Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blues On Fire , from Andy Watts and it's a cool, contemporary blues rocker. Opening with a blues strut, Full Throttle , Andy Watts on lead guitar is joined by Eyal Klein on keys, Elad Gellart on sax, Gregory Rivkin on trumpet, Tom Mochaich on bass and Avi Barak on drums. With a fat bari solo by Gellart and a stinging guitar solo by Watts, a cool instrumental opener. Joe Louis Walker joins on title track, Blues On Fire providing soulful vocal lead and Watts sails along nicely on guitar with well articulated guitar phrasing. Very nice. A real nice cover/interpretation of Steve Ray Vaughn's Riviera Paradise floats along with great fire and spirit provided by Watts guitar riffs. With the addition of Rivkin on trumpet giving it just a bit of a jazzy feel, and a bright, clear piano interlude, this is a strong track. Roy Young is featured on lead vocal on JJ Cale's I Got The Same Old Blues with a distinct R&B...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blue Soul from Dov Hammer and it's a harp fueled release full of blues, boogie, rock and country music. Opening with shuffle track, Make It Count , Dov Hammer on lead vocal and harmonica is joined by Gil Katzir and Yair Fine on guitars, Amos Springer on bass, Nir Segal on drums, Assaf Rozov on backing vocals and Sholomo Deshet on percussion. With a New Orleans, Bo Diddley beat, I'm Gone has great rhythm and a solid harp fed melody and Tzafrir Lichinstein on tight, snappy drums. Very cool. Yair Fine's resonator guitar work really digs in on rock solid delta style blues The Fighting Blues under the vocals and harmonica of Hammer. My favorite on the release. Blues rocker, Tear It Down , is a real foot stomper with Deshet adding to the rhythmic undertone on washboard and Dov's reinforcement of the train feel on harmonica. Taking My Time has a funky beat without going bass heavy and interjecting percussion ...