A Ripple-full of Blues; featuring Roy Roberts, Sista Monica Parker, Gina Sicilia, and Paxton Norris

Any regular reader of the Ripple (affectionately known as a waverider) will know that its usually Old School who regales us with tales and reviews from the blues scene.  Unfortunately, due to some personal matters, our brother Old School won't be able to join us for a while, so Penfold and I are going to stretch ourselves and pick up some of the music that Old School would normally review.  In the meantime, our prayers go out to Old School.  We're here for you, brother!

So, with that said, it's time to delve into this stack of blues CD's covering the far corner of my Ripple desk.  Now, when it comes to reviewing the blues, I can't claim to be an expert.  I don't really know my Chicago-style from my New Orleans from my Texas blues.  I got an idea, but I'm not one to toss out references like some blues-Einstein.  But that doesn't mean I don't have a love for the blues.  Besides being the roots of rock n roll, I developed my bluesy taste when I lived in Texas.  There, the long summer nights just couldn't pass without a cold beer or a lemonade, sitting out on a deck at midnight while some blues axeman made his guitar cry and wail. I've been to blues clubs throughout Texas, Chicago, San Francisco, and New Orleans, and the world, always on the lookout for that moaning guitar.  My greatest blues moment came when I stumbled into the long-departed Absinthe Bar on Bourbon Street one late night.  The club, more than half empty, was the home of Brian Lee, a blind guitar-smith who blew the hair from my head with this searing guitar tone and whiskey-soaked vocal chords.  Just me and Brian.  Hour after hour.  Heaven dropped to earth.

With that said, reviewing blues CD's isn't easy for me.  Blues, more than any other music, to me, is a live music.  It's meant to be heard after dark in a smoke-filled tavern.  It needs to be felt to be appreciated.  So, as I go through these CD's, what I'm listening for, what I'm imaging, is how the music would sweep over me in a live setting.  That, for me, is the blues.

Roy Roberts - Strange Love

Blues veteran, Roy Roberts, lays down the groove, soulful and funky on his latest outing, Strange Love.  Like a bridge between Memphis Soul and modern Blues, Roberts blends in a Staxy-horn section, some bopping beats and a searing guitar into his soul-blues amalgam.  With a smooth singing style reminiscent of the under-appreciated Robert Cray, Roberts brings a soulful vibe to his muse.  "My Love Bone," is pure soul funk with a bluesy vibe, bopping and sauntering out of the speakers all sexy and sultry.   Roberts is restrained on the six-string here, but when he does turn it loose, his tone is like a slice of custard pie, all creamy and sweet.   "Hey Baby," is a swinging blues shuffle with some tasty guitar licks.  Yep, this would get the crowd out onto the dancefloor.  But the highlight is the intense Cray-like title track, "Strange Love."  Here Roberts perfectly blends his Cray influence with some deep soul and a wailing guitar that cuts through the smoke in the bar like a laser.  Live, I'd be eating this one up, ordering my fourth whiskey and just letting it flow right over me.

Sista Monica Parker - Living in the Danger Zone

Gotta admit, one look at the low-budget cover on Sista Monica's CD and I just wasn't expecting much.  Let's face it, anybody can assemble a band and call themselves a blues artists.  But, lordy, Sista Monica has made a believer out of me.  First of all, her band really rocks.  I mean, they roll with the fervor of a freight train.   Mike Schermer's lead cuts are so tasty, their finger-licking!  And when Andy Just lays into his harmonica like he does on the opener "Hug Me Like You Love Me," we got us blues delight.  Whether jamming it out, funking it up, or gospeling it down, Sista's band are the real deal  Then there's Sista Monica herself. The opening track doesn't really bring her to the forefront, but by that second track "Living in the Danger Zone," Monica just busts loose. Bringing a deep female tenor to her blues, Sista's voice is full and resonant, deep and moody.  When she digs down into her chords it's like manna from heaven.  If I was sitting in the club . . . well, I wouldn't be sitting.  My hands would be above my head, flapping and giving thanks.    Sista Monica and her band are from SF, so if you're in the area, make sure you look em up.  Your soul will thank you.

