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September
2006
These two old friends of Maple Blues and of this column have been collaborating on their respective albums since they first met over twelve years ago. Suzie had just arrived with her bass in
Ottawa from Saskatoon and Rick was with Jackson
Delta. Rick has since won multiple Maple Blues
Awards for acoustic work and Suzie for her vocals. She of course was for many years the bassist in the
Women's Blues Revue Band. Suzie has most recently been a first call harmony vocalist.
Nothing Halfway has her move to the front microphone for this stunning collection of duets on mostly original songs by
each of them. This is a band album with Rick on guitars, electric and slide and Suzie on electric bass.
Al Cross is on drums with Richard
Bell on various keyboards. (This column's prayers go out to Richard
for his recovery). Roly Platt guests on harp.
Colleen Allen & Chris Whiteley provide the horn section and a fine job they do on the opening, Memphis-steeped "We Got a Love like That" and "The Lucky
One". What a way to start a CD! Suzie opens the funky love song "Nothing Halfway" that may have the shortest bass solo on disc! Rick's electric guitars drive "Calling Out Your Name" behind Suzie's solo
vocal tour de force. An acoustic guitar opening belies the rocking blues groove of "Love in a Bottle" with another scorching solo vocal from Suzie. "How'd You Know I Missed You" slows things down a little
with gorgeous trumpet and clarinet backing. Rick takes the lead on a lovely version of "Souvenirs", by the sorely missed
Colleen Peterson. Suzie solos on the soul blues "He'll Never Know" and Rick joins
in on the tender "Slow Down Mama". He also contributes some lovely slide. The closer is a rollicking original by the duo in the classic jazz style, "Don't Let Your Dreams Drift Away" with marvelous
work from Chris on trumpet and Colleen on clarinet. The release party for this must-have disc is at Hugh's Room on September
27th. Don't miss it. If you must, however, you can get it at
www.rickandsuzie.com.
Rick Fines Solar Powered RAF
Rick's solo career continues as well. The title refers to the most environmentally sensitive recording you're likely to see for a while. Rick's cabin, in the woods north of Peterborough, uses only
solar energy. It was his dream to record an album there using only solar power, even for the recorder. This off-the-grid aspect of the recording goes hand in hand with the
Mississippi John Hurt gentleness of the sound. Hurt has been a major influence on Rick for a while but the finger picking here revels in Hurt's famous style. "Home To Roost" makes this connection explicit. There's a lot more here
though. There's a very nice slow bluesy take on
Lightfoot's "Ribbon of Darkness", a song he worked up as part of a Lightfoot Tribute concert. There's also a setting of a lyric by the late playwright
Carol Shields called "Mrs. Turner Is A Sight", inspired by her short story. "Country Christmas Blues" gets a different treatment here than on the Electro-Fi Christmas CD
Santa's Got Mojo of a year or so ago. Alec
Fraser helped out with the project, getting a co-producer credit. His percussion on "Procrastination" was a storage bin pounded with a fist. This one's a remarkable song and not just because of its
solar-powered electric guitar. The lyrics return to some of the social commentary from the last album,
Riley Wants his Life Back. Rick's web site is
www.rickfines.com but this new CD is not up there quite yet.
The Three Tenors in this case are most deserving of the comparison with their classical counterparts. The multi-award winning
Pat Carey's primary job, for 21 years now, is of course with
Downchild but he graces many stages and CDs and fronts
Pat Carey's Jazz Navigators. He's also the instigator of this CD. Seventy-nine-year-old
Jimmy Cavallo has a cirriculum vitae that stretches back into the
late forties, when this young white kid in North Carolina played the black clubs with the help of people like
Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams. Jimmy Cavallo and The
Houserockers later played the Apollo in
Harlem, was featured in Alan Freed movies and on countless recording sessions. He's an original creator of Rock & Roll. He now makes his home in Syracuse, NY where his recent
Houserocker on Blue Wave Records was nominated for a Handy Award.
Johnny Pennino is a charter member of the New Orleans R&B scene, inducted to the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame and the nephew of Dixieland pioneer
Leon Roppolo. He's recorded and toured with most every NO star, going back to the `50's. The album opens with
Fats Domino's "Blue Monday", in honour of Hurricane Katrina's day and is one of three of the songs
to feature all three saxes. It gets a rousing vocal from Cavallo. After "Steppin' Out With My Baby/Sing, Sing, Sing", with Cavallo & Carey, the trio returns for "GRS", a roaring instrumental. The bulk of
the set features Cavallo & Carey trading solo after solo on R&B hits of the day plus a new original by Carey, "Blues for Myles". "Basin Street Blues" once again features the trio before Pennino is
featured on "Europa". The band backing these tenors is
Michael Fonfara on piano, Chuck
Sgroi on bass, Jake Langley on guitar and
Terry Martel on drums and if, like me, you are only familiar with Jake's
jazzier outings, be prepared for a treat. A major highlight of a disc packed with them is the Cavallo/Carey version of "You Win Again", the
Hank Williams classic. You have never heard it this way _ this band
rocks and Cavallo's vocal is outstanding for a singer of any age. A close second highlight is
Ray Charles' "Sticks & Stones". On September 8, the Friday night of the
Southside Shuffle in Port Credit, this tenor
sax extravaganza opens for Roomful of Blues and
David Clayton-Thomas _ it promises to be a night to remember!
