Aki Kumar is at it again playing music in a genre that he alone inhabits. This Indian born and San Jose, California, based blues man is doing something that has never been done or likely even considered. In 2016, Kumar released an album called Aki Goes To Bollywood. Here in 2018, with Hindi Man Blues, he continues this wild exploration into the music of his homeland and combining those thematic musical elements with the blues music of his adopted country. On Hindi Man Blues, Kumar again offers up a disc that has something likely to offend everyone. It is why I like it so much. Kumar scores big points with me by writing and performing an original tune entitled All Bark and No Bite about Trump. While this record may not be for everyone, it is for those with an open mind and adventurous spirit. Either way, Aki Kumar should be applauded for choosing his own path which speaks to the height of creativity and fearlessness. 

What makes Never Too Soon is the voice and delivery of Marina Crouse. She wields a naturalistic instrument which is imbibed with warmth. It has an unaffected expressiveness that is simply refreshing. Her singing carries with it none of the vocal histrionics and clichés that mar so many female vocalists in this field. They, unlike Crouse, have never taken the time to learn the elusive and subtle dialect of the blues. She performs in two languages, yet seamlessly blends both to deliver missives in the international language of music

This is Marcel Smith’s long overdue, debut solo album. He is a veteran of the gospel music world who has sung and played guitar in various groups since he was a child. This Bay Area based musician paints his gospel chops onto a broader soul canvass. Backed by the usual Little Village/Greaseland Studios crew, Smith makes some great choices as far as material is concerned. He covers Sam Cooke and Bobby Womack for instance as well as tackling the Gospel standard This Little Light of Mine. As Rick Estrin states in the album's liner notes, 'It’s a stylistically adventurous collection and Marcel’s transcendent talent, boundless passion and deep soul fervor are on full display.'         

Shay is from San Diego with a background in the theatre. She is a hard-working performer who sings in a variety of musical settings. One of the roles she plays is that of the blues diva. To her great credit, she plays this role very well. Her brand-new album, A Woman Rules The World, on the Little Village Foundation label is a testament to that fact.  A Woman Rules the World is a quantum leap forward for Whitney Shay. She has grown in her live performances and has also made strides in that other arena, the studio. Shay doesn’t completely avoid many of the vocal clichés that are rampant in this music, yet she doesn’t get bogged down in that mire either. The album’s producer, Kid Andersen, does a marvelous job on many fronts and deserves much credit for capturing an emerging talent in the blues field. 

This appropriately named album, the third for Big Harp George since his 2014 debut, is also his best. Uptown Cool, like the previous selections on our list of recommended albums this month, was recorded at Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studios. However, Big Harp George is not a member of Jim Pugh’s Little Village, but it might be said that he has made the world his own little village. He brings a lifetime of experiences to the table and presents songs that are imbued with a knowing, insightful wit. Big Harp George is a commanding harp player and a serviceable singer who, to his great credit, sings in his own naturalistic voice and doesn’t try to sound like someone he is not. Big Harp George has assembled a terrific hand-picked band where the guitar duties are split between current and former Nightcats Kid Andersen and Little Charlie Baty. Yet, it is the horn section and arrangements that are also a real star here. It is that uptown sound that makes Uptown Cool a perfect fit for the music of Big Harp George. 

This is the third offering from this Toronto based blues man and it’s good one. It has been duly noted that Sugar Brown doesn’t come from a traditional blues pedigree. I would argue that in 2018, there is no such thing as a "traditional blues pedigree". Sugar Brown might be a really lame blues moniker, but maybe this very talented multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and song writer thought it might get more attention than Ken Kawashima. I don’t know about any of this but, this man born of a Japanese mother and Korean father, grew up in Bowling Green, Ohio, before moving to Chicago where he fell in love with the blues music of that city. Kawashima completed his Ph. D in history from New York University and now is an Associate Professor of east Asian studies at the University of Toronto. On It’s a Blues World... Kawashima writes all thirteen tunes, sings, plays guitar and harmonica. Rockin’ Johnny Burgin makes marvelous contributions on guitar as well. Some original ideas applied to traditional blues and executed marvelously make It’s a Blues World…Calling All Blues! a real treat.

Deep in the Heart of Me is Junior Brown’s tenth studio album and on it Brown gives listeners a big dose of what put this major talent on the map in the first place several decades ago; that is great original songs sung in a rich baritone with a back-up band who lends incredible rhythmic support to an artist who is likely to take some wild excursions on both electric and steel guitar. Like great traditional blues, the country music sounds of Junior Brown don’t come with an expiration date. His music is timeless. Deep In the Heart of Me, Junior Brown’s long awaited album was originally scheduled for a 2017 release and has finally arrived here in 2018. Like the best things in life, Deep In the Heart of Me was worth the wait. (A complete CD review can be found in our Monthly Album Spotlight feature in this edition of BLUES JUNCTION).

This album is as refreshing as a breeze on a hot summer’s day. Cool Iron is an inter-continental collaboration between Lon Eldridge of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Stephen Troch of Eaklo, Belgium. Vocalist Lon Eldridge also plays a resonator guitar and is accompanied by Steven Troch on harmonica and backing vocals. These two kindred spirits take listeners down the road past several destinations of America’s musical landscape in the early part of the 20th Century. Songs by Fats Waller, Mance Lipscomb, Robert Johnson and Mississippi Fred MacDowell are taken out for a spin. There is a natural, organic feel to this music that doesn’t even for a moment sound forced. Blues music played the right way is always welcome around here.

To say that finding over eighty minutes of never before heard John Coltrane music is cause for celebration would be a ridiculous understatement. Now a little over half a century since John Coltrane left us, and 55 years since these recordings were made, new John Coltrane music has been discovered. All but one track on this two-disc set has never been released until now. These are recordings made at Rudy Van Gelder’s Englewood Cliffs New Jersey recording studio (where else) on March 6, 1963. The band that had been with him for about a year at this point would come to be known as the classic quartet. From 1962 through 1965 they made some of the most exciting and innovative recordings in the history of American music. (There is a complete CD review in this edition of BLUES JUNCTION.)

The latest release on our Bluebeat Music label is a collaboration with Big Jon Atkinson and his studio, Bigtone Records.  Recorded in 2017, this set features Darrell playing and singing straight blues with a killer band which includes Danny Michel, Robert Welsh and Marty Dodson.  Darrell has always made great records and this could be the finest blues recording he has made since his band Texas Heat.  Recorded using vintage equipment and knowledgeable players, the set reflects a deep-seated understanding of what to play and how it should sound. – C.L. 

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