Guitarist and songwriter Gregor Hilden already proved that he could produce fusion blues CDs with his earlier albums. But there is no doubt that his most he has now achieved his most concentrated atmosphere with "I’ll Play The Blues For You." That emotional live atmosphere, which is so important for the blues, has been captured throughout in this recording. Of course, this could only be achieved with a select band such as the one Hilden has supporting him. The experienced black percussionist Tommy Harris (Bessemer/Alabama) contributed the "laid-back groove" in his own very special way, bass player Oliver Geselbracht ("Blues Company") donated his voluptuous low registers and Horst Bergmeier those succulent Hammond sounds. Guest singer Johnny Rodgers (Wilmington/North Carolina) is up at the top of the world's soul-blues vocalists. Rodgers attacks various ballads in his inimitable way. Other illustrious guests are in the wind section of "I’ll Play The Blues": the sax players Tommy Schneller and Volker Winck. And up in the forefront is the sensitively and subtly played E-guitar of Gregor Hilden himself. Of course, one can make out the music of his role model Peter Green in his elegant improvisations, but this guitarist, who hails from Münster, has long developed a genuinely personal, quintessential style free of all fashions – retro moods, etc. – and that communicates an authentic "blues feeling" combined with clever, jazzy phrasings. With his original 1959 Gibson Les Paul, Hilden has opted for the Stradivarius of guitars, an instrument that harmonizes ideally with his style of playing.
