Ellis Mano Band - Here And Now - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Here and Now, from Ellis Mano Band and it's got swagger. Opening with blues rocker, Whiskey, Edis Mano on guitar, Severin Graf on bass and Nico Looser set a powerful bottom complimented by Kico Babic on Hammond setting a strong foundation for the strong vocals of Chris Ellis and backing vocals by Samina Afra and Sarah Huber. Very cool. Changing things  up, title track, Here and Now has a distinct R&B feel and Ellis lays it out there. Acoustically based, Goodbye My Love, is really a nice pop track with clean guitar soloing by Mano. My favorite track on the release is A Lifetime, with soulful vocals by Ellis and an explosive bluesy solo by Mano. Excellent! Wrapping the release is Jennine with it's New Orleans feel. With a distinct party feel, Dave Blaser adding slick trumpet and Ellis, Graf Looser, Mano and Weibel on backing vocals, a really nice closer. 

  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”

 For added exposure - Blues World Wide Group "LIKE" 

 

“Like” Bman’s Facebook page and get support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Johnny Winter's passing has been confirmed - Our prayers are with his friends and family

GENEVA (AP) — Texas blues icon Johnny Winter, who rose to fame in the late 1960s and '70s for his energetic performances and musical collaborations including with childhood hero Muddy Waters, has died. He was 70.
His representative, Carla Parisi, confirmed Thursday that Winter died in a hotel room in Zurich a day earlier. The statement said his wife, family and bandmates were all saddened by the loss of one of the world's finest guitarists.
He had been on an extensive tour this year that brought him to Europe. His last performance came Saturday at the Lovely Days Festival in Wiesen, Austria.


 Winter, along with his younger brother Edgar, rose to prominence in their early 20s and turned heads both for their musicianship and stark-white hair, a result of the musicians' albinism.


 The guitarist was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1944 and rose to prominence in his early 20s after a Rolling Stone cover story on Texas music in December 1968. "If you can imagine a 130-pound, cross-eyed albino with long fleecy hair playing some of the gutsiest, fluid blues guitar you ever heard, then enter Johnny Winter," wrote Larry Sepulvado and John Burks in the issue. "At 16, [Mike] Bloomfield called him the best white blues guitarist he ever heard.... No doubt about it, the first name that comes to mind when you ask emigrant Texans about the good musicians that stayed back home is Winter's." The guitarist, who had previously played in a band with his younger brother Edgar (who scored a Seventies hit with "Frankenstein"), was playing in a trio at the time. After the article came out, Winter was offered several deals and eventually signed a reported $600,000 contract with Columbia.

Winter was found dead overnight in a hotel room outside Zurich, according to a police spokeswoman. A prosecutor has ordered an autopsy because the cause of death is unclear.

There was no indication of third-party involvement, and early indications pointed to a medically related incident.

   

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”

 

John Lyons - Sing Me Another Song - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Sing Me Another Song, from John Lyons. Opening with Another Wave, a solid pop track, Lyons demonstrates his capabilities as a writer and singer with a catchy hook and nice vocal harmonies. Joined by Matthew Savnik on keys, Simon Britschgi on drums, Gabriel Spahni on bass and vocals and Simon Winiger on bass. She'll Tell You No Lies is a cool blues ballad with a nice melody. Lyons adds touches of guitar masterfully blended into the material of the music, Savnik maintaining the fullness of the track. Believe is a very strong radio style track with a particularly strong hook. Vocal blending and acoustic guitars over the simplicity of drums and keys allows the brightness of Lyons vocals to shine through. Waiting For You has a little bit of a country styling to with vocal delivery and general composition. With a predominantly acoustic style, understated guitar soloing in the background plays particularly nicely. Sing Me Another Song, one of my personal favorites on the release, is an uptempo track with crisp guitar ripples. Beautiful is a quiet track with softly crafted musical innuendo. Certainly a track that could find broad audience appeal, I find the vocal harmonies paired against the electric guitar work particularly appealing. Helengeli is an acoustic track with a particularly poetic feel, somewhat like Elvis Costello. Building an electric crescendo the track continues to build momentum with the simplest of melodies. Very nice. Under The Stars has an easy 3/4 pace and a lulling feel. Nicely crafted with vocal harmonies and instrumentation, this track is pleasant and soothing. The bridge almost has a Badfinger kind of sound. Nicely crafted. Dear James is a song written from experience with a nice tempo and instrumentation only as needed, adding interest. The Blues Moved In, one of the fasted paced tracks on the release, has a jazzy feel and light guitar soloing over the basic melody. Strong writing prevails throughout allowing Lyons the room to use his voice as a compliment to the arrangements. Blink Of An Eye has a real simple feel with Neil Young like harmonica from Lyons. A totally different sound from the balance of the release, I like this particular track due to it's individuality. Bluestar Highway is an uptempo country rocker with a twist of Highway Star and a twist of Radar Love. With steel guitar in the back and drilling bass work this track is a mover.

