Blues Company - Songs with No Words (2022)

 Het laatste album van Blues Company dat in Bluesmagazine is besproken was het live-album Take The Stage in november 2020. Nu verschijnt Songs With No Words als dubbelelpee en cd als de vierendertigste release van deze band. De titel zegt het al: Songs With No Words, is dus een instrumentaal album geworden. Het leek bandleider Todor ‘Toscho’ Todorovic een mooi idee een instrumentaal verzamelalbum te maken met nummers die de laatste decennia zijn opgenomen en blijven liggen en die de ontwikkeling van de band evenals de muzikaliteit en de opnametechniek laten zien.

Op het album staan vijftien songs waarvan drie covers namelijk Comin’Home Baby (Ben Tucker, Bob Douroug, Hide Away/Peter Gunn Theme (Freddie King, Hank Mancini) en het overbekende Albatross (Peter Alan Green). De rest is geschreven door Todor Todorovic en Mara’s Dream samen met Zdzislaw Marcinkiewicz. De speeltijd is ruim 74 minuten.

De cd opent met het de heerlijke swingende jazz-blues shuffle Damn! Let’s Jam met tenor en bariton saxofoon en ingetogen swingend gitaar. Lekkere diepe contrabas en ritmische drums. Prachtig begin. Comin’ Home Baby met verrassend fluitspel en weer een zalige swing en met orgel en prachtige gitaarsolo. Live-opgenomen en wat een geweldige geluidskwaliteit, de hele cd trouwens. De band staat hier ook om bekend. Taxi met diepe bariton saxsound volgt, lekker uptempo nummer. De slowblues Luka’s Lullaby is weer live opgenomen en is meer Peter Green stijl. Ook live de fijne shuffle J.J.’s Jump, weer jazzy met de blazers. Rustig laidback met prachtig helder ingetogen gitaarspel wordt het in Waiting For Springtime. Vrolijk swingend is Mr.TNT de ritmesectie legt een prima basis neer, vooral door de vloeiende lopende bas, lekkere saxsolo ook. Met helder, iets galmend gitaar opent Mara’s Dream, orgel valt in en het hele nummer door met alleen gitaar en orgel . Verrassend. Hele diepe bas, zware drums en helder gitaar openen het rustige Dinner At Woolfie’s. Hoofdrol voor de basis van drums en bas. Live gaat het verder met het bekende uptempo Hide Away/Peter Gunn Theme. Blues For Mick is zoals de titel aangeeft een rustige mooi gespeelde blues. Met de live gespeelde boogie T’s Boogie boogiet het verder, met swing en bassolo met passende drums. Stilzitten is er niet bij. Dromerige avondsfeer in Balsha’s Dream, ondergaande zon, wijntje, lief naast je…De beat van de drums in No Idea verstoort de rust….ritmisch nummer met ruimte voor een korte bassolo. Het overbekende Albatross is de afsluiter van dit prachtige album.

Line-up:

Omdat het een verzameling nummers uit meerdere decennia is doen er twintig muzikanten op mee. In de mooie, stevige klaphoes staan ze vermeld bij elk nummer.

Conclusie:

Songs With No Words is een heerlijk instrumentaal album geworden met diversiteit in de nummers. Prima luister-cd in top geluidskwaliteit en fantastisch gespeeld. Het beluisteren absoluut waard.

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Dave Weld & The Imperial Flames – Nightwalk (2022)

 Chicago blues is Dave Weld’s lifeblood. From his beginnings mentored by JB Hutto to his decades with Lil Ed Williams and his Blues Imperials, he has taken the blues around the world. Weld and his Imperial Flames have a brand new album titled “Nightwalk,” their third for Chicago’s Delmark Records, out May 27th.

“Nightwalk” deepens the forward-thinking sound and energy of their contemporary blues albums past, weaving an original tapestry of old and new traditions. Highlights include “Mary Who”, an authentic musical tour de force and vivid portrait of urban life and his tribute to Hutto, “Don’t Ever Change Your Ways”. Weld told Blues Blast Magazine that, “It’s about how he schooled me, and prepared me, for the good parts of this industry as well as the bitterness. His advice was don’t let anybody tell you you can’t make it, not your job, your girlfriend, your mother or father, your friends, nobody! That has stuck with me. The song is about him leaving Georgia and coming to Chicago to be a bluesman, and meeting him when I was a young man. That is when he told me to never change my ways.”

