Misty Blues – Live At The Cavern Club

Guitar One Records – 2023

www.mistybluesband.com

11 tracks; 77 minutes

Misty Blues and their lead singer Gina Coleman have been creating original music for twenty-five years and this album, recorded live while on tour in the UK at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, marks another high point with nine originals written by Gina with occasional help from members of the band, plus two covers. The band plays real blues with occasional hints of jazz and funk, the band offering sterling support to Gina’s distinctive, deep vocals. With Gina are her son Diego Mongue on bass, drummer Rob Tatten, Aaron Dean on sax, David Vittone on keys and Seth Fleischmann on guitar. Most of the tunes are given extended readings, offering ample opportunity for the main players to show their talents.

The band opens with a pair of tracks from their 2018 release Call And Response: “Hear My Call” is a great way to open the gig, Gina’s vocals evoking spiritual singers of the past as the band strikes a Delta blues feel with slide and sax outstanding; “Blues On My Heels” is different, the cool organ break adding a touch of jazz before the band builds up the tune to a rousing finale. 2020’s Weed ‘Em And Reap (great title!) is represented by the jagged rhythms of “Swing My Blues”, complete with a little scat singing from Gina while what were, at the time, the band’s most recent albums are given three tunes apiece. From 2022’s One Louder we get “How The Blues Feels”, a slow blues, the moody “Take A Long Ride” (the original of which featured Joe Louis Walker, Seth taking the guitar role here) and the rocking groove of “Freight Car”. Three tracks are drawn from 2023’s Outside The Lines and offer a solid finale to this album: “I Don’t Sleep” and “Days Of Voodoo And Laughter” both move along lightly with a hint of jazz from the keys (and a scorching sax solo on the latter) while “One Of These Days” ups the pace, all the musicians giving their all to close the show in fine style.

The two covers come from icons of the blues. Gina delivers the familiar lyrics of “I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl” with dramatic effect and a deep growl quite in keeping with Bessie Smith’s version, Aaron and Seth definitely catching the mood as they add superb sax and guitar solos. Willie Dixon’s “Wang Dang Doodle” is a staple of the blues scene but will always be associated with the late Queen Of The Blues, Koko Taylor: the band opens the tune with an improvised section from which the familiar tune appears and Gina sings it strongly. The tune runs to over 15 minutes and gives a showcase opportunity to all, including the rhythm section. No Beatles cover to celebrate the historic venue, but we are sticking to the blues here!

With all the musicians on great form and Gina’s deep growl front and center this album shows just how effective Misty Blues are on stage.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer John Mitchell is a blues enthusiast based in the UK who enjoys a wide variety of blues and roots music, especially anything in the ‘soul/blues’ category. Favorites include contemporary artists such as Curtis Salgado, Tad Robinson, Albert Castiglia and Doug Deming and classic artists including Bobby Bland, Howling Wolf and the three ‘Kings’. He gets over to the States as often as he can to see live blues.

Bloodest Saxophone featuring Crystal Thomas – Extreme Heat

Dialtone Records

www.bloodest-saxophone.com

12 tracks/47 minutes

Bloodest Saxophone is one of the hottest jump blues bands out there. Led by Koda “Young Corn” Shintaro and his top notch Tokyo ensemble, these guys continue to produce outstanding music. Crystal Thomas was one of the guest vocalists who recorded with them in 2017 on the Texas Queens 5 Dialtone album that was part of their US visit when they performed at the Eastside Kings Festival. They hit it off and Shintaro had her tour with them in Japan and Hong Kong in 2018 and the next year at several events including the Fuji Arts Festival. 2022 saw them again work together in assembling this fine album. They have a superb musical bond as they wind their way through a super mix of covers and original music designed to highlight Crystal’s voice and their exceptional musicianship.

Bloodest Saxophone features Shintaro on the tenor sax and backing vocals, Aoki Keita on baritone sax, flute and backing vocals, Shuji on guitar and backing vocals, Masa on bass, strings and backing vocals, and Kiminori on drums and backing vocals. Crystal Thomas leads the band with her excellent vocal work. Anthony Farrell is on the keys, Mike Sailors plays trumpet and Tanaka Michiaki adds percussion.

