jazz2love

Album:  Rise Up Artist:  Scott Ramminger Label:  Arbor Lane Music Website:  www.scottramminger.com Chicago blues with a bit of Tennessee-mountain honky tonk is the concoction that vocalist-saxophonist-songwriter Scott Ramminger puts together on his fifth solo recording Rise Up .  The compilation is a meeting of guitarist Albert Collins' gritty blues with tunesmith Bonnie Raitt's roots rock.  The tracks show similarities in their foundation while also offering plenty of moments to exercise one's inner spirit to gripe about life and to express appreciation for what's so lovely about life. The title track brandishes a grinding Hammond B3 organ played by Wes Lanich sitting on top of the grooving beats of bassist Paul Langosch and drummer Emre Kartari.  Ramminger's soaring sax sketches sonic squawks above the gravelly sounds of Lanich's organ and the flared yowls of Shane Theriot's guitar.  Expanding on the dialogue, "Daisy" is a sweet ditty about ...

Album:  Open for Business Artist:  Ric Harris Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.theharrisgrp.com Blues is a rare breed of music.  It's artists come and go like sports figures but the style of music lives on, its torch to be carried by the next generation of blues virtuosos.  Each decade has witnessed blues artists having their heyday.  Its roots can be traced to the music of William C. Handy in the 1920's, coined as the Father of the Blues.  In his wake, Al Jolson brought the spotlight on blues through the 1930s while John Lee Hooker emerged in the 1940's.  To further briefly encapsulate the blues progress, Muddy Waters and BB King reigned through the 1950's, Ray Charles in the 1960's, Bo Diddley in the 1970's, Eric Clapton in the 1980's, and Blues Traveler in the 1990's.  The genre is a combination of ragtime minstrals, spirituals, ballads, and grooving romps with a tinge of honky tonk/hillbilly swagger, all of which can be heard...