Sugar Blue Colors

Sugar Blue
Colors
Beeble Music

Richard Whiting, better known as Sugar Blue, is amongst the most astonishing musicians in the blues genre. "Colors" is his latest album and an exciting, imaginative romp in the blues and related genres. With Rico McFarland on guitar and others including John B. Gayden or Ilaria Lantieri on bass, and Brady Williams or Yan Bodhoo on drums, and Damiano Della Torre on keyboards, Sugar Blue is heard on a smorgasbord of music.

Sugar Blue is a virtuoso on the harmonica s evident on the opening, "And the Devil Too," a high energy salute to Bo Diddley with a passionate vocal and astonishing harp playing that explores the full tonal range of the instrument. Not as obviously electrifying, but equally brilliant is his acoustic harp playing on his song about the original Lone Ranger "Bass Reeves," or "We'll Be Alright." The latter number is sung with Africa Riz, a Soweto, South Africa youth choir.

His vocals have a clarity, a clean diction, and warmth that perhaps contrasts with his instrumental virtuosity. Still, he pours everything into a startling cover of The Beatles' "Day Tripper." Max DeBernardi's superb fingerpicking guitar and Washboard Chaz's percolating percussion provide the backdrop to the delightful "Good Ole Days." Singing through his harp mike, he delivers a strong vocal on "Man Like Me," where he tells his lover of she didn't make him feels so good, Sugar Blue wouldn't feel bad. This song has another outstanding harmonica solo. With McFarland's terrific guitar, he delivers a straight-forward blues performance that also is a rebuttal on toxic masculinity. On this song, he sings about needing a blue pill, and if he gets down, he may need help getting up. Then there is a wistful ballad, "Shanghai Sunset," where he pays homage to this vibrant city. Guest Ling Bo solos on the sheng, an ancient Chinese reed instrument with an organ-like quality.

"Colors" is a superb recording that transcends merely being a blues recording. It has first-rate backing, fresh and memorable songs along with Sugar Blue's heartfelt vocals and imaginative, virtuoso musicianship. The result is an extraordinary recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the January-February 2020 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 388). The published review has several errors including capitalization issues which have been corrected here. Here is a preview for this recording.

Jimmy Johnson Every Day Of Your Life

Jimmy Johnson
Every Day Of Your Life
Delmark Records

Going to the 2019 Chicago Blues Festival, one of the acts I was most anxious to see was Jimmy Johnson, who was celebrating his 90th birthday. I had not seen him since he played the Pocono Blues Festival in 2007, and his performance that night did not disappoint. Johnson's new CD does not disappoint, and it is striking how strong his vocals are as well as his guitar playing.

On this recording of five originals and four interpretations, Johnson is supported by two different groups. Those playing behind him include guitarist Rico McFarland on guitar, Roosevelt Purify or Brother John Kattke on keyboards, J.R. Fuller or Curt Bley on bass, and Pooky Styx or Ernie Adams on drums. On one selection, Johnson accompanies himself on piano.

There is an appealing mix of material opening with the title song that Johnson wrote about living one's life as if it is one's last. A marvelously paced performance, his soulful tenor is complemented by a thoughtful, well-constructed guitar solo demonstrating his lean tone and twisting rapier-like playing. Purifoy also songs strongly here.  A  relaxed, first-rate cover of "I Need Your Love So Bad," is followed by "My Ring." Set against a reggae groove, it has poignant lyrics as he remembers getting married, and that was the last time he saw his woman smiled. Among the other auditory delights here is a marvelous rendition of Fenton Robinson's "Somebody Loan Me a Dime," and Percy Mayfield's "Strange Things Happening." Then there are fascinating, well-crafted originals like "Rattlesnake" and "Down in the Valley."

Accompanied solely by his piano, Johnson caps off this recording with a moving, thoughtful rendition of a Bobby Bland classic "Lead Me On." Johnson still performs at a high level and is provided with excellent support here. Add in the terrific originals and covers, and the result is one of the best new blues albums of 2019.

I received my review copy from Delmark Records. Here he is seen performing a Curtis Mayfield number at the 2019 Chicago Blues Festival.

