Steve Dooks Brings It

Even if very few of them know his name, almost everyone in the greater Halifax area knows Steve Dooks.

For most people, Steve is “that guy who plays the piano at Pete’s“–one of Pete‘s better ideas, by the way. In Bedford they think of him like this:

and people downtown think of him like this:

While I’m sure that guy is part of Steve’s image of himself, I’m also sure he’s got a lot of other characters in his bag. For instance, he sometimes thinks of himself more like this:

And that’s the version of Steve that shows on his new album “Cocktails, Heartaches, and Cigars“Steve left the serial comma out, but I am putting it back for him. I’m sure it was just an oversight.

I always chat a bit with Steve when I’m in Pete’s and he’s there, and he always has time to play a little something for Sarah if she’s with me. (The times that Steve has a violin player sitting in with him completely blow Sarah’s mind).

This week our chat was primarily about his new CD, which he’s obviously very excited about, but it ranged from there into such topics as “the history of jazz in Halifax”including the local legend that the real woman behind Duke Ellington‘s tune Sophisticated Lady was really a woman who lived in Africville with whom Ellington had a long-term relationship., “the difference between Montreal and every other city in Canada”, “the dearth of decent venues in Halifax”, “Haligonians being too damn friendly for proper live music gigs”, “how the CBC, particularly radio, might be one of the most important components of the Canadian identity”, etc.

When we were talking about the CD, Steve mentioned that he had set out with several different goals: one was to do a jazz album that covered a wide variety of different styles–pulling in influences from stomp, swing, stride, cool, and latin styles, and also (and perhaps especially) from jazz’s cousin, the blues. He also said he wanted to produce some tracks that had the feel of the old standards, but with some of lyrical sophistication and themes of today’s music.

It was pretty much a given that I’d pick up a copy of this new CD, to check out what Steve sounds like outside the Luckett context, and because of the “only in Halifax” thing of the jazz man everyone knows from the grocery store, but after talking to him about it, and being infected by his obvious excitement about the project, I was happy to grab one on the spot.

After a few listens, I think he’s actually pulled off both of those things, to greater or lesser extents.

It’s also interesting to me how the disc has a kind of emotional direction to it, starting off with the relatively light and happy track “Smooth and Easy”, and slowly descending into more and more the tragic territory of blues lyrics, culminating in “I Don’t Have You Anymore” and “It’s Called The Blues”. The sad tracks are a pleasure to listen to, as with all good blues and bluesy jazz.

There’s also a fair bit of levity along the way, perhaps most prominently in the track “My Attorney Bernie”, which feels very NYC, and not at all Halifax to me. I give large props for rhyming “a couple of ventures” with “counterfeit debentures”Although that doesn’t come close to my all time favorite one, when the Tanglefoot boys rhyme “fear of disputation” with “disindigitation” in “Paddy’s Finger“.. But don’t take my word for it, I’ve set up that track down at the bottom of the post for you to check out.

Obviously if you’re not in Halifax you won’t see this CD in stores, although my Upper Canadian readers might hear some of it on CBC, since they bought 20 copies for national play. However, if you do want to buy a copy you have some options. You can go here, or you can order it from Halifax’s music store for grownups, Madrigal.