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Artist
Ann Rabson with Bob Margolin
4+ albums
piano bluesblues
about
Ann Rabson with Bob Margolin is the pairing of American blues musicians Ann Rabson and Bob Margolin. Their album "Not Alone" is not exactly an album of duets -- Rabson sings most of the leads and her piano playing is featured throughout -- but it's not entirely a solo effort, either, since Margolin only performs solo on a couple of tracks. What is clear is that both players are having a ball and their energy and good humor are infectious. The album is a delight from start to finish. Except for Margolin's "Let It Go" -- a bluesy rhumba marked by Rabson's rippling piano arpeggios and lyrics delivered in a wry drawl that bring to mind the philosophical ruminations of Mose Allison -- the tunes here are mostly familiar covers. Rabson reinvents the material with her surprising arrangements and on-the-money vocals. "Let's Go Get Stoned," the Ashford & Simpson tune made popular by Ray Charles, gets a downtempo treatment that celebrates excess with a gospel-flavored arrangement. Rabson delivers the Rev. Thomas Dorsey standard "I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song" with a wry approach that manages to sound both spiritual and carnal, especially when she sings: "I can't say one thing and then do another, be a saint by day and a devil under covers." A boogie-woogie cover of Louis Jordan's "Caledonia" features Margolin's smooth, laid-back guitar work supporting Rabson's excellent piano work, while her ragtime reading of Hudson Whitaker's almost obscene "Let's Get Drunk and