The album begins with “Mailman’s Sack,” the 1952 Tiny Bradshaw hit, with some torrid horn by Young Corn that is as hot as the jump blues from the days of Louis Prima and Louis Jordan. Thomas sins with gusto and she and band manage to navigate this red-hot cut. Another cover follows, Curtis Mayfield’s “I Don’t Need You No More” from 1961 that Maxine Brown recorded. The boys set a hot pace and Crystal sings with authority. More excellent sax here that just gets you up and moving! The Stones song “Undercover of the Night” gets redone in a jumping and swinging format by the band and Thomas. Shintaro goes wild on the sax as he and the ensemble make this their own.

“Dinah” follows, an old 1920’s song that was originally features at New York’s Plantation Club and was recorded by many an artist. Thomas has fun with it as the band counts down the cut before she takes us home. Swinging good stuff! “Good Morning” is next, a song Shintaro wrote. A ballad of sorts, Masa adds some violin which helps set the mood. It’s a classy and jazzy number with a few guitar licks, some cool upright bass and, of course, horns. Thomas penned the next song, “Somebody Else’s Man.” One can almost see the cigarette smoke clouds swirling as if she sings in an old club with band playing this memorable and emotional piece. An nice little guitar solo is featured here, too.

Shintaro and Thomas coauthored “Oh Baby” which is a bouncing and slick cut that jumps and jives sweetly. Thomas skats and the band lays done a great groove. More guitar licks to savor and lots of pretty and gritty horn playing get the blood moving. Thomas wrote “Country Girl,” a nice mid-tempo piece that flows and makes you want to shake your hips. More fine music to enjoy here! Then it’s time for a trio of cuts together, a “Johnnie Taylor Medley.” It starts with “Just a Happy Song,” moves into “I Love To Make Love When It’s Raining” and concludes with “Hello Sundown.” A smooth and luscious opener transitions into the sexy second song where it’s hard to tell if the vocals or the tenor sax exude the most hormones. Then it’s delightful slow soul blues that Thomas and the band deliver with more feeling. Some greasy guitar, sax and vocals take us home to conclude this delightful set of tunes.

Willie Dixon wrote “Sit Down Baby,” but credited it to Howard Bednoe, also one of the Cobra Records artists. Here we get a sultry and jazzy rendition with cool flute and great vocals. The old school Baby Washington song “Let’s Love In The Moonlight” (written by J.B, Hooks), is next and it’s a slow and pretty number that is true to the feel of this 1960 hit. More superb vocals and saxophone to enjoy on this one. They conclude with the original song “Thank You (Thank You Granddad)” written by Shintaro and Thomas. The song opens with some nearly explosive horns that go on for well over a minute. Then Thomas tells us a bit of a story before Young Corn blows some more killer sax. Thomas gives more thanks to her granddad and once again the horns follow her testimonial with more big horns. She concludes with a final thank you to her gramps, and you can hear the love as she tells us of her relationship with her grandfather.

What is not to like here? Amazing horns and musicianship, superb vocals, a great selection of old cuts and some really outstanding new numbers make for a wonderful album. I was really impressed with Bloodest Saxophones prior work and this is even better. If you want to hear fresh and well-done jump blues and more, they go get this album; you will not regret it. It’s a winner!

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Steve Jones is president of the Crossroads Blues Society and is a long standing blues lover. He is a retired Navy commander who served his entire career in nuclear submarines. In addition to working in his civilian career since 1996, he writes for and publishes the bi-monthly newsletter for Crossroads, chairs their music festival and works with their Blues In The Schools program. He resides in Byron, IL.

Nick Evans Mowery – Midnight Faces

Tangent Boy Productions – 2024

www.thenemproject.com

10 tracks; 35 minutes

Nick Evans Mowery is a singer/songwriter from Nashville who often manages to place his songs in TV shows and movies. A prolific artist, Midnight Faces is his twentieth album on which he wrote all the songs and sings and plays every instrument you hear.

The title track is a Stones-style rocker with insistent piano and makes a good opener. Nick also plays a solo that sounds very much like Keith Richards on “Ole Tin Lizzie”, a song about an old car, more of a mid-paced rocker with a very simple drum pattern, not altogether surprising when you discover that all the drums are programmed.

Shifting styles, Nick adds a country tinge to “A Guilty Heart That’s Trying” and some rockabilly rhythm guitar to “Carolina Blue”. “Shirley Jean” is an old-fashioned acoustic number about an elderly lady reflecting on her life and, in contrast, “Brainworld” is a guitar-led rocker with jagged rhythms. The gentle acoustic Americana song “Let Him See You Smile” has touching lyrics about despair: “…like the pain deep in her soul, in its own little room” while “Southern Fried Funk” does pretty well what the title suggests.

