Misty Blues – Live At The Cavern Club
Guitar One Records – 2023
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.