 “Like” Bman’s Facebook page. I use Facebook to spread the word about my blog (Now with translation in over 50 languages). I will not hit you with 50 posts a day. I will not relay senseless nonsense. I use it only to draw attention to some of the key posts on my blog each day. In this way I can get out the word on new talent, venues and blues happenings! - click Here Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

 

Charlie's Boogie - Nico Brina

Biography Born: 29 September 1969 / Biel-Bienne (CH) First performance: 1984 The media call him: King of Boogie It was the year 1977 when Nico fell in love with the piano - only six years later he played his first show. Since 1989 he is internationally successful and plays around one hundred shows per year - all over the world, e.g. in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Olympic Games in Athens (Greece)... 1995, he is awarded the "Prix Walo" (Swiss show award) in the "Special Act" branch. 1996, he is registered in the Guinness Book of Records with the fastest Boogie Woogie (Nico's High Speed Boogie). Eleven CD's, one DVD and one LP sum up his work (as at 2012). Boogie Woogie Power – Rock’n’Roll Show – Blues Feeling It all started in 1977, when Nico Brina, then aged eight, discovered a piano at his neighbour’s house. It was love at first sight, and it was also a love which remains unbroken to this day. With total devotion and limitless passion, Nico has developed a unique talent over the years which is characterised by incredibly fast boogie-woogie rhythms, dizzying bass lines, artistically sparkling melody lines and spectacular chords and audio avalanches that he plays with both his hands and his feet. At the beginning, he drew his inspiration from Elvis Presley and the classics of the big American boogie-woogie stars. Yet Nico Brina rapidly developed his own unmistakable style which has made him well known far beyond his homeland. Whether it’s in a small club, a big concert hall, on a cruise ship, in the Caribbean, in Dubai or in Kazakhstan: Nico Brina’s music is listened to with enthusiasm all over the world. B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Oscar Peterson, Louis Jordan: Nico Brina has been inspired and characterized by the big names of rock ‘n’ roll-, blues- and jazz history. At the same time though, he has never tried to imitate or copy anyone else. His own style and the development of his own techniques have always been his top priority. This also includes an entry in the Guinness Book of Records, when Brina set a new record with the world’s fastest boogie-woogie at 608 strokes per minute with his left hand, as well as his own combination of crazy boogie-woogie rhythms and popular Swiss folk songs, or performances and tours with the famous tap-dancer and juggler Lukas Weiss. Nico Brina grew up with Rock ’n’ Roll. He discovered blues a little later. It is the fusion of these two musical styles that represents his chosen musical direction. “No boogie without blues” is the pianist’s motto. “Sometimes I go more in one direction, sometimes more in the other. Yet my strength, my dynamism and my enjoyment of playing are all based on the combination of the two.” Almost nobody is able to elude the charm of the virtuoso rhythm and sound avalanches played by Nico Brina. It’s almost as if the rules of physical gravity and technical playability have been suspended. And yet the music only starts to live properly through the soul. Nico Brina’s love of playing, his unlimited passion for becoming a part of and being one with his music, and of enthusing his audience remains unbroken after over twenty years as a professional on the stage.  

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 favorite band!

Someday Baby - deltaR

If we mention Johnson, Johnson & Johnson, some people immediately think of some big New-York law firm. That’s fine, but these are not the kind of people we have in mind. If you, on the contrary, get to think of Robert, Tommy or Blind Willie Johnson then you’ve come to the right place. Founded during summer 2007 under the sign of the mighty catfish, deltaR reunite three long term friends and musician. The trio dives you back into the moist and warm comfort of the delta it was snatched out from ages ago, taking you along so that you too can experience that lewd back-to-the-cradle of life feeling.

  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 favorite band!

