Bman's Blues Report

 I had the pleasure to attend the Joe Bonamassa concert at the Arizona Financial Theatre (Previously Dodge Theater) in Phoenix Arizona on November 18, 2022, in support of his most recent release, Time Clocks ,  and the house was packed. I was fortunate enough to have brilliant seats not far from the stage and very near the middle of the floor. I started listening to Joe Bonamassa around 2000 when I caught an earful of his music on Pandora. Wasn't long before I had his new release, A New Day Yesterday , and Bonamassa had a new fan. I saw him shortly thereafter in a small club in Scottsdale and then at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix. He didn't have the repertoire of songs that he has now but it was amazing to see this unassuming kid with his long hair and his jeans dragging on the ground, step up on the stage and blow through his own book and quickly show how easily he could cruise from one guitar icon phrasing to another, playing their riffs and blowing back the crowd. His own big...

I just received the newest release, Live In Concert , from Mariëlla Tirotto and the Blues Federation and they have a solid groove. Opening with Mose Allison's If You're Goin' To The City , Triotto wastes no time getting into a cool R&B groove. Heins Greten takes the lead on keys and John Kakiay drums and Arno Hagemans' bass keeps it solid. Onny Tuhumena really adds a nice Carribean flavor on percussion along with Micha Sprenger on guitar. Step By Step has a jazzy feel with a funky bottom. Tirotto's vocals are particularly strong on this track, Sprenger lays in a tasty guitar line and Greten give the melody a ride. All I Can Take has a bit of a New Orleans swampy flavor accented by Greten on Hammond. Hagemans and Kakiay set a really nice Miles Davis kind of groove and Greten leads the way with a really nice piano intro on Somewhere Down The Road . Triotta shows her adaptability on this track with super vocal phrasing. Hagemans and Greten take nicely assemble...