Little Village Foundation Artist: Terry Hanck - Grease To Gravy - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Grease To Gravy, from Terry Hanck and it really swings. Opening with Wilson Pickett's Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You, Terry Hanck has got another hot one on the griddle. Singing and playing tenor sax, Hanck has great feel, backed by Kid Andersen who is everybody's not so secret weapon on guitar, Jim Pugh on B3, and Jon Otis on drums. Great opener. Andersen really steps up on slide guitar on 2nd line track, If A Politician Was A Doctor, with Chris Peet on drums and Hanck really working the sax and pure vocals. Very nice. Ray Charles' Come Back Baby has a great feel and Hanck's soulful vocals and King Curtis like sax work are featured along with June Core on drums, Chris Burns on piano, Pugh on B3 and Andersen on bass. Albert King's Overall Junction features Hanck really honking on sax, great rhythm and lead guitar by Johnny Cat Soubrand, Andersen on B3 and D'Mar on drums. Strong instrumental. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Hanck original Run Run Baby with great lead vocals, solo and underlying sax by Hanck, Soubrand again really playing excellent lead guitar, Andersen on bass, Pugh on B3 and Jon Otis on drums. Great groove! Another cool track is When I Get My Shit Together, reminding me a lot of some of my favorite Elvin Bishop tracks with spoken dialog, low slung, soulful blues melody and excellent soloing by Hanck and Soubrand. Wrapping the release is reggae flavored instrumental, Midnight On The Reef with excellent drum rhythms by Chris Peet, excellent guitar styling by J.P. Soars, Mark Doyle on piano and soulful melodic sax work by Hanck. Strong closer for a very cool release. 

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Origin Records artist: Charlie Ballantine - East By Midwest - New Release Review

 I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, East By Midwest, by Charlie Ballantine and it's great! Opening with Storyteller, a lush, instrumental ballad, Charlie Ballantine on guitar crafts a beautiful melody, saturated with reverb and tone. Joined by Quinn Sternberg who's bass work is active and Dan Weiss on drums who keeps it light but effective makes for a brilliant opener. Monk's, Trinkle Tinkle, has real forward thrust with nimble fingered fretwork and perfectly laid chords by Ballantine illustrating the melody and and neatly styled bottom by Sternberg and Weiss keeping your head bopping. A real tasty solo by Sternberg really does play nicely against the classic structure. Lennon (and McCartney's) Strawberry Fields is a nice surprise with Ballantine playing it's straightforward melody with a bit of overdrive but with some really nice surprise counter notes giving the track a new and quite interesting feel. There's also a surprise "kaleidoscope" kind of sound not unlike Lennon's own reversed tape trick. Very nice! I particularly like original composition, Cigarette Siren with it's rocky approach. With Weiss playing actively with Sternberg, and Ballantine playing lead in a much more strat sounding forward manner, the track really comes to me like a  brilliant blend of a classic surf track and and Leslie West's Mountain. This is really a mind bending track bring in the colors from many palettes. Ornette Coleman's When Will The Blues Leave gets a great bop groove driven by Sternberg, Ballantine catching the wave and rolling right down the barrel. Really nice. Wrapping the release is Elliot Smith's soulful ballad, Alameda nicely crafted by Ballantine on richly saturated guitar tones over a simple rock beat by Sternberg and Weiss. This really is a strong release that you should check out.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

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 “Like” Bman’s Facebook page and get support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE For your convenience, you can click the title of this post above to be taken to a site where this cd can be purchased - Happy Listening