Showing posts with label Steve Bell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Bell. Show all posts

Saturday, April 26, 2025

#742- > John Primer - Grown in Mississippi (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

2025 – Blues House Productions
Release Date : April 11, 2025
 
By Phillip Smith; April 26, 2025
 
Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

John Primer moved from Mississippi to Chicago with his mother in 1963 when he was eighteen years old. Shortly after landing in the Windy City, he began busking on the legendary Maxwell Street. That led to his gigs at Theresa’s Lounge which eventually catapulted him to bandleader positions for blues luminaries such as Willie Dixon, Magic Slim, and Muddy Waters. He was with Muddy when the band filmed the Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981 with the Rolling Stones (which by the way is one of my all-time favorite live blues films).  This latest album from Primer, Grown in Mississippi is a meaningful tribute to his birthplace Camden, Mississippi where he grew up in a sharecropping environment. Primer stated, “The songs on Grown in Mississippi have a lot of meaning to me.  They represent sounds from my childhood, feelings I had while singing in church, rhythms and beats I heard on the radio and while working in the fields.”. Recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi, this album delivers fourteen blues-soaked tracks evenly split between inspired originals and influential covers. The recording features a jaw-dropping list of guest artists comprised of Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, Watermelon Slim, Eden Brent, Lightnin’ Malcolm, Gary Vincent, Lee Williams, Deak Harp, Rickey ‘Quicksand’ Martin, Harvell Thomas Jr., Billy Earheart, Steve Bell, Aliya Primer, and Rosalind Wilcox.

Primer’s performance on Leroy Carr’s “Blues Before Sunrise” is pure bliss.  When I hear those opening harmonica notes pour from Deak Harp,  I am captivated. Earheart adds another layer of authenticity on piano. His cover of “Walkin’ Blues” hits me with a timeless energy as I cozy up to the slide guitar of Lightnin’ Malcolm. and steady beat of Lee Williams on drums. I love the way Malcolm and Williams later usher the listener to North Mississippi Hill Country with “When I Met the Blues”. Primer sings “it’s not good if it ain’t got no hot sauce on it”, and I have to say, there is plenty of hot sauce slathered all over the fun and funky “Nothin’ But a Chicken Wing” with Bobby Rush on harmonica. For another solid dose of classic delta blues, Primer and Musselwhite join forces for Big Joe Williams’s “Baby Please Don’t Go”. It’s absolutely wonderful. I’m always thrilled to hear Watermelon Slim and to hear him play with Primer and Steve Bell on Louisiana Red’s “Let Me Be Your Electrician” is a plumb delight. When Slim’s dobro rings out, it sounds so damn good. Worries and troubles vanish each time I listen to the traditional spiritual “Lay My Burdens Down” featuring the beautiful vocals of John’s daughter Aliya. This magical song also features the wonderful talents of Eden Brent on piano and background vocals.

John Primer is a modern-day blues legend, and Grown in Mississippi is as pure of a blues album as one can be.  This is a recording blues fans will surely want to take note of.      

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For more information about John Primer, visit his website https://johnprimerblues.com

For other PhillyCheeze reviews of John Primer, visit this link https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=john+primer

 


Saturday, August 19, 2023

#629: Mario Rossi Band - Smoke Burst (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 


Mario Rossi Band

Smoke Burst

2023 – Mario Rossi Band

By Phillip Smith; Aug. 19, 2023

Release Date : July 16, 2023

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Brazilian singer/songwriter/guitarist Mario Rossi discovered his deep passion for blues in 2013 while joining John Primer’s touring band across Brazil.  Since then, he has blazed a trail that has caught the eyes and ears of many fans.  Smoke Burst, his fourth and most recent album is a fantastic recording of all original tunes loaded with hot guitar licks and infectious riffs.  With Rossi on guitar and vocals, his band is comprised of Edê Boy on keyboards, Marcelo Rocha on bass, and Rafael Cacavallo on drums.

Kicking open the gates with his title-track instrumental “Smoke/Burst”, Rossi’s impressive guitar performance is a smoldering wonderment.  I love the slow goodness of “It Means Blues”.  Every note is delivered with feeling as guest Lu Vitti lends her voice to give the song an extraordinary soulful touch.  Harmonica in hand, Steve Bell (son of Carey Bell) joins the Mario Rossi Band along with a gospel choir comprised of Magally Farias, Je Farias, Lu Vitti, and Edê Boy for “There’s No Hope For Willie Brown”.  Guided with a driving second-line cadence, this spirited homage to the legendary blues pioneer embraces the music of the Mississippi Delta, down to the Big Easy.  The psychedelic blues-rock vibe is strong with “Don’t Tell Me What To Do”.  Rossi draws deeply from his Hendrix influence for a delectable cut.  This is positively lightning-in-a-bottle.  He then continues to channel that Hendrix energy for a cosmic instrumental “Jammin’ for Jimi”.  I am filled with awe with every listen.

I can’t get enough of this new album from Mario Rossi Band.  Smoke Burst is a recording I am going to highly recommend for blues fans and guitar aficionados.  It’s spectacular.    

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For more information about Mario Rossi Band visit the website at :  https://www.mariorossiband.com

Saturday, September 24, 2022

#577 > John Primer - Hard Times (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 


2022 – Blues House Productions

By Phillip Smith; Sep. 24, 2022

 

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Hard Times, the very latest release from Chicago Blues great John Primer captures my ‘real-deal’ blues-loving heart with thirteen new originals.  With Steve Bell on harmonica, Lenny Media on drums, and David Forte on bass, this recording also features special guests Rick Kreher on 2nd guitar, Johnny Iguana on piano and organ, and John’s seventeen-year-old daughter Aliya Primer on vocals.  Primer states: “The name of my new CD reflects the world we’re living in today.  I recorded this CD to help us get through these really hard times.”.

I’m drawn right in to Primer’s churning delta-blues riffs on title-track “Hard Times”.  The slide guitar is absolutely wonderful as it sits in front of the spectacular piano and harp accompaniment.  Immediately following is the intoxicating and soul-warming homage to the genre “Blues-Blues-Blues”.  It’s one of my favorites.  With daughter Aliya on lead vocals for her debut recording session, “Tough Times” is an endearing track about sticking together.  The chemistry John and Aliya share brings to mind the Mississippi Delta Blues father/daughter duo Bill ‘Howl-N-Madd’ Perry and Shy Perry.  Filled with attention-grabbing guitar runs, waves of organ sounds, and doses of searing harp, “Trying To Make You Mine” is a hands-down fabulous track which I immensely enjoy.  With his great talent of painting pictures with words, Primer piles healthy scoops of certifiable blues on “Hot Meal”.  It doesn’t get much better than this.

As usual, John Primer and his Real Deal Blues Band perform the blues as it should be heard.  Hard Times is as authentic as it gets.

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For more information about John Primer, visit this website : https://johnprimerblues.com