Curtis Salgado Makes A Clean Getaway

Vocalist and harp player, Curtis Salgado, fortunately has come back with a vengeance after having very serious health issues. Perhaps marking the clean bill of health from doctors recently, his new disc for Shananchie is Clean Getaway. Recorded with the Phantom Blues Band, it is a terrific disc that showcase what a strong and soulful vocalist he is as he traverses the blues and modern soul genres on the performances here.

The title track opens up with some stinging guitar with Salgado singing about selling everything he has to a pawn shop, leave his past behind and take a long vacation and make a clean getaway from things before giving a litany of complaints about the nature of things today. His vocal is well suited to this unusually thoughtful lyrics. The following Both Sorry Over Nothin’ is a nice soul number with him adding some well placed harp while Who’s Lovin’ You, is a soul ballad with a touch of Sam Cooke.

Johnny Guitar Watson's What’s Going On, is evoked on What’s Up With That, with some shattering Watson-styled guitar throughout and the Horns evoking those old Maxwell Davis studio bands. I Don’t Want to Discuss It,” is a hyper-rocking number while 20 Years of B.B. King, is a terrific blues as Salgado sings about his girl giving him the blues with lyrics that incorporates phrases from B.B. King’s recordings and song titles as he has learned more about the blues from her than 20 years of B.B. King. Some really excellent guitar on this track as well. Another performance to note is his cover of Al Green’s Let’s Gets Married.

This album has worn well, with Salgado sounding better each time I give it a listen. The only thing more welcome than this disc is the fact that Curtis Salgado is back and sounding as good as new.

This review originally appeared in the October 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 309). I do not remember my source for the recording, whether Shanachie, a publicist or Jazz & Blues Report. Here is Curtis singing  20 Years of B.B. King.

Phantom Blues Band's Deep Footprints

The Phantom Blues Band has returned with a new disc full of bluesy old school sounds, Footprints (Delta Groove). First attracting notice for their work with Taj Mahal, there Delta Groove debut, Out of the Shadows, drew further attention, while the band’s members are in demand for various touring acts and recordings, so that guitarist Denny Freeman, now part of Bob Dylan’s touring band) only appears on several of tracks here. The rest, Mike Finnigan, vocals and keyboards; Johnny Lee Schell, vocals and guitar; Larry Fulcher, vocals and bass; Joe Sublett, saxophone; Darrell Leonard, trumpet; and Tony Braunagel, drums, are such a strong unit even without Freeman’s fine playing.

The rhythm section lay down the groove, the horns mix taut riffs and the soloists keep things fresh and concise. Despite the name, this band mixes in southern soul along with straight blues. It opens with Finnigan covering Howard Tate’s Look at Granny Run, while displaying his versatility on the classic ballad, Cottage For Sale. His rendition of Ray Charles’ classic blues, A Fool For You, is nicely done although not far removed from Charles’ original. He shows himself to be quite a good interpreter of Charles here.

Schell reworks Freddy King’s See See Baby as well as a nice bit of Rufus Thomas funk, Fried Chicken, although he is not as strong a singer here. Exceptional is his vocal on Darrell Leonard’s A Very Blue Day, with a nice trumpet solo and an evocative melody that evokes Horace Silver and Herbie Hancock. Fulcher treats us to Earl Randle’s deep soul ballad, Leave Home Girl and his reggae-flavored When the Music Changes is a stunning closer.

Not a poor truck and some exceptional ones by a band that sounds incapable of putting out anything but solid recordings.

This review was written for Jazz & Blues Report although I do not believe it ran. I believe I received a review copy from a publicist. I posted my review of Out of the Shadows on December 31, 2011. Here is a video of them.

Stunning New Ana Popovic CD

The following review appeared in the most recent (August 2009) Jazz & Blues Report. The issue can be downloaded as a pdf file at www.jazz-blues.com:

Ana Popovic certainly is a striking presence with her stunning looks and her considerable musical chops. The Serbia native has built a world-wide audience with her genre-spanning, blues-rooted music. Some of her earlier recordings struck me as a bit too blues-rock for my “taste,” but I found her new Eclecto Groove recording, “Blind For Love,” stunning, perhaps because of the presence of members of the Phantom Blues Band (especially Mike Finnigan’s keyboards and Tony Braunagel on drums), but also because the performances are short and focused with her solos direct and concise. The shortness of the performances also directs focus towards her vocals and she has become a terrific singer.

Ms Popovic penned 11 of the 12 songs here which cover a range of emotions and mix in pop, soul, gospel, and blues elements. Love is the central axis of the songs here, whether the hopefulness that the object of “Nothing Personal,” is in love with her as she is in love with he, while “Wrong Woman,” has her telling this man that if he thinks he’s too good for one woman and good enough for two, she is the wrong woman. The acoustic “Steal Away,” has her yearn for this man to steal her away,” while the title track is a lovely ballad with some nice piano from Finnigan and a lovely vocal. “Putting Out An AFB” opens with some twangy guitar before launching into a rocking groove as she beckons to seize the offenders with a loveless heart, while the funk groove of “Get Back Home To You,” with its story about can’t wait to get back home to her love, and hot guitar riffs and a sizzling solo. As tough as she can sound, the love she feels for her child is tenderly expressed on “Part of Me (Lullaby For Luuk).” The closing “Blues For M,” is anything but blue in feeling as she celebrates her love, “You are my joy and pleasure/ you are my dream of home/ you are my taste of treasure/ you are my strength my stone,” with her solo sings this chorus through her guitar. Its a marvelous conclusion to this stunning new release.