Mississippi Heat, Warning Shot

Mississippi Heat gives us the real blues, urban with a little country, Chicago style. The band is headed up by harmonica wizard Pierre Lacocque. They join us in their latest, Warning Shot (Delmark 839), and raise up a fuss.

If the blues have never left it's for a reason. And they have not! You spend any time in Chicago you know why. It is a life. It lives and breathes a life. Like right now I am not in Chicago but we ain't got much heat and it's snowing outside. Still, I know the sun's gonna shine someday--in my back door. That's what it feels like and the blues give you what you need. Mississippi Heat knows all of that. And they come through on this album with it.

Big ole mama Inetta Visor belts out the vocals for much of the numbers here, all but one written by Lacocque. The songs are in the soul-blues tradition and the band has the horns and backup vocals that exemplify the way to do it. But then they can get a slide boogie going too. Michel Dotson and Giles Corey play some fine guitar--along with Carl Weathersby on two cuts. They do the honors like they should. And the whole band rocks it. Lacocque shines on harp.

It's the blues for those that know the blues. It's a modern incarnation for those who know the blues will never leave, long as we got the world going round the way she do.

So dig into this...

Lurrie Bell, Blues in My Soul

The blues in my soul? When it's singer-guitarist Lurrie Bell you don't doubt it for a minute. He started as the new hope of Chicago blues in the '70s, paid some terrible dues and emerged triumphant, so that the title cut and title album at hand today is by right his to call. Blues in My Soul (Delmark 829) shows you that. It's the new one. And it's right there. Fourteen blues burners, blues scorchers, blues messages from one of the real-deal bluesmen today. Some of them are originals, some of them are revived classics, all of them ring with truth.

It's the Chicago style ensemble, guitar, harp, bass, piano or organ, drums and sometimes some horns to add a little heat. The band is hot. Lurrie Bell is hotter. This is no jive fake resurrection of folks who don't live the blues. Lurrie Bell lives that blues. You don't need anybody to tell you he does. You hear it.

Living in Chicago four years a long time ago, I came away UNDERSTANDING why so many good blues players have and are still coming out of Chicagoland. It's because the blues is a way of life, on the streets, in your crib, at the clubs. . . it's in YOUR SOUL only if you live it. And Lurrie Bell is a part of all that. It comes out of every pore when he's up there doing it. And this album gives you that. Try routing for the Cubs for 100 years, or ditching the landlord around the first of the month because nothing is right, try getting through a brutal Chi-town winter, which might start in September and end in June, and you'll start understanding something about life, yours, Chicago's, and cats like Lurrie Bell. It's not about shuffling. It's about getting through and getting something out of it that money can't begin to buy--though hey, money helps you keep doing what you gotta! It's blues for the long haul, not some faux revival.

So check this one!

Linsey Alexander, Been There Done That

The rootsy urban blues lives on. You only have to look to Linsey Alexander's recent Been There, Done That (Delmark 822) to feel it, to know it. Born in Mississipi, Alexander made the trek up to Chicago in 1960, and he is going strong today.

He fronts a hard rockin' soul blues group in the traditional electric groove, playing some tastefully stinging, hard edged guitar lines and singing with soul. He's got the good originals and everybody gets the spirit on this one.

It may be Black Friday in the department stores today, but Linsey's making it Blue Friday for me! Dig on this one.

Quintus McCormick, Still Called the Blues

Back for a new album is Chicago soul-bluesman Quintus McCormick with Still Called the Blues (Delmark 821). As with his previous albums this is old-school blues that rings true. Quintus sings, plays the guitar and writes the songs. He is joined by a grooving band for a set of solid blues fare.

This is music that has some of the urban and urbane qualities of the late Little Milton. Quintus' lead guitar has good classic heft, great phrasing and a slinky quality. Vocally he may be no Bobby Blue Bland in terms of power. It's fully the blues, it just isn't crafted to blow the roof off the house. He sounds like himself though, so that ends up being more important.

You like the real deal in soul blues? This one will get you in the good zone.

Rockin' Johnny Band, Grim Reaper

Hey, Rockin' Johnny and his band get some great blues rocking going. His second (I think) CD, Grim Reaper (Delmark 820) fits my mood right now and does it in the right way. Rockin' Johnny has a vocal style that reminds a little of early Paul Butterfield, as does the general style happening with the band. Johnny is no Michael Bloomfield (and of course only Michael B could do Michael B), but he plays with soul and blues authenticity, whatever that is (you know when you hear it). The band is driving and tight.

And it works too because Rockin' Johnny reworks the blues message and comes up with new twists: "Shoe Leather and Tire Rubber" is about trying to find a gig, "Grim Reaper" pits Johnny with the angel of death, and there are other good songs about the tough times we are in. The blues get you out of the blues. . . and to paraphrase and mess with Ray Charles's maxim, nowadays "everybody has the blues!" So the time is right, for the blues, for Rockin' Johnny.

This one's got it. So get it and get out of it!

