Tag Archives: Live Album

Omar Coleman – Live at Rosa’s Lounge

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Title: Live at Rosa’s Lounge

Artist: Omar Coleman

Label: Delmark

Formats: CD, MP3

Release date: June 17, 2016

 

Last year we reviewed Omar Coleman’s Delmark debut, Born & Raised, released in June 2015. Due to that album’s success, Delmark decided to follow up immediately with a live recording. The result is Live at Rosa’s Lounge, recorded over three dates at “Chicago’s friendliest blues bar.”  Six out of 10 of these live tracks appeared on the previous album, though in the new release you get some nice, extended versions, a couple of which are nearly double in length. Both albums feature the same line-up: Peter Galanis on guitar, Neal O’Hara on keyboards and organ, Dave Forte (tracks 1-5) and Ari Seder (tracks 6-10) on bass, and Marty Binder on drums.

New to the live album are four cover songs including the opener, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy’s “Snatch It Back and Hold It.” Coleman’s rendition inserts a dose of funk with a grooving bass line and organ riffs, and other than a brief harmonica appearance in the intro, he wisely makes no effort to improve on Junior Wells’s harp solo. This is followed by a hard-driving version of Willie Dixon’s “I’m Ready,” with O’Hara taking over the solo on keyboards.  From the Stax catalog there’s Rufus Thomas’s “Give Me the Green Light.” Coleman states in the intro, “As you can guess, we like our blues with a dose of funk, soul, and all kinds of other stuff,” before the band lays into a heavy groove, deftly fusing Southern soul with electric Chicago blues. Another Dixon song popularized by Junior Wells, “Two Headed Woman,” closes the album in a fast and furious rendition that pits Coleman’s harp against Galanis’s guitar.

Though it’s impossible to recommend one of these albums over the other, Live at Rosa’s Lounge captures a younger generation of musicians, proving that the blues club scene is alive and well in Chicago.

Reviewed by Brenda Nelson-Strauss

Keb’ Mo’ – That Hot Pink Blues Album

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Title: That Hot Pink Blues Album

Artist: Keb’ Mo’

Label: Kind of Blue Music

Formats: CD, MP3

Release date: April 15, 2016

 

 

For years now we have been using the term “smooth jazz.”  So, are we ready to consider “smooth blues” a musical genre?

If so, Keb’ Mo’s latest release, That Hot Pink Blues Album, would be a textbook for the style.  The two-disc live album features performances from the guitarist/singer/songwriter’s 2015 tour and a retrospective of songs from the three-time Grammy Award winner’s twenty-one years in the music industry.  But, more importantly, That Hot Pink Blues Album shows how Keb’ Mo’s blues foundation has merged with R&B, jazz, Americana, and pop to create an accessible, polished, and perhaps even androgynous blues style.  I mean, seriously, when was the last time we associated the color hot pink—barring Pink Anderson’s name—with the blues?

The foundation for Keb’ Mo’s style is optimism.  His blues are not about heartache or poverty, but ring with positive messages of good-times and lookin’ on the bright side.  On songs like “Life is Beautiful,” the musician sounds like a crooner—the song’s string arrangement, bouncy rhythm, and care-free lyrics would sound appropriate if performed by Rod Stewart (The Great American Songbook version of the rock-turned-adult contemporary vocalist, not the Jeff Beck Group one) or Barry Manilow. Keb’ Mo’ is at his best when his positivity incorporates a little grit, as heard on “Dangerous Mood” or “The Worst is Yet to Come.”

Technically, That Hot Pink Blues Album highlights Keb’ Mo’s talent as a songwriter and guitarist.  He authored or co-authored all sixteen of the album’s tracks and the live album setting gives his guitar playing room to shine.  The album also benefits from the instrumental prowess of Michael Hicks, whose keyboard and organ playing lend a variety of rich textures to Keb’ Mo’s straight-forward compositions.

For local Bloomington readers, That Hot Pink Blues Album, is a great teaser for Keb’ Mo’s upcoming performance at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on April 21 at 8:00pm.  There, attendees can hear the songs that comprise Keb’ Mo’s latest release and hear for themselves if the era of “smooth blues” is among us.

Reviewed by Douglas Dowling Peach