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*** Roomful of Blues

WATCH YOU WHEN YOU GO

(Bullseye Blues)

A Roomful of Blues disc usually means a roomful of horns. But bandleader Chris Vachon’s guitar work gets at least as much play as the much vaunted horn section on the dozenth reliable disc in the 24-year recording history of Providence’s blues jammers. Roomful have a good history with guitarists, of course — Duke Robillard and Ronnie Earl held the job for extended runs. And Vachon, the 11-year veteran of the band who produced this disc, is a fine player, though perhaps not as distinctive as those other two. He stings and swings in a style somewhere between the Vaughan brothers on the instrumental shuffle “Backlash,” and his rhythm work helps carry the set-opening flag waver, “Roll Me Over.”

The horns are not entirely lost, of course. Senior Roomful citizen and tenor-sax player Chris Lataille is among those taking a star turn on a mellow blues à la Ellington, “Where’s Bubba”; and the hard-working horn section is essential to the New Orleans R&B strut on Fats Domino’s “Wait and See,” which is also one of vocalist Mac Odom’s shining moments. The road may have worn through twice as many Roomful alums as are in the eight-piece group, but the band just keep rolling along.

— Bill Kisliuk