Ruf Records artist: Mike Zito - Blue Room - New release review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blue Room, from Mike Zito and it's terrific! Blue Room was Zito's debut release back in 1998 and it's great that Ruf Records is re releasing and remastering it for the fans. Opening with Hollywood, a funky blues rocker, Zito really has edge on vocal and is guitar work is wild and unbridled with solid bass work by Doug Byrkit and tight rhythms by Brian Zielie. Excellent opener. Another funky rocker is Pull The Trigger again with excellent raw energy on vocal and fluid guitar work by Zito. Very cool. Instrumental, Gravy Jam is a solid instrumental with super funky bass work from Byrkit and snappy beat from Zielie giving Zito a wide open floor to rip ion guitar and he takes full advantage. Excellent! Slow blues, Lovering, takes the uncontained playing feel of Steve Vai, Stevie Ray, Buddy Guy or Jimi Hendrix and plows it into raw blues energy in his own way creating wild free flowing soloing. Excellent! Ways About You has a warm chord backing over a reggae beat giving Zito yet another avenue to explore his guitar flow. Very nice. Soundcheck is another unbridled blues guitar exploration with an excellent bass and drum backing. Smoking. Wrapping the release is Zito's take on Elton John's mega hit, Rocket Man with a bit more edge and a lot more guitar. Zito really put together a strong package here. You need to check it out!

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Mike Zito's 'Blue Room' - 20th Anniversary Edition to be Re Released on 11/16/18

Mike Zito Debut 'Blue Room' Celebrates Two Decades

20th Anniversary Edition Re Released Nov 16^th on Ruf Records

It’s back. The debut album that blew up the ’90s blues scene. The songs that announced the touchdown of a major new talent. In modern times, as an established solo star and former member of the globally acclaimed Royal Southern Brotherhood, Mike Zito’s reputation precedes him. But turn back the clocks. Rewind the film reels. Slip through the wormhole to 1998, when a 27-year-old punk kid took his first shot in the studio. “Blue Room,” he reflects, “is the beginning of me becoming an artist.”

By 1998, Zito had been around the block. Raised at the sharp end in St. Louis, Missouri, he’d witnessed the lean years of the ’70s, as his father – a union employee at the local Anheuser-Busch brewery – grafted to support five kids in a cramped apartment. Music was a way out, with Zito learning his craft at a downtown guitar store, then seizing any live work that fell his way. As he told the Blues Mag: “I’ve played with country bands, dance bands, rock bands, alternative bands…”

Blue Room was the moment of clarity, when Zito realised he was burning to be more than a roadhouse-filling covers band. In 1997, he assembled a dedicated lineup and announced his new mission statement: original songs written from the heart. But artistic integrity didn’t come cheap. With just $1000 for studio bills, the entire Blue Room tracklisting was captured in a single day, and you can still feel the urgency flood through the speakers. “We’d played the night before until 6am at an all-night club in St. Louis,” recalls Zito, “and went to the studio at 9am. We brought beer with us and basically did not sleep. The vibe is total bravado, full of honesty.”

Blue Room changed everything. As the album sold, the songs began to be requested live – displacing the Cream and Hendrix covers – and Zito was heralded as an artist of rare potential. Back then, he didn’t anticipate the bitter-sweet future about to unfold – the lost years of alcoholism in the post-millennium, the salvation offered by his wife, Laura, the plaudits of Royal Southern Brotherhood in 2012 and the rising trajectory of his solo career since he picked it back up with 2015’s Keep Coming Back. But when Zito looks back now at Blue Room, he wouldn’t change a thing: “I find such joy in listening to the young man on this recording. I’m so proud that it’s finally being released by Ruf Records after twenty years…”

Blue Room out on Ruf Records Nov 16, 2018

Membrane Records artist: Jon Zeeman - Blue Room - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blue Room, from Jon Zeeman and it's got heft. Opening with rolling boogie, All I Want Is You, Jon Zeeman hits the ground running with a great walking bass line from Phil Macarthur and tight drum lines from Mr. Butch Trucks. Nice riding organ work by Tom Regis really shines it up and Zeeman's own guitar riffs make for an excellent opener. On Robert Johnson's. Love In Vain, Zeeman follows The Stones arrangement fairly closely which is really nice. Electric piano soloing by Taylor is lush and Zeeman's own guitar work smooth and inspired. George Lilly adds the drums on this one and Zeeman's vocals are top notch. On shuffle track, Next To You, Butch Trucks again lends his impeccable timing and Zeeman lays out some really tasty guitar riffs. Jimi Hendrix's Still Rainin', Still Dreamin' has a smoking James Brown bottom and Zeeman really scorches the fretboard with hot riffs on this one. If I Could Make You Love Me, is a real nice slower blues number. With Taylor adding tension on organ and beautiful accents on piano, Zeeman shines on lead vocal and guitar. All Alone has a subtle Latin influence which really gives it a nice edge. Vocals are smooth and piano and guitar work clean making this the most likely radio track on the release. Very nice. Talking 'Bout My Baby is nice and funky with a cool bass riff and solo. The band is tight and cohesive making this a fun track. Title track, Blue Room, is classical in nature played solely on electric guitar. Short and sweet. Very nice! Wrapping the release is funky rocker, Nothing In The World. Zeeman takes the opportunity to blaze right down the center of the track with a crisp guitar solo but this track is really about the feel and it's a great closer to a real cool release.




  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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