“Woman Child” describes a young girl who looks far older than she really is, with her black lipstick and heavy tattoos and Nick closes this short album with a haunting ballad in which the protagonist has lost his girl and removed her picture from the wall, leaving a “Perfect White Square” on the wall.

There is no use of the word “blues” in this review because, in essence, there is no blues element here. Nick covers rock, country and ballads and is clearly a talented musician.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer John Mitchell is a blues enthusiast based in the UK who enjoys a wide variety of blues and roots music, especially anything in the ‘soul/blues’ category. Favorites include contemporary artists such as Curtis Salgado, Tad Robinson, Albert Castiglia and Doug Deming and classic artists including Bobby Bland, Howling Wolf and the three ‘Kings’. He gets over to the States as often as he can to see live blues.

Knock-Out Greg & The Blue Flames – Serves Me Right To Suffer

Rhythm Bomb Records

www.knockoutgreg.se

10 songs time – 35:41

Blues, Rhythm & Blues, Roots Music, Americana and more from the Scandanavian band Knock-Out Greg & The Blue Flames. Greger Andersson leads the pack on vocals, harmonica and occasional guitar. The Blue Flames are more than up to the task of supporting him. Guitarist Tom Leino and keyboard man Fredrik Humlin flesh out the sound under Greger’s able harmonica and hearty vocals. Marcus Andersson on drums and Jaska Prepula on electric and acoustic bass are a tight rhythm section.

Charlie Rich’s “Midnite Blues” has a rich (no pun intended) and bouncy groove, accented by Leino’s guitar and female background vocals. We initially hear Greger’s harmonica on the title track “Serves Me Right To Suffer”, penned by the late Jimmy Dawkins. The band cooks up a comfortable shuffle on “More Than Meets The Eye”. Harmonica and honky tonk piano work hand-in-hand. They deliver a rhythm and blues infused version of the Eric Bibb ballad “Same Well”.

The Tom Leino composed “Suprovox Mood” is a harmonica-based instrumental that shows off Greger’s stuff. Tom unleashes a rockabilly styled solo. The intro and subsequent riff of “Bad Mouthing” borrows heavily from “Good Morning Little School Girl”. Fats Domino’s “Whiskey Heaven” is curiously, basically a country song. The harmonica attains the sound of an accordion on “When The Birds Begin To Sing”. Fredrik pounds the bejesus out of the keys here.

An infectious cool groove is applied to “Stay Away From Love”. Harmonica is fantastic as usual. They finish things up with the old school jump blues of “Tight Skirts.

It never ceases to amaze me how these bands from Europe assimilate authentic Rythm & Blues and blues sounds without coming off as dated. This is a surefire keeper. Do yourself a favor blues fans and snap this one up.

Reviewer Greg “Bluesdog” Szalony hails from the New Jersey Delta.

James “Super Chikan” Johnson was born into a deep legacy of blues. His grandfather Ellis Johnson was a prominent bluesman in Mississippi who played regularly with Robert Johnson in the 1920’s. The two musicians made a pact to each other that if something happened to one of them, the other would carry on their legacy.

After Robert Johnson died, Johnson said that his grandfather Ellis “was afraid somebody would poison him, so he stopped playing out… and started fiddling for the rich folks.” Johnson’s grandfather was a free mason and held meetings at his house.

“He was a mason. He was part of the Underground Railroad and they would have meetings…”

Like the Underground Railroad in the 1850’s, a network which helped slaves escape north to freedom, Ellis Johnson’s group helped local blacks escape sharecropping.

“They was like sending people off the plantation in the middle of the night, setting them free.”

In order to keep these meetings a secret, he would invite musicians to play and call it a front porch party.  Many blues musicians who had moved north would visit and play these parties. Johnson vividly remembers the great Jimmy Reed playing at his grandfather’s house. He lists Jimmy Reed as one of his primary influences.

These meetings left a lasting impression on young Johnson, who would sneak under his grandfather’s porch to listen.

“There was no other music in the world like it, you know what I mean?”

This was one of the only opportunities for young Johnson to hear blues. There was a radio in his home, but it could only tune into one station which played country music. When I asked if he enjoyed listening to country he responded.

“I had no other choice…I like good country songs…with a good groove to them and a good story.”

Around this same time, Johnson built himself his first instrument, a diddley bow. It was made by tying a wire around two nails on the side of the house. Johnson, who has always been an entertainer, moved the wire from the side of the house to stick so he could show people.