Hot off his latest Harmonica Blowout
Tour, Hummel debuts his latest, third Electro-Fi silver disc. He clearly holds his own with the likes of
Jerry Portnoy, Lee Oskar & Magic
Dick and he doesn't disappoint here. There are no guests, Hummel & the
Blues Survivors get all the playing time and make the most of it. He bills the CD as a showcase for his `love of different styles of blues from the
1940s thru the 1970s'. To that end, eight of the songs here are from that history. Special mention among those goes to "The Creeper Returns" by
Aaron "Little Sonny" Willis just for its marvelous harp sound.
Two Eddie Boyd songs, a neglected figure in Chicago blues, just might help generate some interest in his effective songwriting. Among Hummel's originals, "Big Easy (Ain't Easy No More)" deserves more
than a mention. In a spot-on New Orleans style and in four minutes you get a history of a disaster, the one after the Hurricane, the one too many people are still in. He also supplies another superb harp
instrumental, "Harpoventilating", which fades at 3:40. I wonder how long the original runs? Any fan of amplified harmonica will want this album.
Guitar Shorty We the People Alligator/Fusion
Ronnie Baker Brooks TheTorch Watchdog
Yes, he's the son of Lonnie and he leads a power trio, a very good one. He also writes much better songs than is usual in this
format. And he writes a lot of them, this album is over seventy minutes
long and there is no filler. It's also beautifully recorded. The band is
Daryl Coutts on keys, Carlton
Armstrong on bass and Maurice `Moe'
Taylor and they carry the load themselves most of the time,
augmented by background singers and the Acme
Horns when needed but Brooks' multi-tracked guitars are the backbone. Highlights are many but "You Wrong For That Now", with Dad helping out on vocals is
good as is "Half", a very effective divorce song (the title is also the chorus). "It's On" has
Prince covered. "Train" is an entertaining effects-filled instrumental. "Be A Good Man" shows these guys can do
soul when they want to and "Can't You See" is a song
Little Richard would like. "If It Don't Make Dollars, It Don't Make Sense" has a seamlessly incorporated rap section by
Al Kapone. The more traditional "The Torch of the Blues" features dad,
Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Clearwater and
Willie Kent handing over the torch to the generation led here by Ronnie. With this album Mr. Brooks wants to take this
torch into contemporary black music, and he has such fine material he may well succeed. I certainly hope he does. Get this one and listen to it in segments _ one sitting might well
overwhelm.
www.ronniebakerbrooks.com is his web site.
Hooker Jr.'s second effort is more polished than his first and the price has been some loss of energy but his way with a modern blues lyric remains unsurpassed. Many of the musical themes here
are well used but with his new references to text messages and pre-nuptial agreements, he's right up to date. He doesn't sound a bit like his dad - he's more of the
Johnny `Guitar' Watson type, both vocally and musically. He opens with one of his best songs, a warning to a now ex-girlfriend who chose a poor replacement for him, "You Blew It Baby". A special treat is his tribute to his dad: the family
called him "Do Daddy" because he always did what he said he would do. One of the two non-originals is "4 Hours Straight/Blues Man", the familiar
ZZ Hill hit, but with a preamble preparing a young lady
from the audience for a night of bliss, it must be a barnburner when done live. The other one is his dad's "In The Mood" and he does that just fine. He has a top flight if unknown, large band behind him; his
lead guitar player is a little too prominent for my taste but the horn charts are excellent.
- John Valenteyn,
jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Rick Fines & Suzie Vinnick Nothing
Halfway Indie 
The Three Tenor Saxes Steppin' Out of Blue
Monday MT
Mark Hummel Ain't Easy No More Electro-Fi/Festival
David "Guitar Shorty" Kearney's last album, 2004's
Watch Your Back, was a major blues success. It was, and is, a strong seller for Alligator and the best selling album of his long career. He
carries on the tradition of guitar pyrotechnics and flamboyant stage show of his idol
Guitar Slim. He married Martha
Hendrix and the young Jimi would sneak out of the army base to catch his
brother-in-law's shows. You've probably heard more of Guitar Shorty's licks than you realize. I don't think he's doing his trademark somersaults while playing anymore but he sure can still play - this new album
smokes. This is blues rock heaven, with unsubtle songs about life, cars, trains, the cost of living _ reality.
Jake Andrews plays rhythm guitar,
Wyzard plays bass and produced, John (JT)
Thomas plays keyboards and Alvino
Bennett, drums. They supply all the support he needs and they all are exceptionally well recorded. His old friend,
Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams supplies one of the CD's highlights, "Who
Needs It?". Another is Studebaker John's "Fine Cadillac", rockers both. "Blues in my Blood" is an excellent, perhaps autobiographical, song but it's not credited to Shorty.
John Lee Hooker Jr. Cold As Ice Telarc/Universal
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