Musicians: Harry Manx (vocals, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, National steel guitar, banjo, Mohan Veena, tamboura, harmonica); Kevin Breit (vocals, electric guitar, mandolin,National steel guitar, organ, bass pedals, mandocello, mandola, electric vibro bass, electric slide guitar, cavaquinho, baritone 5-string banjo, resonator guitar, guitorgan).
Review: It has been my pleasure to review two previous Harry Manx releases. The multi-instrumentalist is now perfectly paired with the equally versatile Kevin Breit. The two players lugged no less than twenty instruments into the studio causing panic among the engineers.
Manx needs little introduction to blues-fans as his last CD, Wise And Otherwise caused a small sensation among reviewers and fans alike. Lets just say that Harry bridges the gaps between a many genres to form his trademark style.
Kevin Breit is another wizard of the fret boards and you may know him through his association with Cassandra Wilson. Kevin tours with Cassandra and appeared on her recent release, Belly Of The Sun for Blue Note. Breit has recorded with jazz singer, Holly Cole and bluesman, Carlos del Junco. His influences are eclectic spanning many styles and decades including Rare Earth, Raashan Roland Kirk, Bill Monroe and Hank Williams.
The new CD is titled Jubilee and breaks some new ground for both performers. The pair met and jammed together at a 2001 summer folk festival. Producers, Michael Wrycraft and David Travers-Smith worked closely with the performers and the results are in keeping with their high standards.
Songs are drawn from both Manx and Breit and one, Unmoved By Love is a collaborative effort. Other writers are not ignored and Sleepy John Estes' Diving Duck Blues kicks off the session and Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child wraps it up. This reviewer was impressed with Breit's Curly Ray & His Brother and Funny Business penned by Manx.
It looks like NorthernBlues has hit another home run with Jubilee.
Tracks: Diving Duck Blues; When Abbott Met Costello; Good Time Charlie's Got The
Blues; No Particular Place To Be; Itchy Knees And Elbows; Take This Hammer; Curly
Ray And His Brother; Funny Business; Raga Gujari-Todi; Unmoved By Love; Taking It
To The Streets; Weary And You Run; Tell Me About The Blues Highway, Grampa;
Voodoo Child; Lastly Tender.
JazzReview.com