“It didn’t resonate too much on that stick, so it became a percussion instrument and I used to beat on it. Eventually I found box, a little wood box, and put the stick in that box and it resonated.”

Johnson soon saved his money working in the fields and bought his first guitar. It was six dollars from the salvation army store, and the only issue was that this guitar only had two strings.

“I thought that was all it was supposed to have. I played it a couple of weeks… somebody said, ‘When are you gonna put the rest of the strings on it?’”

Johnson continued to save his money and went back to the store to purchase a pack of strings. Now with six strings, Johnson continued to hone his skills and play around his neighborhood. Everyone in his family could play.

“My mom would do a thing called the Honky Tonk… (Johnson imitated the sound of a classic Jimmy Reed rhythm guitar part) she showed me how to do that.”

Johnson recognizes that this rhythm is still a large part of his sound today.

It is important to note that Johnson is left-handed and plays a right-handed guitar.

“I’m left legged, left minded, left brained, left hearted, and left out… I was born left-handed and was nothing around me but right-handed guitars…I came up with my own style that I could play on the right-handed guitar.”

Johnson continues to play a right-handed guitar today and jokes about a fan who noticed him signing autographs with his left hand after a show.

“He said you’re an ambidextrous. I said ‘boy, you don’t know what I’m about to call you!’”

James “Super Chikan” Johnson is the nephew of the legendary delta bluesman Big Jack Johnson. His uncle Big Jack offered him some of his first gigs playing bass with The Jelly Roll Kings.

“Now everybody says, wow you played with some legends! But they weren’t legends at the time, just regular guys.”

Big Jack had been playing bass, and Frank Frost had been playing guitar. When Johnson joined, Big Jack switched to guitar, and Frank Frost to the keyboard. The group played around Mississippi in Clarksdale, Lula, Moon Lake, and Tutwiler. When the band began to travel further to cities like St. Louis and Chicago, Johnson stayed home. He had a day job working for the Mennonites, doing land leveling and surveying. He explained.

“That’s why I couldn’t travel with The Jelly Roll Kings… I had to be on the job at six o’clock in the morning.”

I asked Johnson if he ever learned anything on guitar from his Uncle.

“If you played with him or played anywhere near or around him, he would turn his back to you…he didn’t want you to learn nothing from him.”

Today, Johnson looks back on this as a good life lesson because he was forced to come up with his own sound on the guitar.

During one of his first gigs with The Jelly Roll Kings, his Uncle saw his handmade guitar and asked if he could make him one. Johnson has been building guitars and selling them ever since.

“Musicians don’t like buying my guitars because I sell them pretty high…I said y’all missing the point…this is handmade by a delta blues musician. The one you got was factory made.”

The arts community has embraced Johnson as a folk artist and a master craftsman.

“Collectors, art collectors, some people that don’t even play at all, buy them just because they like the look of them.”

Johnson explained that advertising in magazines and online has caused some issues in the past because he couldn’t build his guitars fast enough to meet the demand. He has made instruments out of unique household items such as a broken ceiling fan. He repurposed the fan into an instrument he calls a Gi-Jo, as it’s a cross between a guitar and a banjo. Johnson has his own style when designing his instruments, and each one has a beautiful look and sound.

Johnson leads a unique band, comprised of all female musicians. This started with Johnson’s daughter playing drums. He soon hired a female pianist, and the pair suggested to him that he hire a female bassist. He had remembered a bassist he saw working with Eddie Clearwater, and when she joined, the band was set. Johnson has now toured with an all-female backing band for over twenty years. I asked Johnson if he had seen any bands like this when he was growing up.

“They had a lot of female singers, good singers…but not just females on the stage working…playing instruments. You had to go way on back to people like Big Mama Thornton and Jesse Mae Hemphill.”

Johnson said in the early days with his new group, it was hard for everybody to get along on the road.

“I never heard so much chaos between women…In the beginning I didn’t know whether this band was going to stay together or not.”

However, with the steady touring schedule and the constant time spent together, everyone in the band began to find common ground.

“They know how to get along with each other…everything works out fine now.”

Johnson and his band have toured all over the world. The first highlights that stick out to Johnson were from a festival in Cognac France.

“I got invited to the governor’s mansion for dinner…I broke the CD sales record for 14 years…I went to the Cognac factory and made my own bottle with a reorder number.”

Johnson said the band stayed at a nice bed and breakfast and that, “they all spoke in French and the dog barked in French!”

