Right after graduating high school, Robillard and his piano-playing buddy Al Copley founded Roomful of Blues, which turned their love of rhythm and blues into an internationally acclaimed “little big band” that toured the world. Robillard left Roomful in 1979, embarking on a solo career, which also included stints with The Legendary Blues Band, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Robillard’s solo work, with his trio the Pleasure Kings, tended more toward primal rock, but he also loves jazz, and has recorded and performed with such jazz stars as Scott Hamilton, Gerry Beaudoin, Herb Ellis and Jay Geils.
The album reflects all of Robillard’s musical strengths, from the rollicking, Roomful-like jaunt through Ike Turner’s “Do You Mean It?” to Dave Batholomew’s rompin’, stompin’ swinger “Ain’t Gonna Do It,” to the easy rolling ballad from Al King, “Everybody Ain’t Your Friend.”