Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Higher Vibrations , from Mark Telesca and it's a cool acoustic showcase. Opening with original track, 99 Years , Telesca demonstrates an articulate and interesting guitar style while accompanying his solid vocals on this bluesy folk track. Cool opener. Another original track, Turn On A Dime , leans more heavily on Telesca's story telling and his ability to create a cool ambiance with his vocals and guitar. Very nice. Fred McDowell's Louise   gets a nice dose of acoustic slide guitar, further enhancing Telesca's rework of this blues classic. I also like his cover of Robert Johnson's Come On In My Kitchen with clean acoustic guitar work, slide and his own contemporary vocal blues styling. With a cool finger picked style, Papa's On The House Top , has a certain brightness that really makes Telesca shine. Al Green's, I'm A Ram , is toned down substantially but maintains the writers forcefu...

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, You Can't Do That , by Mick Kolassa & Mark Telesca and it's quite entertaining. The concept, to take classic Beatles compositions and remake them in a new style as a group is cool... I mean possibly the greatest pop band of all time. Opening with I'll Cry Instead , the arrangement has a casual New Orleans strut and features a muted trumpet by Marc Franklin. With a creative blues bottom, early Beatles track, I Feel Fine takes on new air with suspenseful bass lines and bluesy harmonica work by Eric Hughes. One of my favorite tracks on the release is the sorrowful rework of Fixing A Hole . Telesca's vocals and stylistic acoustic guitar lead really hits. Very nice. Just the flatting of key notes in Lady Madonna transforms it from a springy pop tune into a New Orleans flavored track with soulful fiddle work by Tommy Borroughs and snappy drumming by James Cunningham. Very cool. Wrapping the release is a ...