Charlie's Boogie - Nico Brina

Born: 29 September 1969 / Biel-Bienne (CH) First performance: 1984 The media call him: King of Boogie It all started in 1977, when Nico Brina, then aged eight, discovered a piano at his neighbour’s house. It was love at first sight, and it was also a love which remains unbroken to this day. With total devotion and limitless passion, Nico has developed a unique talent over the years which is characterised by incredibly fast boogie-woogie rhythms, dizzying bass lines, artistically sparkling melody lines and spectacular chords and audio avalanches that he plays with both his hands and his feet. At the beginning, he drew his inspiration from Elvis Presley and the classics of the big American boogie-woogie stars. Yet Nico Brina rapidly developed his own unmistakable style which has made him well known far beyond his homeland. Whether it’s in a small club, a big concert hall, on a cruise ship, in the Caribbean, in Dubai or in Kazakhstan: Nico Brina’s music is listened to with enthusiasm all over the world. B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Oscar Peterson, Louis Jordan: Nico Brina has been inspired and characterized by the big names of rock ‘n’ roll-, blues- and jazz history. At the same time though, he has never tried to imitate or copy anyone else. His own style and the development of his own techniques have always been his top priority. This also includes an entry in the Guinness Book of Records, when Brina set a new record with the world’s fastest boogie-woogie at 608 strokes per minute with his left hand, as well as his own combination of crazy boogie-woogie rhythms and popular Swiss folk songs, or performances and tours with the famous tap-dancer and juggler Lukas Weiss. Nico Brina grew up with Rock ’n’ Roll. He discovered blues a little later. It is the fusion of these two musical styles that represents his chosen musical direction. “No boogie without blues” is the pianist’s motto. “Sometimes I go more in one direction, sometimes more in the other. Yet my strength, my dynamism and my enjoyment of playing are all based on the combination of the two.” Almost nobody is able to elude the charm of the virtuoso rhythm and sound avalanches played by Nico Brina. It’s almost as if the rules of physical gravity and technical playability have been suspended. And yet the music only starts to live properly through the soul. Nico Brina’s love of playing, his unlimited passion for becoming a part of and being one with his music, and of enthusing his audience remains unbroken after over twenty years as a professional on the stage. 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!

Little Red Rooster - Swamp Train

Swamp Train’s voyage started in the spring of 2010 when Blaze teamed up with Nikworks and Rattlebrained to form a cigar box guitar / washboard blues band. Thus, they played a couple of gigs as a trio before Cut Finger climbed aboard a few month later during a lake side pizza, stars & blues filled night. Later that year the band locked themselves in an alpine “Deep Valais” chalet for a week and survived. The blues covers vast territories of styles and traditions and the fact that each member of the band comes from a different corner within the blues has given it’s own special flavor to the band. We call it “Juke Joint Cigar Box Guitar Blues”, in homage to the few remaining juke joints of which we hope to grasp the spirit; loud, energetic, raise hell and get up and dance contemporarily primitive blues music. And BTW, we are based in Switzerland… “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson 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!

Key To The Highway - Andy Egert Blues Band feat.Bob Stroger

ANDY EGERT and his blues band is one of the most appearing live-bands of Switzerland and has got a high reputation during the last 20 years. Presenting blues at its best and in the tradition of their great heroes Freddie King, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Alvin Lee, Johnny Winter, Robert Johnson and many others. Andy Egert has taken a lot of time to work on his sixth CD and to pick the right songs – and he did! “I`m a Bluesman-Live” presents him again as outstanding guitar blues artist in its best way and he confirms his position as one of the leading blues artists in Europe. Mainly influenced by the best Chicago-Texas and British-Blues Tradition, Andy Egert (vocal, guitar, harmonica) works in the classical trio line-up and covers fascinating classics from Johnny Winter, Freddie King, Robert Johnson, Alvin Lee, Canned Heat, Otis Rush or Junior Parker but also presents some self penned songs. The band line-up gains additional attention by the help of such superb artists like drummer Tosho Yakkatokuo and the legendary bass player and singer Bob Stroger, who comes out of the heart of the Chicago scene and also Robert Lucas, singer, slideguitar and harmonica player from Canned Heat ! If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Help Me - Andy Egert

Andreas "Andy" Egert (born 24 July 1961) is a Swiss blues guitarist, harmonica player and singer.

Andy, who started his career around 30 years ago as a street musician, is mainly a live performing artist making around 100 live performances a year.

He has also made exhibitions in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Austria, Lithuania, United States and Poland, as well as collaborations with blues singers like Bob Stroger, Robert Lucas and Dallas Hodge.