Gina Sicilia - Can't Control Myself

Another disc that caught me way offguard.  Nothing about the coquettish-looking 25-year old woman on the cover could prepare me for the gritty and downright grungy-blues of Gina Sicilia's music.  Blessed by the production, engineering and guitar work of Dave Goss, Gina's vocals pour over these dirty blues cuts like molasses dripping over sweaty, sex-satiated skin.   Hot and steamy, "Addicted," is the moaning of a woman singing sex.  Just pure sex.  Her voice is full and throaty, full of bourbon and cigarettes, and best of all, she's not afraid to let it be not perfect.  I love a voice like this when it cracks and wails with emotion.  "Crazy About You Baby," reminds me of the best of another gutsy blues legend, Bonnie Raitt, who I'm sure Gina would hail as an influence.  Here, she takes the Willie Dixon standard and twists it into a modern ode to seduction and desire.  Hot.  Totally hot.  Now, none of this talk of sex is meant to imply that Gina is a mad seductress.  That ain't what she's about.  Still she exudes a natural sexuality that bleeds through her voice.  Not every track clicks here for me.  I think the reggae vibe of "Before the Night," is a miss, and I prefer her rocking tracks to her ballads, but when it all comes together, like on the jazzy, latin-tinged "Wish the Clock Would Stop," we got something special.  

Paxton Norris - Something's Gotta Give

Don't know if I'm saving the best for last or not, but I'm definitely saving the most rocking for last.  You like blues guitar, but you like it with savage fury and fire?  You like it to rock the f*ck out?  Here's the answer.  Just add the name Paxton Norris to your list of six-string wielding axemen.  Still steeped in trad blues, this isn't rocked out blues a la Joe Bonamassa, this is more like Corey Stevens best.  Thick and ballsy blues tracks laying the foundation for Paxton's guitar to set fire to the plantation.  Nothing about this disc sounds like a debut album.  Paxton's tone is so confident and assured.  His vocals are laid down full of guts and soul.  Even his songwriting seems world-weary and veteran, laying down lyrics about the tough times we're all living in.  "Something's Gotta Give," is a blues rocker ready to take its place in the pantheon of great cuts.  "Living Tight" sears with is guitar attack, while "Going to Pensacola" rocks with a ZZ Top fever.  This track alone should introduce the world's rock fans to the new-found talent that is Paxton Norris.

--Racer

Lee Ritenour’s - 6 String Theory

"We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!"
Garth Algar: "We’re scum!"
Wayne Campbell: "We suck!"
    - Wayne’s World (1992)

That is exactly how I feel after listening to Lee Ritenour’s  6 String Theory.  I have played guitar for thirty-nine years and I am in awe of the music and talent that Lee Ritenour has assembled on this album.  I can only dream about playing any the pieces on the album and, even if I learned the music, I can only dream of being able to perform them with such talent and precision.

Right off the bat Ritenour teams with progressive jazz guitar master John Scofield on Ritenour’s Lay It Down.  As if trading guitar licks with John Scofield is not enough, Harvey Mason is on the drums, Melvin Lee Davis plays the bass and Larry Goldings mans the organ. My fingers could never keep up. Then, the album gets better.

Ritenour accompanies Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal as they perform “Am I Wrong,” a hot delta blues song which features an amazing swamp guitar tone topped off by Taj Mahal’s tasty harmonica and Keb Mo’s and Taj Mahal’s raw vocal power.  I attempt to recreate this guitar blues tone and fail.

Les Paul “L.P. (For Les Paul)” is an up-tempo tribute to Les Paul written by Ritenour.  A guitar duet between Ritenour and guitarist Pat Martino (Joey DeFrancesca on organ and Will Kennedy on drums) has dual leads so precise that I would need ice for my fingers before I could complete the first stanza.