The Imperial Flames are a big, horn-driven band and Weld shares vocal duties with his partner Monica Myhre and drummer Jeff Taylor. Longtime friend Billy Branch contributes harp on the Hutto original, “Now She’s Gone” as well. Weld brought Tom Hambridge in to produce. Hambridge is Buddy Guy’s longtime drummer and has won two Grammy Awards along with multiple nominations for his work with Guy, Susan Tedeschi, James Cotton and Kenny Neal.

A native of Lake Forest, Weld studied history and journalism at New Mexico State University before returning home for the blues life. He initially earned his keep playing with ex-Hound Dog Taylor sidemen Brewer Phillips and Ted Harvey at Sweet Peas, then joining up with several former bandmates of Howlin’ Wolf in the house band at the 1815 Club. Weld’s affinity for the blues was apparent to those wary, seasoned veterans. An early supporter was Hutto, a highly regarded slide guitarist.


Weld’s comfort with urban blues was further illustrated when he took on rhythm guitar duties in the fast company of his slide guitar-playing friend Lil Ed Williams in the raw-and-rowdy band they called the Blues Imperials. The acclaimed 1986 album ROUGHHOUSIN’ captured their incandescent spirit. Weld was with the Blues Imperials for about ten years before branching off in the late-1980s to lead his own outfit. To date, the Imperial Flames have performed in 26 states, 11 countries, and at about three dozen festivals, among them the Montreal Jazz Festival and, naturally, the Chicago Blues Festival.

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Simon McBride – The Fighter (2022)

 McBride komt uit Belfast in Noord-Ierland, een plek die resoneert met de muzikanten zoals Gary Moore, Rory Gallagher en bands als Thin Lizzy, Stiff Little Fingers en uiteraard U2. Hij speelde op tournee met de band van Ian Gillan, de Don Airey-band en ex-leden van Whitesnake als onderdeel van Snakecharmer. Simon is door niemand minder dan Ian Gillan van Deep Purple geprezen als “one of the best guitar players in the world.”

Momenteel vervangt Simon Steve Morse in Deep Purple, die vanwege een familieaangelegenheid tijdelijk een pauze heeft genomen van zijn positie bij de band. Joe Satriani die in 1993 en 1994 met de band speelde, zei in een interview met eonmusic het volgende; “Simon is a great call for that, so that’s really great”, he said; “I mean, the band is close to Simon, and Simon’s a great guitarist”.

Dit album is de perfecte kans voor Simon om naam te maken en te schitteren in de rockwereld! Classic Rock Music UK en Powerplay Magazine hebben beide Simon’s album al met top ratings beoordeeld. “As talented as Simon is, you feel he should be better known” – Powerplay (9/10). Opgenomen in de legendarische Chameleon Studios in Hamburg, heeft dit album alles wat een goed rockalbum nodig heeft… ‘The Fighter’ voelt als het ontbrekende stuk die hem naar de top zou kunnen brengen, vlak naast de legendarische gitaarhelden, waar hij thuishoort.

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Lilly Martin - Lookout (2022)

 

The Blues – understanding the bottom line of being alive in this world. Soul Music – rising above the reality of this world. Lilly Martin sings both, the blues and soul, honestly and with intensity, because she knows what she is singing about.

On the new album ‘Lookout’, which will be released on May 27, 2022, the winner of the “Swiss Blues Award” 2020 is showing all facets of her creativity. A new phase is starting. “Lookout”, that means as much as looking from the inside out, or in other words: change the perspective. With new maturity and serenity. This is where Lilly Martin’s accumulated experience enters the picture.

It is a new highlight in her career. Together with her partner, the multi-instrumentalist Michael Dolmetsch, she creates soul-blues in her own unique style, with influences from gospel, R&B and Motown. Eight original compositions are included on the new album of this singer, who has also written songs with many other artists. “I was encouraged by the positive reactions to my older songs and also by winning the “Swiss Blues Award” to present even more original pieces this time.” Songs like the soulful “Good Love”, which is about the search for the great love, about never giving up on this search. Or “Waiting for the Fog to Lift,” a slow blues in which Lilly Martin describes how she survives melancholy moments. Feelings and situations that everyone knows and that she is describing here in a haunting way.

