Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Strong Brew , from Ilya Portnov and it's quite good. Opening with shuffle track, Sunny Afternoon Blues , Ilya Portnov leads on melody on harmonica, joined by Kid Anderson on bass, Chris Burns on keys, Ben Andrews on violin and June Core on drums. Cool key work and sinuous violin work give this track an earthy feel. Surfin' the Baltic Sea is a real cool surf track with a definite twist. Dynamic harp work and a great melody, spanked along by snappy drums and a smoky organ solo and a super guitar add by Andersen makes this a real killer. Dance of a Lonely Doll is a particularly cool track featuring Portnov on chromatic harp and it's old world charm makes it one of my favorites on the release. Andersen's bass work and classic handling of piano riffs really emphasize the beauty of the track. Very nice. Rev. Gary Davis' Cincinnati Flow Rag is a cool and loosely flowing acoustic track with slappy drum wo...