Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, The Avenue , from Jason Vivone and the Billy Bats and it's raw and fun. Opening with a Bo Diddley style track, The Vivone Song (pronounced Viv O Nee) , a musical chant with heavy tom tom rhythm and thick warm lower octave guitar melody on vibrato, a cool opener. Jim Jackson's, Kansas City Blues , is a rumbler with Vivone on wild slide guitar and lead vocal, Matt Bustamante on drums, Rick Maclvor on piano and Jeremy Clark on bass, topped off by Joanna Berkebile, Ben Hoppes and Paula Crawford on backing vocal. A solid boogie woogie and absolutely camaraderie among the band makes this a great track. Title track, The Avenue , tells the story of the gritty part of town where the dirt goes down. With the band in common vocal style and with very cool vibrato glistened guitar work, this track shimmers. Very nice. Hello Mrs Radzinsky is a driving boogie with a great walking bass line complimented nicely by MacIver on keys and featuring Vivone on ...

I just received the newest release, Eddie Ate Dynamite (January 28, 2014) from Jason Vivone and the Billy Bat s and it's a modern Louis Jordan with a twist. Opening with Cut Those Apron Strings , Vivone lets off a full swing number featuring bopping backing vocals from Paula Crawford and Joanna Berkebile as well as Bryan Redmond on sax and Chad Boydston on trumpet. Placebo has an unusual beat and a composition that is a part Zappa, part Little Feat and part Captain Beefhart with particularly cool slide work from Vivone and bass from Jeremy Clark. Mean opens with a haunting vocal lead from Crawford. BB King like blues riffs permeate the trance like melody and Matt Bustamante keeps it tight on drums. Title track, Eddie Ate Dynamite is a loose slide guitar led track with swing like rhythm. It's obvious that this band is serious but their music is intended to be a lot of fun. Analog has a standard blues style and turnaround but is very simple format with vocal, bass and drum...

I just received the newest release, Lather, Rinse, Repeat from Jason Vivone & The Billy Bats . The line up is Vivone on vocal, guitar and harp; Matt Bustamante on drums, Jeremy Clark on bass; Paula Crawford on vocal and guitar; Imani Glasgow on vocal and percussion and Ben Hoppes on vocal and banjo. The release opens with a seductive I Hear A Heartbeat , a Texas Boogie style track with tempting lyrics and rippin' cigar box slide. Baby Fat using a tongue in cheek rhythm features Vivone on solo vocal and minimal band backing except a slide melody and drums. The Nina, The Pinta, The Santa Maria is a sped up Chicago blues with 50's style vocals and classic blues riffs but with a touch of humor and instrumentals. The Black Lone Ranger , loosely based on a Muddy Waters track and with a touch of George Thorogood, keeps the groove and again gives the slide king a chance to show his stuff. One Hot Mother , a prototypical 12 bar blues track allows Vivone the freedom to sing cleve...