Roly Platt: Inside Out

Is there anything that Canadian blues harmonica player Roly Platt hasn’t done? Doesn’t seem like it. He’s been twice nominated as Harmonica Player of the Year at the Maples Blues Awards, and has been a sideman live or in the studio for the likes of David Clayton-Thomas, Terri Clark, Suzie Vinnick, Ronnie Hawkins and more. Platt has also done commercial jingles for Ford, Chrysler, Budweiser, McDonalds and the Toronto Blue Jays. Enough for you? No? He has additionally worked in TV and film, scoring the soundtrack for the 2011 Bollywood movie Delhi Belly and putting his pipes to use making music for various animated children’s television shows, including The Berenstain Bears. Canadian children of yore might have heard his work on Sharon, Lois and Bram’s 1979 double platinum Juno Award-winning kiddie record, Smorgasbord. The guy has certainly gotten around, but it is only now that Platt has decided to issue a debut full-length, Inside Out, which the artist notes wryly in the liner notes to the disc, “Every 56 years I like to put out my own CD — so my timing is perfect!”

Let me say this much: Platt is a master of an instrument that, one would assume, is deceptively easy to play. He is accomplished and talented, which his achievements back up. However, because Inside Out is a mostly instrumental blues harp album — though Platt brings in vocalist-guitarists Steve Strongman and Jordan John to sing on a few tracks — and is about 53 minutes long, it’s a matter of a little too much of the same thing. There are a few interesting covers, such as James Taylor’s “Bartender Blues” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind” (popularized by Ray Charles), but the real eyebrow raiser is a version of “Over the Rainbow”, which comes across as being more of a curio than anything else. (It reminds me of a vinyl record I used to own that featured a steel drum rendition of “Danny Boy”. Steel drums + “Danny Boy” = WTF?).

That might sound like I’m slagging this record, but that would be the furthest from the truth. What carries Inside Out is Platt’s consummate harp playing, and you can practically see the smoke rings every time he puts his lips to the instrument. It’s just that the disc takes some time to warm up to due to its mainly instrumental nature, and, indeed, “Over the Rainbow” is a rather unexpected choice for a ballad-like blues cover. The LP is also, as suggested, a little long. Despite all that, Inside Out is for those who love the sound of the harmonica, and want to hear it back blues, country and rock ‘n’ roll based material. It might be uneven and long-winded, but, ultimately, one wishes that it doesn’t take Platt another 56 years to cut another solo record. He’s excellent at what he does with his playing, and that’s basically all you’ll need to know.