Charlie Wood

For years, Charlie Wood has been one of the jewels of Beale Street, his ongoing residency at King's Palace Cafe providing one of the most consistent and perhaps the most distincitive live musical experiences to be had on the famous strip.

People think of the blues and of Beale as being guitar-driven, but Wood is a piano man - or organ man, to be more specific. His accomplished, witty playing is rooted in jazz and blues but with echoes of rock, pop, and even gospel. As a singer and lyricist, he has a light, cerebral touch. The result is regional roots music that traces its origins less to a Mississippi bluesman like Muddy Waters that to a more urbane showman such as Arkansas' Louis Jordan. - Chris Herrington - The Memphis Flyer

If you've got a hankerin' for jazz with a healthy dose of blues, open the doors to King Palace Cafe on Memphis' famed Beale Street, where Charlie Wood sings just about every night. The Memphis native, so influenced by Mose Allison that he took up the Hammond B-3 upon hearing his music, throws out some insight, a dash of humor and a bit of everyday living on his second CD. As the title makes clear, Wood's take on the world is tempered by his worldly experiences: "Back when I was stupid/Easily deceived and duped/I didn't know the real thing from the sham thing," he relates on "Back When I Was Stupid," while jamming on the B-3. On "Don't You Ever Stop Talking," he fantasizes about the fate of loud mouths; on "She Turned Me Down," it becomes clear-crystal clear-that the road to romantic bliss has had its bumps. Wood's voice falls somewhere between John Pizzarelli's joyful diction and Harry Connick Jr., with traces of Michael Franks' whimsy. And there's some healthy, swinging jazz playing amid the soul-baring, courtesy of guitarist Calvin Newborn, drummer Renardo Ward and killer brass by Tom Clary, Scott Thompson, Kirk Smothers and Jim Spake.

-Brian Soergel
- JazzTimes

"...Charlie Wood is the consumate Memphis Musician!" - Bill Ellis - The Commercial Appeal

Most performers - especially those with something original to say - dislike being compared to another artist. And for good reason. But it's nearly impossible to talk about Charlie Wood without talking about Mose Allison; the thirtysomething Memphis organist shares so much in aesthetics and attitude with the legendary jazz songwriter/pianist that Allison is simply the natural jumpin-off point for any discussion of Wood. Doesn't mean he's a clone - he isn't, by a long shot - but like Allison, Wood is a blues-leaning jazz player who writes keyboard-based tunes with an existential outlook and slylyself-referential lyrics. His instrument of choice is the Hammond B-3, providing splashy solos or prickly rhythmic underpinning depending on each song's needs.

Wood spent a decade and a half playing the King's Palace Cafe on Beale Street, and "Memphis," the centerpiece of "Somethin' Else, is a love/hate letter to the Bluff City that incorporates a twist on Gershwin's "Summertime" to hilarious effect. "Tis' is a barn-burner of a tune that has Wood spitting out words like an auctioneer, while "Pictures in a Book" wraps a psychological horror story in a pretty R&B ribbon. And " Down in the Ground" is as concise a summation of nihilism's double-edged sword as has ever been recorded in song: "I might could get ahead a little bit/If I could bring myself to give a shit/But I cannot see the point of it/When I got to go down in the ground." Throughout the disc there's a sense of maturity, of unified persona, that even Wood's two excellent previous albums of originals lacked. With Wood having recently given up his regular trio gig at King's Palace, it's not as easy to catch him live as in the past, but "Somethin' Else" stands as a sharp, funny, hip testament to his writing and performing prowess.
- Kenneth Bays
- Blues Revue