ZYX Music artist: Raphael Wressnig & Igor Prado - The Soul Connection - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, The Soul Connection, from Raphael Wressnig & Igor Prado and it blows me away. Opening with Otis Clay's hit, Trying To Live My Life Without You, features Willie Walker on lead vocal surrounded by lush organ work of Wressnig and stinging guitar work of Igor Prado and backed by Rodrigo Mantovani on bass, Yuri Prado on drums, Sax Gordon Beadle on sax, Sidmar Vieira on trumpet and Lisa Andersen on backing vocals. Super soulful opener. Jazzy instrumental Young Girl has a great groove giving Prado and Wressnig wide open space to dig into solid solos. This is a super track that will get into your seat. Willie Walker is back on Little Willie John's soulful, Suffering With The Blues. With easy club styling, Prado really sit's down on his solo, squeezing out each drop of blues. Mantovani's bass work is spot on and Wressnig's organ work carrying the weight under beautifully crushing vocals by Walker. Tyrone Davis' R&B track, Turning Point, has a great feel featuring David Hudson on lead vocal. Mantovani's bass line really accentuates the track nicely with punchy key work from Wressnig and snappy drum work from Yuri. With cool lead organ work on original track, No-La-Fun-Ky, Mantovani and Yuri really hit the groove. This is a hot track and Igor's guitar work is smokin! Little Willie John's Home At Last has just the right feel featuring Willie Walker on some of the best lead vocals on the release, really nice key work by Wressnig, and excellent guitar phrasing and I do mean excellent phrasing from Prado. R&B instrumental, Turnip Greens has just the right bass lines to make this a super track with warm organ lead and Albert King like blues guitar riffs. Very cool. Willie Walker has the lead on Billy Myles' My Love Is, with a cool airy backing featuring mostly hand claps, finger snaps, a super cool bass line and keys. Very cool. Igor Prado's excellent jump track, The Face Slap Swing No 5, is absolutely off the hook with outrageous soloing from both Wressnig and Prado. My favorite track on the release...excellent! Instrumental, Grazing In The Grass, made popular by Hugh Masekela has solid orchestration and clean solos on an "easy" arrangement. Leon Beale takes the lead vocal role on Don Robey's Don't Cry No More, made popular by Wilson Pickett. With it's high energy spilling over and pushed to the sky by Wressnig and Igor, this track almost hits gospel heights. Willie Walker really raises the bar on Jon Thomas' Heartbreak and the driving bass line of Mantovani really gets this track stomping. Igor and Wressnig slip in really tasty riffs on this super stepping track. Wow! Wrapping the release is Wayne Rainey's country western hit, Why Don't You Haul Off And Love Me. Wressnig takes the lead and with a blend of country and gospel styling, wraps up one of the best releases that I've heard in a long time.




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