2018 – Blues Fidelity
By Phillip Smith; Dec. 15, 2018
It’s a real blessing to hear the blues from those
who have spent time playing with the legends.
Paul Oscher, an integral part of the blues world since the
Sixties, joined Muddy Waters Blues Band at the age of seventeen to play
harmonica. With Muddy, he played
for around five years. He even shared Muddy’s
basement with the legendary pianist Otis Span for a while too. Oscher’s latest album Cool Cat, contains a baker’s dozen of
songs, the majority of which are straight-up blues.
Oscher
is a blues maestro and his songs strongly connect to the listener. With one exception, which happens to be a marvelous
and hypnotizing performance of “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”, the album is comprised
of all original material. “Rollin’ and
Tumblin’” features Mike Keller on guitar, Sarah Brown on bass
guitar, Russell Lee on drums, and the backing vocals of Sunny Lowdown
and Jeremy Dowden. Miss Lavelle White makes a guest
appearance to sing “Dirty Dealing Mama”. This double-entendre packed tune is a huge
barrel of fun.
Oscher’s
vocals sound wonderful and gravelly as he sits behind the piano on “Money Makin’
Woman”. Guitarist Mick Schemer, bassist Johnny
Ace , and drummer Russell Lee make for an outstanding backing band for
it too. They appear all together on four
other tracks, of which include “Blues and Trouble”, “Hide Out Baby”, “Work That
Stuff”, and “Poor Man Blues”.
I’m absolutely delighted by the title track
instrumental “Cool Cat”, and the story he tells leading up to it. Recorded as a jazz quartet, this song is dedicated
to a flute-playing wine-head who kept a beret-wearing, sunglass-sporting alley
cat named Cool Cat. Oscher
also recorded a smooth nine-and-a-half minute R&B version of “Cool Cat” at
the famed Greaseland Studios with Kid Andersen. It is fantastic.
Oscher
keeps the Blues as real as it can get, and keeps Cool Cat cool as hell.
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