British guitar player Chris Corcoran again sets on fire the blues scene with his highly anticipated album “The Burner”, released by For The Road Records. Clocking in at just over thirty minutes across ten instrumental tracks, this record confirms the band’s status as one of Europe’s leading exponents of classic jump blues, swing and old-school rhythm & blues. Recorded in the Netherlands and mastered at Natural Records, the album brightly captures the raw, driving energy of their electrifying live performances.

From the hard-driving rhythm of “Get Gone” and the hypnotic pulse of “Soul Control”, the recording will leave most listeners breathless. Corcoran’s clean, precise and deeply expressive guitar work tastefully leads every track, but the true muscle of “The Burner” resides in its spectacular horn section. The amazing attack of both tenor sax duo with Lee Badau and Mike Austin, injects a vibrant dose of dynamism in infectious cuts like “Shake Your Thing”, evoking the sophisticated power of the James Brown Band.

The tone variety is another of the album’s greatest virtues. While the title track “The Burner”, stands out as a captivating, smoky mid-tempo groove, other cuts like “Headline Blues” move forward with an irresistible swing cadence that will certainly pack and rock any dance floor. There is also room for exotic flavors in songs like “Vino Collapso,” alongside subtle nuances of acoustic blues enhanced by harmonica in more delicate tracks. Backed by a faultless rhythm section featuring Peter Ten Wolde on drums and Walter Wilhelm on bass, the Chris Corcoran Band delivers a stellar recording that becomes a breath of fresh instrumental air and the perfect antidote to today’s commercial blues-rock saturation.