Andy Egert was rewarded in 2010 with the Swiss Blues Award.
Andy Egert was born in Mels, Switzerland as the fifth of eight brothers and sisters. He started to play guitar at the age of 19. In his first group however, Andy played the bass (a local band known as "The Cool“, from 1980). At that time his music was mainly oriented towards rock groups (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Cream). His interest to blues came only a bit later, almost by accident, through a Swiss Radio music program called "Just the blues“.

In 1982, Andy challenged himself and tried his own way to a professional music career. He left the band to start a tour as a street musician, only equipped with an acoustic guitar. Despite difficulties and bad experiences, such as being robbed of everything except the guitar, he carries on. He finally travels two years long through the streets of Europe.

Back in town, he plays again as a bass player and bandleader of a Blues-Rock band ("Express“, 1984–1987). In 1985, he definitively switched back to guitar. In these years he performed intensively, mainly touring through Switzerland and Italy. In 1988, with the band "No Comment“ he made his first studio recording. In 1989, he created the “Andy Egert Blues Band”, his final band. One year later he recorded his first LP (1990, “Andy Egert Blues Band”).

In the following years he has toured again, this time mainly in Netherlands and Germany. In 1994, he counted more than 70 exhibitions in a year. During the 1990s, Andy has more frequent solo appearances, besides the band. In addition, he started a purely acoustic bass-guitar duet project, from which he recorded the album Blues with a Feeling in 1998. His fourth album (Live, Brambus Records, 1999) is an internationally published CD.

In the following years Andy became a known artist: he appeared at several famous music festivals in Italy (“Mantova Jazz Festival“), Poland (“Suwalki Blues Festival”) and Switzerland (Blue Balls Festival Lucerne, “Piazza Blues Festival”, Bellinzona).

In 2000, Andy performed with Bob Stroger, a legendary bass player from Chicago (Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers) his first “Chicago Blues Tour”. Many other Chicago Blues Tours will follow, mainly through Switzerland. In addition, he started a second collaboration with Robert Lucas, the slide guitarist and singer from Canned Heat: tours and performances in the years 2000, 2007 and 2008. Unfortunately Robert died in November 2008, unexpectedly.

In 2010, Andy played the first time with Dallas Hodge (a second band member of Canned Heat).

In March 2010, Andy got invited to the Basel Blues Festival where he was awarded with the Swiss Blues Award
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Spoonful - Swamp Train

Swamp Train’s voyage started in the spring of 2010 when Blaze teamed up with Nikworks and Rattlebrained to form a cigar box guitar / washboard blues band. Thus, they played a couple of gigs as a trio before Cut Finger climbed aboard a few month later during a lake side pizza, blues & star filled night.

Later that year the band locked themselves in a “High Vallais” chalet for a week and survived.

The blues covers vast territories of styles and traditions and the fact that each member of the band comes from a different corner within the blues has given it’s own special flavor to the band. Qualified as “Juke Joint Cigar Box Guitar Blues”, which basically means loud, energetic, raise hell and get up and dance contemporarily primitive blues music.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

China Blues - Oscar Klein & Philadelphia Jerry Ricks

Born in 1940th in Philadelphia Ricks was the epitome of "Rambler", wanderers, who can never stay long in one place. Toured the world promoting the authentic black blues, and according to their own narratives certainly although some of them still active. This charismatic musician, widely known for the skill to achieve intimate contact with the audience, is quite critical and even hard, he says, "totally wrong conception of blues Europeanised", today now recognizable, according to him, an artificial rock-blues.
Multiply was nominated for the famous WC Handy Award, and his rich discography includes more than twenty titles. He has several solo albums, while others created in collaboration with the Swiss-Austrian jazz trumpeter and guitarist Oscar Klein and blues performers such as John Hurt. Professional associate and adviser to a number of institutions involved in the study of blues and folk.
Like my Facebook Page, Post your video on my Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! Share your favorite posting and get more exposure for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Kind Hearted Man - LITO BLUES BAND

José Fernández " Lito ", born in Malaga on May 24, 1953, began his career as guitarist in the 60s with a number of Malaga formations: The Owl, Big Wide-brimmed straw hat, Conditional Freedom, Jamaica, Malaka, Tabletom, The Blackberry (with Manolo Galvan " The Screams "), Barbara Band, etc.

In 1989, it forms the first band with his name Lito Blues Band, acting with big success in the whole Andalusia...