Toronzo Cannon, "Leaving Mood" for New Chicago Blues Electricity

I used to think the blues was dead or dieing. It isn't. Among other things there have been some Delmark releases in the last couple of years that tell us Chicago is spawning a new batch of the real thing. Today's CD is a good example. It's Toronzo Cannon, his soulful vocals and his blazing lead guitar, on Leaving Mood (Delmark 817).

It's the hard blues, the electric blues, the soul blues. It has some of the heft of rock and soul. Toronzo is backed by a grooving band and Carl Weathersby joins him on guitar for a couple of cuts, but it's Toronzo all the way in essence. The original tunes are solid and have that something. Toronzo wrings all the feeling out of them onto us. He is a communicator and a bolt of soul lightning on vocals. His guitar has a post-Buddy-Guy sizzle. He's got it and he lets in loose on us in fine fashion.

This is real-deal blues. Get with it and you'll get what you need.

Quintus McCormick's Soul-Blues? Oui! "Put it On Me!"

If you are into the soul blues tradition of legends like Bobby "Blue" Bland and Little Milton, then you will appreciate Quinton McCormick's Blues Band. Their second album, Put it On Me (Delmark DE 815) gives you the band at their best, 14 slabs of sanctified carrying on. Quintus wrote the songs, sings and plays the guitar solos and it all works. For about half the numbers the band is joined by the Chicago Horns. You get a good slathering of the old-school renewed for today.

It's the real deal. Quintus was born and raised in Detroit, began playing the guitar at age eight, came over to Chicago to study with Tyrone Davis's arranger, James Mack, and started up a band there. The Quintus McCormick you hear today is a fully formed bluesman with an original vocal style and some very soulful lead playing.

Get it happening with this one!

Gettin' Kinda Rough with Grana Louise

You get the feeling listening to blues-soulstress Grana Louise that she knows how to handle herself in just about any situation she might come across. She is one tough woman. Her CD Gettin' Kinda Rough (Delmark 812) comes through like a freight train that's taking on no passengers at the station and, whew, man, she's here and gone!

We are talking about old-school blues-soul with the raw electric power and the in-your-face sassy! Grana sings like a downed power line, crackling, bristling with natural energy and exposed kinetic danger.

She has cannon-shot power and marksmanship precision in her delivery. She's got that explosive blues voice that does most emphatically NOT hold back. She delivers, baby! Raunchy, brimming with blues power. Hey, she is the real deal.

Half the CD is recorded in the studio, the other half in a club where she takes control and OWNS the crowd in the best Chicago blues tradition.

Beware if you are the sort that blushes at subject matter that is NOT POLITE. When she sings that she's going to "Big Dick, Mississippi, where the trees grow tall," there's no missing what she means. This is no refined drawing-room banter, you'd best believe. And when she sings about being a dutiful housefrau, staying home and "learning how to cheat on you," well you know she is not messing around with indirect talk.

This is a hell of an album. The band blows strong behind her and she blows everyone away.

This is old school blues at its very finest. Oh, yes, I mean that! Grana Louise tells it, she sings it, and you knows it. You have been SUNG to, Jackson!

James Kinds' "Love You From the Top:" New Blues From Chi-town

James Kinds has the blues. Up from Mississippi to Chicago in 1959, construction worker by day and bluesman by night, he is finally getting his due on the new Delmark release Love You From the Top (811).

He plays a rhythmic treble-centered soul-blues style guitar, has his own way of putting together lyrics that tell of hard times, disappointment and getting over it all. But it's his hard-edged vocal style that puts him over the top. He is in the upper range as far a blues voices go, and has a lot of blues-soul in the way Elmore James had it, only there's no mistaking James Kinds for anybody but James Kinds. He incorporates some soul elements in the way that Magic Sam did so well, only this time out it's James Kinds' way.

He's backed by a solid rocking band that includes a guest appearance from Wolf's tenor bluesman Eddie Shaw.

The blues has not expired. It lives with cats like James Kinds. The REAL blues, that is. This is in every way on the level of the best Chicago tradition. Grab a copy (see link) and go to town!

Willie Buck, Chicago Bluesmaster

We should try and honor those Chicago bluesmen who are still around, active and dynamic. Willie Buck may not be a name you are familiar with, but he's the real deal. In 1982 his album I Wanna Be Loved came out in a small run on Bar None Records. It came and went before it had a chance to get wide distribution or acclaim. Now it's back in print as The Life I Love (Delmark 805) with five live unissued tracks from the period.

This is Chicago blues at its down home, soulful best. Buck has Muddy Waters' directness and drive and his vocals get inside the lyrics and push them out in the best blues tradition. He has a terrific band behind him, including John Primer and Louis Meyers on guitar, Dave Meyers on bass, the late Big Moose Walker on piano and they tear it up. Muddy's "She's All Right" gets the treatment, and so does "19 Years Old." There are good originals too.

The live tracks add to the confirmation that Willie Buck is keeping the flame alive. If you love the classic Chicago sound, here it is! No warts, just the slow burn of the tradition, generating the heat that heals the soul.