Joe Bonamassa and Robert Cray show up on the fourth track to play a slow burn blues version of Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason.”  If I have one wish it is to play as well as Joe Bonamassa or Robert Cray.  Some wishes will never come true.

If these embarrassments to my guitar playing ego weren’t enough, Ritenour follows it up with with Steve Lukather, Neal Schon and Slash performing Lukather’s instrumental “68”?  Okay, now I can’t find the notes, the speed or the tone.  Great.  Then they throw it in my face again.  Lukather, Schon and Ritenour play a mellow Ritenour jazz piece called “In Your Dreams.” It seems to say to guitarists “you don’t have to play fast.  It is about feeling and tone.”  The question for me is how does a guitarist even attempt to measure up to this?

Ritenour provides an immediate answer with George Benson performing “My One And Only Love,” in a straight-ahead jazz style.  I could never play like Joe Pass.  This track makes it clear that I will also never play like George Benson.  (Sigh of resignation.)  As if one amazing George Benson guitar instrumental number is not enough Ritenour follows it with Benson swinging “Moon River.”  I can play “Moon River” but, uh, not like that. (Deeper sigh of resignation.)

Damn, the musicianship and music gets even better.  What have I done to deserve this?  B.B. King, Vince Gill, Keb’ Mo’, Jonny Lang and Ritenour together play an up-beat version of B.B.’s classic “Why I Sing The Blues.”  They vamp, and trade vocals and licks.    Can I live with this?  There’s only one King, Gill and Keb’ Mo’ got chops, and Lang and Ritenour are prodigies.  I’m scum.

I look at the next track - a song by some unknown named Joe Robinson that is called “Daddy Longlicks.”  I think, finally, a no-name. Maybe I can regain a bit of guitar player self-esteem.  Out of the speakers comes a flurry of fingerstyle guitar picking.  I check the CD liner notes and find out Ritenour discovered this 18 year old Australian fingerstyle guitar master.  HE IS 18 YEARS OLD!!!! My life is over.

To further my grief Ritenour plays with Lukather and Andy McKee an instrumental version of Sting’s “Shape Of My Heart.”  I faintly recall the name Andy McKee and Google it.  He is the amazing guitarist with the viral YouTube video in which he plays the guitar as a percussion instrument.  A second track of McKee and Ritenour follows called “Drifting” that was written by McKee. Unbelievable.  I have no idea how he does it.  I get more depressed. Anyone interested in buying a used guitar or two?

I so dreaded to hear what Ritenour would do next. He tortures me with the finest version of “Freeway Jam” since Jeff Beck’s  Blow By Blow album.  Here, Ritenour plays with jazz guitarist Mike Stern (who played with Miles Davis and the Brecker Brothers) and Tomayasu Hotei (one of the greatest Japanese rock guitarists alive, known in the US  for his film score in the movie “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and the theme song to the film “Kill Bill” that also can be found on Playstation 2’s version of the game “Dance, Dance, Revolution SUPERNOVA,” called “Battle Without Honor Or Humanity”).  How much more of this can I take?

With great trepidation I let the next to last track spin.  It is by some guitarist named Guthrie Govan who wrote and performs the song “Fives.” It is fast. exacting, progressive rock guitar - as good as Yngwie Malmsteen.  I’m stiff. I can’t play that. My ears bleed.  Who is this guy “Govan?”  I look him up.  Oh, lord, best known for his work with the band Asia and is a former winner of “Guitarist of the Year” honors.  He also has his own shred band called Erotic Cakes. I am not worthy.

The final track makes me think I should adjust my attitude.  It is a classical piece, “Caprices. Op. 20. No. 2 and 7,” written by Luigi Legnani and performed impeccably by Shon Boublil.  I check him out.  Boublil is a 16 YEAR OLD Canadian who won an international guitar talent search put on by Yamaha, Berklee College of Music, Monster Cable, D’Addario and Concord Records.  He is 16 YEARS OLD! I suck.


- Old School
Buy here: 6 String Theory
6 String Theory [bonus tracks]
6 String Theory mp3