Big Time Sarah Lays It On 'Em Girls

Big Time Sarah is another blues woman from Chicago who has never received the acclaim her talents merit. The following review appeared in the September 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 184) to which I made minor stylistic changes. Lay It On ‘Em Girls is the first of three albums she recorded for Delmark. I will be posting in a week or so a 1996 review of another Delmark CD by her. This CD is still available. A woman blues singer with a strong release is Big Time Sarah with her brand new release on Delmark, Lay It On ‘Em Girls. One-time a protege of Sunnyland Slim, she is one of a number of tough women Chicago blues singers (others include Bonnie Lee and Zora Young) . I’ve been told that live, Big Time Sarah is an especially bawdy performer. She previously recorded in France on an album shared with Zora Young and Bonnie Lee, and later had an album out on the Blues R&B label. Delmark has issued the nicely produced album with a good mix of material which includes several Willie Dixon numbers (I Make Love, Hootchie Kootchie Woman, Lay It On ‘Em Girls, and Every Man I See), and unusual material such as Summertime, and Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine. She possesses a husky voice, and sings in a somewhat dry fashion, although she growls on occasion like on Evil Gal Blues. Her performances of the Dixon songs are first rate, perhaps being the high points of the set with the opening I Make Love and the title cut being especially sassy performances. Other performances are entertaining although her Evil Gal Blues and Summertime, while refreshing choices, are less successful. Her band, The BTS Express, is excellent and adds a jazz and funk sensibility to its blues playing. Guitarist Rico McFarland impresses with his fleet, jazzy attack and imaginative soloing while Rodney Brown’s tenor sax work is especially tasty. Certainly another blues woman to be reckoned with.

Buddy Scott & Big Daddy Kinsey Sang Real Deal Blues

Here is a vintage review of albums by Bid Daddy Kinsey and Buddy Scott, who may not be household names, but produced some solid work. I note my comments in the review about Verve issuing this material which was not stuff that would have been the most commercial type of recording to market as ‘blues.’ Scott died not long after his CD was released, while Kinsey (who died in 2001) had a subsequent album on Verve. Thankfully they viewed things in other than strictly commercial terms. My review originally appeared in the August 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 190) when it was still a print publication in Cleveland. Amazon shows the releases below available from other sellers.

Two releases, Buddy Scott’s Bad Avenue and Big Daddy Kinsey’s I Am the Blues, are companions on Verve to Joe Louis Walker’s Blues Survivor. They are both more traditionally oriented than Walker’s album, and Verve’s release of these albums indicates that Verve is not intending to market rock records as contemporary blues. Neither Buddy Scott or Big Daddy Kinsey are household names, nor are they guitar heroes. These are both solid Chicago blues artists who were reared on the music of Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters, and deliver renditions of the classic blues in a classic Chicago blues fashion.

Verve’s release of Buddy Scott’s Bad Avenue is particularly interesting since Scott is a Chicago club singer who has made few recordings, the most notable ones being as Scotty and the Rib Tips as part of Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues series. The music here is a bit less soul-influenced here than the Alligator recordings. Renditions of Merle Haggard’s Today I Started Loving You Again and Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me (using the same melody as Charles Brown’s I Want to Go Home), involve a fair amount of testifying. The songs associated with Little Walter, My Babe and Blues With a Feeling, both feature some very fine harp from Billy Branch, and while neither Rock Me or Big Boss Man are particularly novel numbers, the choice of Wake Up Old Lady from the second Sonny Boy Williamson ( going back to an old English ballad), is a refreshing change of pace with the song rearranged as if Howlin’ Wolf was going to sing it, while the traditional Big Fat Woman incorporates B.B. King’s Please Love Me arrangement. In addition to a couple of originals from Scott, the album closes with the fine title track that was penned by the recently deceased Lefty Dizz. Scott is a strong, straightforward singer and effective guitarist although his rhythm guitarist Joe Moss takes the lead on Big Boss Man. In all, a very solid date.


Lester ‘Big Daddy’ Kinsey may be familiar from albums on Rooster Blues and Blind Pig, and as the father of most of the members of the Kinsey Report. I Am the Blues is dedicated to Muddy Waters who is an obvious influence on Kinsey as a singer and as a guitarist. He is backed here by Buddy Guy on the title track and an all star cast including son Donald, Jimmy Rogers, James Cotton, Billy Branch, Pinetop Perkins, Lucky Peterson, Rico McFarland, Ray ‘Killer’ Allison, Calvin Jones and Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith. Included are several titles Waters had axed years ago including Walking Thru the Park (with an explosive Sugar Blue harmonica solo) , Mannish Boy and Got My Mojo Workin’, while renditions of Little Red Rooster, Don’t You Lie To Me and Nine Below Zero are done in similar form. Big Daddy Kinsey contributed three songs, the anti-drug song, Somebody’s Gonna Get Hooked Tonight, Good Mornin’ Mississippi, where he plays slide in a manner that recalls Muddy, and his tribute to the late Albert King, The Queen Without a King, with guitarists Donald Kinsey and Rico McFarland playing in an Albert King style. There is no great surprises here, just a strong session of Chicago blues. Incidentally, Kinsey has toured Europe with Pinetop, Jimmy Rogers, Calvin Jones, Willie Smith, Jerry Portnoy and Luther Johnson, Jr., as part of a Tribute to Muddy Waters, and there is a possibility that this group of artists will tour the US in the spring, 1994.


I do not recall my source of the review copies back in 1993-1994, as to whether it was from Jazz & Blues Report or from Verve directly.