The Jess Roden Band - Keep Your Hat On + Play It Dirty..Play It Class (Reissue) (1976/2021)

Great album by Jess Roden, the very underrated, but supremely gifted British vocalist. As vocalists go Jess is up there with the likes of Paul Carrack, Paul Rodgers, and others. His voice has been described as "one of the quintessential white soul voices of the '70's". For over 40 years, he done just about everything in rock music, except becoming a household name. He has appeared on albums by The Meters, The Doors, Steve Winwood, The Who, Mott the Hoople, Keef Hartley, Sandy Denny, Paul Kossoff, Jim Capaldi, Stomu Yamashta, Peter Green, and many more. He has a voice of pure gold, and to many people in the record buying world, he remains an undiscovered treasure. There are stories circulating that a lot of Jess' work will be remastered and remixed for a CD set issue. The sooner, the better. "Keep Your Hat On" is a vinyl issue, and it would be great to hear this album in all it's sonic glory.

"Play It Dirty, Play It Class" is for me Jess Roden's most consistent studio album and displays his incredible adaptabilty between styles. His vocal delivery moving easily between jazz, soul, blues, country, and rock. Much has been made of the phrasing ability of Paul Rodgers but I would suggest that Roden, along with Frankie Miller, is almost Rodgers' equal. Like Rodgers and Miller, Roden is very much a singer and musicians singer. Mention the name Jess Roden to a singer or musician of a certain age and you will almost certainly be given an appreciative nod followed by a wistful shake of the head and a comment along the lines of " .... why isn't that man a superstar."