Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the newest release, How Long? , from Little Mike and the Tornadoes and it's hot! Opening with Cotton Mouth , a red hot blues stomper, Little Mike is cooking. (Head's up Stilladog) A screaming hot harp off, this track is a terrific opener featuring Mike on harp, Cam Robb on drums, Dave Sweet on drums, Troy Nahumko on guitar, John Edelman on guitar, Joe Fontenot on bass, Ken Stearns on bass and guitar and Mitch Margold on B3. Title track, J.B. Lenoir's How Long? , is up next with a super groove. With it's stylistic guitar solo, tight piano lines and solid vocals this track is great. Quick paced, Smokin' , is right down the Chicago blues lane. Bobby Timmons, Moanin' , is a classic with great swing. With call by Nahumko on guitar this track opens strong and Mike takes the reins with really nice harp riffs, punctuated by snappy drum work. Cool shuffle track, When My Baby Left Me , is good solid blues music. Mike, Troy, John an...

I just received the newest release, Genuine Blues Legends from Little Mike (Markowitz) and the Tornadoes featuring Pinetop Perkins and Jimmy Rogers and it's terrific! Recorded live at the Grand Auditorium in Ellsworth Maine on May 21, 1988, this is a real gem! Opening with Cleanhead Vinson's Kidney Stew , Pinetop is rocking the keys and lead vocals and Little Mike is on harp backed by Tony O Melio on guitar, Brad Vickers on bass and Michael Anderson on drums. A cool shuffle track, Mike really takes the harp for a ride and Pinetop is in his prime. Excellent opener! Tommy Tucker's High Heeled Sneakers is up and Chicago style. Melio rips off some real nice blues riffs on guitar on this track and in addition to solid work by Pinetop on vocal and piano, Little Mike rides high on harp. Very nice! St Louis Jimmy Odem's Had My Fun is up next cranking in at over 10 minutes and Pinetop's vocals and piano work on this track are terrific. Melio digs deep on this track p...

I just received the newest release, Friday Night , from Zora Young & Little Mike and the Tornadoes and it's got texture! Opening with the dynamic, I've Been A Fool Too Long , Tony O Melio gets a great guitar groove going. With Jim McKaba on organ and piano, Robert Piazza on drums and Brad Vickers, Zora leads the way on vocals for a real nice shuffle track. Slowing down a bit R&B track, A Fool's Lament is really designed to showcase Young's vocals. With Little Mike Marknwitz adding some key harp work and Rick Johnson on sax and Gary Smith on trumpet, this track drips soul. Howlin' Wolf's 44 Blues is up next with strong piano work from McKaba. With strong a Chicago feel, this track is perfect for Young's voice, complimented nicely by Mike on harp and McKaba on piano. Easy swinging, True Love Is Hard To Find , plays the horns nicely against Young's perfect vocal phrasing. McKaba takes a real nice piano solo on this track as does O Melio. Very ...

I just received the newest release, All The Right Moves , form Little Mike & The Tornadoes and it's great! As you know I'm a real Little Mike fan and this new release is no exception. Opening with Hard Hard Way , a smokin Chicago style blues track features Little Mike on vocal and harp. Tony O. Melio plays a real nice guitar solo leading up to Mike taking over with a super harp blowout. This is a great year for harp lovers with this and Corritore's recent release being two of the best I've heard in some time. So Many Problems is a cool R&B track with a great groove. Brad Vickers (bass) and Robert Piazza (drums) seat Jim McKaba on organ for a cool ride but I really like Melio's loose guitar style and Mike comes up with some really nice harp phrasing making this a real heel bopper. Since My Mother Been Ill is a really nice slow R&B blues track featuring soulful vocals by Mike. His clear interface with Melio's punctuating guitar riffs and super pia...

I just received the newest release, Butter On My Rolls , from Sheba The Mississippi Queen . Opening with the screaming hot Dance Jump and Shout , Sheba leads the way and Warren "Roach" Thompson rips riff after riff in front of George "Chocolate" Perry and Michael "The Dog" Gauthier on horns. On soul fused Real Good Woman , Sheba kicks it back for one of the coolest tracks on the release. Vocal pacing and rich backing instrumentation make this a hard track to beat. Thompson again stands tall on guitar playing with nice clear tone. Another soul track, Can't Help Lovin' My Man , captures the feel of some of the great singers of the 50's and vocal backing adds a lot to the feel of classic soul. The swinging Oh So Good has that perfect tempo (and I can see Stilladog riffin off with his ear piercing whistle) and the band is complimented by Chuck Juntzman on slide...ouch! On Blues Of My Soul , Sheba keeps it simple with spoken story and slide acous...

I just received a copy of Forgive Me, a release by Little Mike and the Tornadoes and its super! Little Mike Markowitz (vocal and Harp) has assembled a crew of players and together they make a great crew. Opelousas is a really cool instrumental track featuring Troy Nahumko on guitar and Sonny Rhodes on steel. This is a loping Elmore James/Freddie King style track with plenty of room for guitar soloing and Little Mike brings it on harp. Wait A Minute Baby is another track in the Texas groove but pushed with horns and featuring some cool organ work by Jim McKaba. Nothin' I Wouldn't Do has a bit more of the soul sound and isagain backed with the horns giving it an authentic soul sound. Warren King plays a light jazzy guitar solo on this track as well. Tell Me Baby comes out of the gate rompin'. Rhodes plays some cool steel (slide) riffs on this track and Cam Robb (drums) and Chris Brzezicki (bass) keep the bottom on track. Little Mike shows his chops on this track and his vocal...

Queens native Little Mike grew up on the very competitive New York City music scene. He started playing harp at age 14 and took up piano two years later. His first brush with the blues came while hearing John Lee Hooker at Carnegie Hall and later listening to a Paul Butterfield record. After that Little Mike couldn't get enough. If a blues show was in New York City, Mike was there, especially when the Chicago players came to town. His favorite was Muddy Waters. "I used to go and see Muddy anytime he was within 150 miles of New York," he said. "He is easily the biggest influence on the band and my playing. And if it's not Muddy himself then it's the great guys he always picked to play with him, like Pinetop Perkins and Otis Spann on the piano or Little Walter and James Cotton on harp." Another musician Mike greatly admired was Paul Butterfield, who would regularly come and see Mike's band perform. He liked their old "Chess sound" and took Mi...