Bman's Blues Report

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, The Vibe , from Nanami Haruta and it covers a broad spectrum of colors. Opening with Renee Rosnes' Girlie's World , Band leader and trombonist Nanami Haruta and Xavier Davis on piano setup the framework for this waltz tempo track. With Michael Dease on bari sax adding significant warmth to the track and Rodney Whitaker on bass and Ulysses Owens Jr on drums, this is a cool opener. Original track, Toshi features a really nice trombone solo by Haruta with great tone and phrasing with excellent piano accent by Davis and firm underpinnings by Whitaker and Owens. I like the hot drum rhythm under Christian McBride's Sister Rosa with solid piano counterpoint under the trombone harmonizing by Haruta and Dease. Haruta shows her stuff with smart articulation on her solo and Dease adds a great swinging solo of his own (also on trombone) leading into a rich bass solo by Whitaker making this one of my favorites on the relea...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Lemon Live! , from Bling Lemon Pledge and it's solid rural style blues. Opening with Blackeyed Suzie , Blind Lemon on vocal and slide guitar set the pace with a traditional sound, trading lead with Sioux City Slim on harmonica, and backed by Mr. Peter Grenell on bass and Rockin' Juli Moscovitz on drums. With an easy blues rock feel, Sugar Rush has suggestive lyrics and easy going melodic harmonica work by Slim. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Muddy Waters' I Feel Like Goin' Home , with solid lead vocals and raw, acoustic slide by Blind Lemon and melodic harmonica lead by Slim. Very cool. Another favorite of mine from the release is original composition, You Can't Get There From Here , with a Tampa Red/Bob Dylan feel. I like it's laid back easy vocal feel and nicely composed instrumentation by Slim on harmonica. With it's snappy rhythm, Railroad Mama is another of my favorites with ...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, God Bless the USA , from Aki Kumar and it's cool. Opening with a Chicago style take on Joe Strummer's Should I Stay made popular by the British punk band, The Clash. With a low slung guitar rhythm by Bob Welsh, June Core on drums, and Kedar Roy on bass this track takes form. Aki Kumar on vocal and harmonica really fleshes out the track with Welsh on piano and Julia JD on backing vocals. Very cool. Willie Dixon's I Just Want To Make Love gets an incredibly out of the box rework with Jim Santi Owen on tabla, Welsh on guitar, Will Marsh on sitar, and Kumar on vocal, harmonica and vocal. Really interesting barely touches it. A reggae/funk workover on Neville Brothers' Sissy Strut now remade as  Desi Strut is great with Kumar taking the lead on harmonica and Owens and Marsh providing the basics of the backing with Welsh on guitar and Core on drums. Oh Yeah...it's cool! One of my favorite tracks on the rele...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Faces and Places , from Jed Levy and it's a a taste of contemporary jazz styles. Opening with Email , Jed Levy on tenor sax leads the this Afro Cuban flavored  track with confident lead lines, peppered with spot on drum work by Alvester Garnett on drums, Peter Slavov on bass and a solid piano interlude by Luis Perdomo. Twiddle Twaddle is one of my favorite tracks on the release with a  Jorge Dalto kind of feel on piano and with Latin influenced drums and bass work, Levy really gives his horn a workout. Very cool. St. Simon has a really nice groove driven by Slavov's bass line and Garnett on drums. Levy and Perdomo both take extended solos making this a super track.  Tenerife has a strong melodic theme with an excellent drum rhythm.  Levy creates an eccentric yet thought provoking melody, followed by a more structured piano lead by Perdomo. Very cool.  Levy and Garnett take the high road, an...