Besides her own songs, Lilly Martin is also delivering well-chosen cover versions. No wonder she calls herself a “genre outlaw” because the stylistic range is wide. “Desperado” by the Eagles, “Leavin'” by singer/songwriter Shelby Lynne, “Driving Wheel”, an old Blues by Roosevelt Sykes, and, as a real surprise, “Soul Searching” by the Californian Beach Boys. On one hand, this selection adds to the album’s complexity, and on the other, Lilly Martin demonstrates one of her great qualities: she effortlessly makes these songs from other people’s her own.

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Rik Meijer - Rik Meijer (2022)

 Datum release 20 Mei 2022

 

Met medewerking van ...

Martin van der Starre, Mink, Jack Bottleneck, Cindy Oudshoorn, Cobus Prins, Auke Busman, Dilana Smith, Alex Luttjeboer, Monique Bakker, Silvia Dekema en Kevin Stuurhaan - vocals, Hans Eijkenaar en Fokke de Jong - drums, Michel van Schie, Roni Jonker, Bonne van der Wal en Johannes Adema - basgitaar, Ruben Mulder - toetsen, Bas Kleine - Bluesharp, Nico Outhuijse - percussie en studiotechniek, Willem Pen - Sax/trompet.

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Bobby Previte & Charlie Hunter - Avant Blues (2022)

 Bobby Previte is a composer and performer whose work explores the nexus between notated and improvised music. One of the seminal figures of the 1980s New York ‘Downtown’ scene, Previte is the recipient of the 2015 Greenfield Prize for music and was a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow in 2012. He has received multiple awards for composition from the NEA, NYFA, NYSCA, New Music USA, The Jerome Foundation, The New York State Music Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and the American Music Center. Mr. Previte has been an artist-in-residence at the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy, Civitella Ranieri, The Montalvo Arts Center, The Hermitage Artist Retreat, and nine times at the MacDowell Colony. 

His original compositions have been recorded and released on Sony, Elektra, Rykodisc, Palmetto, New World, Ropeadope, Tzadik, Thirsty Ear, Cantaloupe and Rarenoise. Leading a plethora of diverse ensembles from his instrument, the drums, he has collaborated with many of the leading lights in and beyond the world of music, including master composer John Adams, iconic singer Tom Waits, pantheon filmmaker Robert Altman, and most recently, rock legend Iggy Pop. His music has been labeled as ‘utterly original,’ by the New York Times, while The New Yorker has said his ensembles ‘speak in visionary tongues.’ Mr. Previte has given master classes at schools and universities around the world including The Eastman School of Music, The New School, Bard College, and Princeton University. His recent work includes: TERMINALS, Five Concertos for Percussion Ensemble and Soloist, with SO Percussion, released October 28th, 2014 by Cantaloupe Music, GONE, with Bobby Previte & the Visitors, released summer 2016 on the forTune label, TERMINALS QUARTETS, the percussion only version of Terminals, summer 2016, by Cantaloupe Music, and MASS, a music in nine parts for choir, pipe organ, and metal trio, released April 2017 by Rarenoise Records. His newest work, RHAPSODY, a song cycle on the subject of migration, was commissioned by the Greenfield Prize at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, and premiered April 21, 2017 at New College in Sarasota, Florida. Scored for acoustic guitar, harp, piano, voice, drums and saxophone, and featuring a powerhouse band of Zeena Parkins, John Medeski, Nels Cline, Fabian Rucker, and Jen Shyu, RHAPSODY was released in January, 2018 by Rarenoise. 

 

Mike Stevens - Breathe In The World, Breathe Out Music (2022)

 Acclaimed virtuoso musician, songwriter, composer, author and humanitarian Mike Stevens' main instrument is the harmonica, and in his hands it becomes a genre bending, no rules allowed, musical paintbrush as confirmed by Legendary Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff who said: "I've never heard anyone play the harmonica like you play the harmonica."

For more than 35 years Mike has been doing solo live looping harmonica and exploring his own unique vocal harmonica technique. His talent is as unorthodox as his career trajectory. As a ground-breaking performer, composer, educator, keynote speaker and author, Mike continues to expand the paradigms of harmonica, balancing tradition with cutting-edge innovation.

On 'Breathe In The World, Breathe Out Music'. Mike plays his harp, takes lead vocal on four tracks and shares the spotlight with several notable guests including vocalists Polly Harris, Cory James Mitchell, guitarists Kevin Breit, Jeff Getty & Jesse Wells, drummer Art Hratchian and bassist Jeff Bird. From Bluegrass to West African music, Country to Blues, fiddle tunes to soundscapes and experimental music, for Mike it's simply a matter of Breathing In the World and Breathing Out Music.

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