is strong and dynamic.”
The result was the new HDRnB, which of course is Douglas’ initials plus “rhythm and blues”. And the septet, which includes Plymouth native Charlie O’Neal on guitar, has a busy weekend. Performing at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge tonight and at The Spire Center in Plymouth on Saturday night.
“I left the Boston Horns five years ago, intending to move in this more instrumental direction,” Douglas explained. “The basic style is still R&B and funk, but not as loud and bombastic. We also use a lot of two-guitar formats. And this weekend we’ll have three guitars, so that gives it a much different sound. Usually though, we have a two-guitar/three horns front line with a percussionist and rhythm section. And we love to use a lot of textures and strong dynamics.”
“Four months ago we released our album ‘Vital Signs I’. And we all contributed and wrote music for it,” said Douglas. “I was lucky enough to do an interview over Sirius radio with hall of fame DJ Meg Griffin, who hosts a program called The Loft. That has helped us sell a lot of units nationwide. I was really honored to get the chance to talk with her. We’re probably one of the only instrumental acts they’ve featured, but they have re-broadcast it a couple times, so we just keep getting more and more fans that way. It was a very cool thing to have happen to us.”…to read the full article on the Wicked Local website, please click here.
HDRnB at The Cavern
Mark Bryant | The Noise | 06.14.2014
According to Mapquest, I walked 1,536 miles tonight, even though in reality it’s only three blocks. I double-check, because I think I somehow ended up at DBA on Frenchmen Street, New Orleans. But, in reality I am in downtown Plymouth at one of my favorite hangs, The Cavern, where I’m about to immerse myself in the a.k.a. The Henley Douglas Rhythm & Blues Band.
If you’ve seen and heard these guys play, then you already know what kind of night I’m going to have. They are about as good as it gets when you want some down and dirty Pontchartrain funk. The band features the smooth but in-your-face vocals of Douglas Gimbel and funk sax hero, Henley Douglas, Jr. as the more than capable frontmen, with a rhythm section that would have made Stax Records proud — Dave Walker on bass and John Iltis behind the kit.
The guitar duties are left up to Charlie O’Neal and Eric Reardon who trade off leads and rhythms. On more than one occasion while bringing the songs to atmospheric levels. Squantch on trombone adds the final touch of N’awlins seasoning. If you ever get the hankering to visit southwest Louisiana but are stuck locally, find this band and make haste to a watering hole near you. And while you’re at it, grab an Abita or two! …to read more from The Noise, please click here.