Christone "Kingfish" Ingram

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
Kingfish
Alligator Records

This CD is Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's long-awaited debut. Called a rising prodigy by NPR music and endorsed by Buddy Guy, Kingfish has been playing to blues audiences for most of his young life. Videos and youtube and performances have led to hype about him. Tom Hambridge produced this debut and plays drums on most selections, with Bob McNelly adding guitar and Tommy McDonald on bass. Others playing on this include Marty Sammon on keyboards, Buddy Guy on guitar and vocals, Keb 'Mo on guitar and vocals and Billy Branch on harmonica. Tom Hambridge was involved in writing most of the 12 songs, many in collaboration with Ingram and others with Richard Fleming. One song is a collaboration between Ingram and Jontavious Willis.

At the outset, Ingram is a terrific guitarist with a heavy blues-rock pull out all the stops on most of the electric tracks on this. I really don't enjoy his guitar fireworks as much as I do his singing. He is an outstanding vocalist with plenty of warmth and expressiveness with an unforced delivery. So even if the opening "Outside of This Town," is a bit heavy musically, his singing knocks out. It is followed by a terrific duet with Buddy Guy with another excellent vocal and some of his best electric blues guitar here who is not overshadowed by Guy who is in fine form here.

Billy Branch adds harmonica while Ken 'Mo also is on guitar on the driving "If You Love Me," with an energetic guitar break followed by Branch's solo. "Listen" is a duet with Keb 'Mo and a pop-blues in the vein of Keb 'Mo's music with the backing more restrained. "Believe These Blues" has some of his more interesting guitar solos with exciting twists and turns urns along with his effective use of tonal dynamics. "Trouble" is a rocking number set against a New Orleans second-line groove.

"Been Here Before" is one of the acoustic blues here, with remembrances of his grandma singing and Ingram not sure how he became the way he is. Again he sings the lyrics with clarity and feeling. "Hard Times" is a traditional sounding acoustic blues with Ingram's vocal backed by Keb 'Mo's adept Resonator slide guitar. The closing "That's Fine By Me" is a heartfelt blues ballad that is evocative of some classic Chuck Willis with an excellent piano solo in addition to effective blistering guitar.

I do not deny he is an excellent guitarist, just not to my taste. Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram is a superb blue singer and with strong songs (and one reason I may view the songs so highly is because of how good a singer he is) and the firm support and production, "Kingfish" is a terrific recording, not merely an excellent debut.

I received my review copy from Alligator Records. This review appeared in the July-August 2019 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 385). Here is a video for "Outside of This Town."

Jontavious Willis Spectacular Class

Jontavious Willis
Spectacular Class
Kind of Blue Music

I became familiar with Jontavious Willis on a blues forum on Facebook. Initially, I watched videos of him performing songs from Frankie Lee Sims and Willie Baker that was astonishing to see someone so young perform and sing with such skill and expressiveness. He is also as much a scholar of the blues as he is a person who is creating his own vision of traditionally rooted blues. His self-produced recording "Blue Metamorphosis" was found to be the Outstanding Self-Produced Blues Album by the Blues Foundation. In the interim period, he has become more prominent and came under the wing of Taj Mahal and Keb Mo with whom he has opened shows. In fact, Taj Mahal is the Executive Producer and Keb Mo the producer of this recording.

As a preface to this review, I did not share the enthusiasm that many had towards Blue Metamorphosis. While enjoying his performances, I was not enthused about the songs and lyrics on most of that. That is not the case with this release. Perhaps it is result of the mentoring and production by Taj Mahal and Keb Mo. Whatever the reason, his song lyrics here strike me as more developed and stronger. This release also has a variety of musical settings for Willis, with some backing him with an ensemble and a couple find him solo. A variety of individuals are heard backing him. The most significant of these are Andrew Alli on harmonica, 'Keb 'Mo on electric guitar, Eric Ramey on bass, Phil Madeira on keyboards and banjo, Martin Lynds or Thaddeus Witherspoon on drums, Roland Barber on trombone and Doug Mosher on clarinet.

