The Slam Allen Band made its Key West debut last week at the Green Parrot. The quartet from upstate New York connected immediately with the audience at the Whitehead St. Club and showed why they are one of the rising groups in the blues world today.

Despite being in his early thirties, Slam Allen is a seasoned veteran who got his start as a youngster playing drums in his family's rhythm and blues band. He calls his father his biggest influence because "He got me started." Later he switched to guitar and has been honing his own style -- a combination of blues, funk, soul and r'n'b -- after forming his band several years ago.

"I make the blues funky and danceable," he further explained.

And does Slam Allen make the blues danceable. As soon as the band broke into Luther Allison's rockin' blues shuffle "Soul Fixin' Man," people were moving around in time with the music. Allen played his guitar just like a young B.B. King: solid, fluid, single-note guitar lines that had pauses in all the right places. "I'll sing the blues, I'll shine your shoes, I'm the shoeshine man," he sang on this classic blues number.

Slam was outstanding on "Last One to Know," another appealing and danceable number which comes from his new Rave On release Things Sho' Done Changed.

Allen is also quite a showman and he milked the audience and teased them as he walked around the bar playing a slow, steamy string-bending number, "Must be the Rain."

After getting a big round of applause at the end of the song, Allen was so taken with their response that he told the audience "I just wanna say that these are some of the damn best people I've ever played for in my life!"

Everybody clapped when Slam announced "We're gonna get funky for ya," as the band laid down a solid beat on a medley of "Shaky Ground," "Superstitious," and "Can't Get Enough of the Funky Stuff." Slam played his Telecaster at a smooth rapid-fire pace while the crowd danced and shouted along with him "Party!"

A bunch of people high-vied Slam at the end of the blues hit "Born Under A Bad Sign." This is the kind of excitement that Slam Allen makes his audience feel whenever he performs and tonight at the Green Parrot was no different.

Slam did some preachin' and talkin' and sang falsetto on Denise LsSalle's soul number "Turning Point." "I'm singing this evening from my soul to your soul," he wailed as he whipped the crowd into a frenzy. If you closed your eyes when Slam performed "I've Been Loving You Too Long," you would have though Otis Redding was singing it. Slam cast his guitar aside and got down on his knees and did some soulful pleading in a high falsetto voice that almost made you cry.

Slam Allen was constantly smiling and chatting with everybody throughout his performance. This is a guy who really enjoys his music and strives very hard to make his audience feel that way. This was very clear to Key West's Bruce Milton. "The man plays like he really means it...he feels it."

"He knows where it comes from."

Slam's also very fortunate to backed up by some superb musicians: Lefty Wallace, bass; Steve Bristol, drums; and Mike Quick, rhythm guitar.

This group really seems to fire Slam up and make him play his tail off.

If you missed the Slam Allen Band last week at the Green Parrot, do not fret.

You get a second chance to see this outstanding blues outfit when they return later this month at Turtle Kraals, Schooner Wharf Bar, and maybe once again at the Green Parrot.