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Beneath The Skin , by Nnenna Freelon and it really strong. Opening with Journey of the Heart , Nnenna Freelon is poised and precise with clean vocal articulation over a sparce backing by Alan Pasqua on piano, Keith Ganz on guitar, Jonathan Richards on bass, Steve Hass on drums and Shana Tucker on cello. Solid opener. Under structured, Dark and Lovely brings the blues into Freelon's style with Evan Roberson adding tasty trombone solo work and her vocals are excellent. Snappy, Nawlins drums styling by Hass really works nicely with Roberson giving Freelon just the right base to swing. Excellent! Changed brings to mind Tyner's piano styling on Coltrane's arrangement of Favorite Things and Freelon just sails on vocals. Pasqua really ramps this track up on piano with tight bottom by Hass and Richards. With it's quiet approach, title track, Beneath The Skin is a great contribution with Freelon paired with Ganz ...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Grease To Gravy , from Terry Hanck and it really swings. Opening with Wilson Pickett's Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You , Terry Hanck has got another hot one on the griddle. Singing and playing tenor sax, Hanck has great feel, backed by Kid Andersen who is everybody's not so secret weapon on guitar, Jim Pugh on B3, and Jon Otis on drums. Great opener. Andersen really steps up on slide guitar on 2nd line track, If A Politician Was A Doctor , with Chris Peet on drums and Hanck really working the sax and pure vocals. Very nice. Ray Charles' Come Back Baby has a great feel and Hanck's soulful vocals and King Curtis like sax work are featured along with June Core on drums, Chris Burns on piano, Pugh on B3 and Andersen on bass. Albert King's Overall Junction features Hanck really honking on sax, great rhythm and lead guitar by Johnny Cat Soubrand, Andersen on B3 and D'Mar on drums. Strong instrume...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, East By Midwest , by Charlie Ballantine and it's great! Opening with Storyteller , a lush, instrumental ballad, Charlie Ballantine on guitar crafts a beautiful melody, saturated with reverb and tone. Joined by Quinn Sternberg who's bass work is active and Dan Weiss on drums who keeps it light but effective makes for a brilliant opener. Monk's, T rinkle Tinkle , has real forward thrust with nimble fingered fretwork and perfectly laid chords by Ballantine illustrating the melody and and neatly styled bottom by Sternberg and Weiss keeping your head bopping. A real tasty solo by Sternberg really does play nicely against the classic structure. Lennon (and McCartney's) Strawberry Fields is a nice surprise with Ballantine playing it's straightforward melody with a bit of overdrive but with some really nice surprise counter notes giving the track a new and quite interesting feel. There's also a surprise ...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Live In Clarksdale, from Christopher Wyze & The Tellers and it's a solid blues rocker. Opening with rocker, Three Hours From Memphis , Christopher Wyze leads the way on vocal, With Doug Banks on drums, Mark Yacavone on keys, Gerry Murphy on bass and John Boyle laying down some solid guitar riffs. Shuffle, Money Well Spent , features Wyze on vocal and with great piano backing and a Boyle working the frets nicely. Wyze pulls out his harmonica on Cotton Ain't King adding nice contrast to his lead vocals and Yacovone's keys really add depth. Good Friend Gone has the feel of Morganfield territory with straight up vocals and harmonica by Wyze and a solid guitar riff by Boyle. Leroy Carr's How Long Blues has a real nice feel along the lines of an old Clapton solo cut with a cool jam between Yacavone and Boyle. Wrapping the release is Jimmie Cox's Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, covered ...

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, and it's curiously cool. Opening with War Crimes , a driving, angular composition, led by Joseph Santa Maria on tenor sax, with a relentless bass line and solo by David Tranchina, punctuation and further elaboration by Gary Fukushima on piano and tight drum rhythm by Colin Woodford. Santa Maria sets up Mood Of Mind on soprano sax with it's soulful melody and Fukushima on piano dances freely across the keyboard with precision work by Woodford and Tranchina interweaving a gripping bottom. Prism is another interesting track with a jagged melody set down by Santa Maria on soprano sax and Fukushima on piano jointly. Santa Maria extends the theme on sax with excellent drum and bass work maintaining the cohesion of the piece. This Must Be For You , written by Woodford is dedicated to Herbie Hancock. With it's warm, melodic feel, led by Santa Maria on alto sax it really has a rich feel with an invocative bass solo and...