The opening "Low Down Ways" is a solid small ensemble blues making use of the "44 Blues" riff with nice organ behind him. "The Blues Is Dead" opens with Madeira's piano before Willis enters on slide guitar as he talks about scratching his head about people saying blues is dead singing that blues ain't going nowhere so long as people have situations and problems on their mind. In addition to a nice piano solo, and Willis' rhythmically charged slide Alli adds some nice harmonica in the tight small group performance. "Resting On My Mind" is another song where he wraps his lyric around a traditional blues musical groove. It is a heartfelt blues lament that is warmly sung with a lovely, clean guitar solo.

Willis takes us to the Delta for "Daddy's Dough," singing about a woman who took his dough and now soured on poor Jontavious. His playing here evokes Willie Brown and there is fine harmonica backing. "Country" is a superb acoustic blues in the manner of Blind Boy Fuller and Buddy Moss in which he celebrates the pleasures of country living. "Long Winded Woman," is a gently swinging performance change of pace with its relaxed pace in the manner of some 40s Bluebird recordings. Mosher's clarinet and Barber's tailgate trombone in the accompaniment contribute to this feel.

"Friend Zone Blues," a lament about a woman who won't take Willis' advances, is spoiled by a heavy-handed drummer who plays with the nuance of a drum machine. This is the only blemish on what is otherwise a terrific recording by a bluesman who may be traditionally rooted but taking the music into the present.

I received as a download from a publicist.  Here is a video of Jontavious and Andrew Alli.

An d here Jontavious performs Frankie Lee Sims' Lucy Mae Blues.

James Cotton Is A Cotton Mouth Man

In 1953, James Cotton entered the Sun Studios in Memphis to make his first recordings. 60 years later, Alligator has just issued Cotton’s latest, Cotton Mouth Man. The title song was a number that Tom Hambridge and Richard Fleming wrote that Cotton liked and he got together with them and they wrote a number of new songs many based around Cotton’s life. These comprise almost all of this album that Hambridge produced in Nashville. In addition to Cotton’s regular band of Darrell Nulisch on vocals, Tom Holland on guitar, Noel Neal on bass and Jerry Porter, Hambridge brought in as guests Joe Bonamassa, Gregg Allman, Keb Mo, Warren Haynes, Ruthie Foster, Delbert McClinton and Colin Linden with Chuck Leavell playing keyboards on much of this. Its been about two decades since Cotton lost his singing voice, so he is relegated to the harp here.

The title track is a warp-speed boogie with Cotton wailing on harmonica with Joe Bonamassa ripping off a solo as Nulisch sings about Cotton’s harp does all of his talking while Hambridge hammers away mechanically on drums (he plays better elsewhere). Midnight Train, opens with Cotton hoarsely speaking “Midnight Train to Mississippi,” and then comes off as an amplified Sonny Terry, while Chuck Leavell’s keyboards fit in with Cotton’s band. Gregg Allman takes the vocal on what is a straight train blues about the whistle blowing and his baby going away. Keb Mo has a strong vocal on Mississippi Mud, slow blues where Cotton’s harp and Leavell’s piano stand out.. 

The lyric of He Was There, traces Cotton’s career from recording to Sun and moving to Chicago with Cotton’s band augmented by Leavell wailing behind a fine vocal from Nulisch. Warren Haynes sings and adds driving blues-rock slide guitar for the rocking Something For Me which is followed by Ruthie Foster singing the lyric on the excellent Wrapped Around My Heart. Nulisch is terrific as Cotton and band revive Muddy Waters’ Bird Nest On The Ground. 

Keb Mo returns to sing over the low-key backing on Wasn’t My Time To Go. This is a song about Cotton outliving his parents and siblings, as well as surviving a crazed gun man at a Chicago bus stop, with a refrain that so as long as Cotton can still blow, it ain’t his time to go. After the driving Blues Is Good For You, Cotton backed solely by Colin Linden’s resonator guitar, delivers the whiskey soaked vocal (not far removed from talking) on the closing Bonnie Blue. 

As displayed on Cotton Mouth Man, James Cotton, and his harmonica, remains a formidable performer and is well-served by this varied and exciting recording.

I received by review copy from Alligator. Here is a clip of Mr. Superharp in performance.