Johnson has also traveled to Japan to perform. He was a special ambassador for Mississippi, and helped the state gain a Nissan car factory.

“I serenaded the Prime Minister with my cigar box guitar. He thought that was the greatest thing in the world.”

Soon the deal was signed, and the factory was built in Jackson.

Johnson asked, “Don’t I get a new car, or truck or something like that? They told me ‘Don’t worry Chikan we got a Toyota plant coming later on.’ The story of my life (Johnson laughs), nothing from nothing!”

At the time of this interview Johnson was preparing to head overseas. He is once again an ambassador for Mississippi, for the unveiling of a new Mississippi blues trail marker in Liverpool, England. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any plans to go back into the studio at this time. We can enjoy the great albums Super Chikan Johnson has recorded and hope for more music in the near future.

Writer Ben Levin is a pianist/vocalist based in Cincinnati, OH. Ben has released four albums on the Vizztone Label Group and has three Blues Music Award nominations.

John Lee Hooker – The Best of Friends

BMG Music 964045532

www.bmg.com/us

14 songs – 68 minutes

From the moment he walked into a recording studio in 1948 and cut “Boogie Chillen” until his death in 2001, John Lee Hooker was a dominating presence in the blues world. Throughout his career, he enjoyed nothing better than a baseball game and sharing the stage with his multitude of friends. And several of those best moments are captured in this set, which originally appeared in 1998 and has been lovingly re-engineered for new ears.

The roster here is as deep as it can get with appearances from 12 of the biggest names in the industry. Not only are Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton here, but so are Ry Cooder, Van Morrison and Charlie Musselwhite, too. Throw in piano master Charles Brown, Ben Harper, Los Lobos, Booker T. Jones, Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray and you truly have something special.

Delivering the fat, propulsive boogie runs and warm voice that took him from Detroit and took him around the world, John Lee’s the true star here with backing from talents that begin with guitarists Johnny Lee Schell, Roy Rogers and Rich Kirch, include keyboard wizards Johnnie Johnson, Jim Pugh and Ike Turner, bassist Richard Cousins and dozens more.

It’s only natural for “Boogie Chillen” to open the set. The original, raw country feel is no where in sight with Clapton in tow and delivering it as an uptempo roam that picks up speed and intensity throughout. Bassist Nick Lowe and drummer Jim Keltner lay down a funky beat for “This Is Hip” as Hook trades licks with Ry and Jimmie provides impeccable fills. Santana enlisted his band mates for backing on the smoldering, Latin-tinged “The Healer” before Morrison shares the mic, adds guitar and Booker T. organ for the slow-and-steady “I Cover the Waterfront.”

The boogie’s back in style for the familiar “Boom Boom,” which gives Vaughan and Pugh space to shine and builds from embers and grows into a raging fire as it flows. The unmistakable slide of Raitt opens the sultry “I’m in the Mood.” She travels vocals with John Lee throughout with Rogers adding a third guitar. The heat’s on high for the hard-driving “Burning Hell” next. It’s amplified by hypnotic solos from Harper and harp lines from Musselwhite.

Hooker gets intimate for the hypnotic “Tupelo,” going solo throughout, before Cray’s on board for the funky “Baby Lee,” which pleads with a lover, requesting that she not do him wrong. David Hidalgo and Los Lobos along with harp player John “Juke” Logan provide the backing to “Dimples.” It’s a tribute to John Lee’s wife, which first appeared on the Vee Jay imprint in the mid-’50s.

Santana is back and the Latin feel returns for “Chill Out (Things Gonna Change)” before Cooder, Turner and a horn section take charge for “Big Legs Tight Skirt.” “Don’t Look Back,” which features Brown, Morrison and guitarist Danny Caron, follows before the bonus track, “Up and Down,” gives space for Johnson and guitarist Michael Osborn and brings the disc to a close.

Sure, there’s a lot of familiar material here. But don’t let that dissuade you. John Lee Hooker was a true American treasure whose voice and six-string fueled the blues world for more than five decades, and – in these modern times – it’s easy to go for the “now” and ignore the past. One listen to this, however, and you’ll know it’s special.

Blues Blast Magazine Senior writer Marty Gunther has lived a blessed life. Now based out of Mason, Ohio, his first experience with live music came at the feet of the first generation of blues legends at the Newport Folk Festivals in the 1960s. A former member of the Chicago blues community, he’s a professional journalist and blues harmonica player who co-founded the Nucklebusters, one of the hardest working bands in South Florida.