In the years 91-92 it leaves to Europe and realizes several tours with Big Jack Jonson, Richard Ray Farrel and Luther Allison … for Italy, Germany and Switzerland, and in this country it forms a band with the guitarist of Aretha Franklin.

Back to Spain, he reforms Lito Blues Band.

SUZETTE MONCRIEF (Vocals)
New York - Manhattan (the USA)

Singer of jazz and teacher of singing. Her artistic and musical formation begans in the city of New York. At present it is the powerful voice of Lito Blues Band.

- JESÚS GRADUATE (Bass) "BACHI"
Malaga (Spain)

He has more swing than Tiger Woods and a lot experience in spite of his young age.
He takes charge of the bottom of the band with his light touch, inventive and solid.

- NICOLAS HUGUENIN " NIKO " (Drums)
Geneva (Switzerland)

Settled down for 10 years in Malaga and with a long musical trip behind him, he is the last piece of Lito Blues Band. Versatile and enthusiastic, adds to Lito Blues Band his particular miscellany of styles (jazz, rock, funk, fusion)
Like my Facebook Page, Post your video on my Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! Share your favorite posting and get more exposure for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Down On Bending Knees - Philipp Fankhauser

Philipp Fankhauser is a Swiss blues singer/guitarist who experienced Top Ten success in his homeland after two decades of recording activity. Born in 1964 in Thun, Switzerland, he began playing music during the late '70s after taking an unlikely interest in the blues as a teenager. His interest in the blues was compounded after he attended the 1981 Montreux Jazz Festival, where he witnessed firsthand a performance by Albert Collins.
Write on our Facebook Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! -  ”LIKE”

Richard Koechli

Richard Koechli is a professional and popular roots-musician from Switzerland. He has played with many well known artists such as Larry Garner ("…maybe I'll forget your face, but I’ll never forget your slide-guitar!"), Philipp Fankhauser, Hank Shizzoe, Jens Krüger, Yvonne Moore, Polo Hofer, Max Lässer, Reto Burrell, Jenny White, Andy Martin, Keiser-Twins and many more. He is a regularly sought after studio musician and has also been engaged as producer for Swiss artists such as Daenu Brueggemann, KRIZZ, Deanu Wisler ore Blues-Max. Richard is also internationally known for the successful guitar-books he has written and released under AMA Publishing; "Slide Guitar Styles", "Best in the West"(translated in English and distributed by MELBAY) and the new award-winning release „Masters of Blues Guitar" (BEST GERMAN EDITION-Award 2011).



In 2002, Koechli had the creative vision to combine Celtic-Folkmusic with the Blues . He went on to produce the album „Blue Celtic Mystery" (MARA Records, AMA 626635). "Highly recommended!" (Glen Clifford, celtic-musicians.net). "He takes the myths of our lands and adds music that retains a hint of the ancient but is truly 21st century in style. He concocts new tales for our timeless times!" (Nicky Rossiter, www.rambles.net ). 

Koechli was a guitarist and instrumental-composer for a long time, but now he definitely seems to be on his way to the world of Songwriting. Together with his musically solid and brilliant backup-band "Blue Roots Company", Koechli recorded the album “laid-back” (MARA Records, AMA 626668) in 2008. This album presents Richard in his best Singer/Songwriter manner and as a master of Slide guitar. Roots music at its finest , in two languages (French and English), caringly produced! Koechli puts together the spirit of all his inspirations: from Blind Willie Johnson, Fred Mc Dowell and Elmore James to Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, from Gary Rafferty, Zachary Richard, Eric Clapton and Randy Newman to … his biggest influences: the laid-back-Masters J.J. Cale and Mark Knopfler.



Between 2008 – 2010, Koechli played more than 180 club-gigs in Switzerland and wrote his new award-winning book „Masters of Blues Guitar“. In 2011 he felt that it was the right time to follow his Blues-roots and produce a real Blues-album, dedicated to the pioneers of Afro-American Folk Blues: HOWLIN' WITH THE BAD BOYS (Nation Music, NB 0262). „Brilliantly delivered original compositions, deeply rooted in traditional blues – Richard Koechli bows before the legends and gets every blues-loving soul moving“ (Guido Schmidt, President Lucerne Blues Festival)
Write on our Facebook Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! -  Here

Brazz Attack (Treme Swiss Style)

Not much info on these guys. Just thought it was really interesting to see a New Orleans type band in Switzerland!
“Like” Bman’s Facebook page (available in over 50 languages). I will not relay senseless nonsense. In this way I can get out the word on new talent, venues and blues happenings! - click Here