Jörg Danielsen – Chicago Blues Straight Outta Buenos Aires
14 tracks
Jörg Danielsen and his band The Vienna Blues Association toured Argentina in 2018 and one of the results of that tour are this fine album. Jörg Danielsen is featured on vocals and guitar. His argenie connection are a great group of musicians. Jorge Costales plays harmonica, Martín Burguez and Federico Verteramo are also on guitar. On drums is German Pedraza and on bass is Christian Morana. Alberto Burguez is on piano. Daniel De Vita is also on guitar and did recording and mastering.
Danielsen begins with the classic “Tough Enough.” Dirty, big harp and a great groove along with fine vocals make this fun. Magic Sam’s “She Belongs To Me” “House Party Tonight” gets a great cover with some ringing guitar and rousing vocals. A big piano solo also adds to the cut; good stuff. Albert King’s “I Got The Blues” is presented with a nice cover here. Danielsen gives his interpretation and he and the band offer up some good licks. He also covers Magic Slim’s “I’m Good” and the guitar work is solid, driving stuff. Harp and guitar go wild and Jörg delivers the tune with emotion and heart.
The other nine tracks are originals. Danielsen’s covers are always inspired; he is known for his classic blues music jams in Austria. His original stuff is equally interesting. “Want To Be My Darling” is a nice rockabilly/swing cut with a high energy, driving beat. The guitar blazes as Danielsen impresses us with his skills. “Backwoodsman Blues” is another high energy boogie. The band lets it all hang out as guitars and piano give it their all and Danielsen delivers the fun-loving lyrics. “The Fuse Is Lit” is a sweet, slow blues, thoughtful guitar, restrained harp, and a man singing about his emotional dynamite and giving warning to leave this town and not mess with him. The guitar builds into a major solo and emotional high point. “Walk The Dog” gets a little bit of a funky groove going as Jörg sings about getting out and partying as summer approaches.
Next up is “What More Can I Do?” Jörg sings about his heartbreak as his woman dumps him, leaving him singing the blues. A little humor and a lot of cool music is what this cut it; great harp work and a some nice acoustic guitar make this a lot of fun. “Close To You” is a big, driving blues with a mid tempo beat and a a great shuffle to dance to. Distorted harp and nice guitar solos are featured here. “Walking Blues” follows that, and two songs later it’s “Gamblin” Blues.” Both are traditional and quite well done. Jörg certainly has a feel for Chicago blues. He ends the album with “Donde Merda Esta Mi Cerveza.” The second word appears to be spelled incorrectly, but it should loosely translate to, “Where the shit is my beer” or perhaps in slang maybe, “Where the f-is my beer.” Either way and no matter how the title translates, the song is a swinging instrumental where everyone takes a turn and lays out some good stuff. Funky grooves, dirty harp, swinging guitars, throbbing drum beats, deep bass lines, nice piano fills and more are featured in this one.
Danielsen sings with the tiniest of an occasional accent which makes his vocals even more interesting. It’s only there once in a while, giving a tiny lilt to the music. His feel for Chicago blues is deep– the music he plays is an homage to the masters from Chicago in his covers and original stuff. I liked the CD and found Danielsen to be creative and interesting.
Wolf Records usually produces interesting stuff and they’ve succeeded here once again!
