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SirJo Cocchi & Balta Bordoy—Heads Up—Continental Blue

Heaven ASIN : B0D4B3KY7K

SirJo Cocchi is an Italian pianist and singer and Balta Bordoy
is a Spanish guitarist and together they have made this album
which has been mixed and mastered by Kid Andersen who
says of them “The real stuff, great playing and singing. Some
of the finest European blues recordings I’ve ever heard”.
Indeed opening track ‘Love and Pain Blues’ sounds like the
Chicago West Side blues of Otis Rush or Magic Sam with not
only Balta’s great guitar but heart-felt vocals from SirJo and
‘Transmutation Blues’ features great harp from Victor Puertas,
while the title track is an instrumental at the jazzy end of blues. The rhythm section is Santi
Ursul (bass) and Micky Izquierdo (drums) and ‘Blues for the End of the World’ has Nil Mujal on
tenor sax, while Puertas is back on harp for Leroy Carr’s ‘Midnight Hour Blues’’. Elsewhere ‘Tell
Me’ is a nice authentic-sounding Bo Diddley-style rocker with pounding rhythm section and also
a curious piano middle section that breaks up the song! Otherwise, this is an interesting album
of authentic blues from the two principals as well as the supporting musicians.

Graham Harrison

Johnny Ray Jones—Mystic Chiefs—Moondogg Records

This is Californian vocalist Johnny Ray Jones’ third album and
features his band the Mystic Chiefs recorded in Johnny Lee
Schell’s Ultratone Studio in Studio City, California. Johnny
(Ray Jones) got his start in blues listening to and sitting in with
Lester Butler’s Red Devils and half the tracks on this album
are from The Devils’ repertoire. The Mystic Chiefs are Junior
Watson and Johnny Lee Schell (guitars), Carl Sonny Leyland
(keyboards), Tex Nakamura (harmonica), John Bazz (bass),
Stephen Hodges (percussion) and J.R. Lozano (drums). Lester
Butler’s ‘Automatic’ starts us off with Leyland’s pounding
piano and great harp from Nakamura (who replaced Lee Oscar
in the band War) and we also get a great-sounding version of Slim Harpo’s ‘Shake Your Hips’
(as also done by the Stones).

Billy Boy Arnold’s ‘Wish You Would’ (1st. single by The Yardbirds) is another blaster with more
harp from Nakamura and a nice guitar solo from Watson and we also get a slightly speeded-up
version of Willie Dixon’s ‘I’m Ready’. ‘Sugar Sweet’ is a nice fast shuffle with more superb piano
from Leyland and Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘My Younger Days’ is a mid-tempo contemplative
song and we finish with a slow blues ‘I’ll Be Around’ with piano from Leyland and lead guitar
from Junior Watson. Johnny Ray Jones hasn’t got a particularly distinctive voice but he does

sing with the authority of a blues shouter and he’s assembled a great band here from musicians
who have played with SoCal acts like Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, Los Lobos, The Blasters and James
Harman and who produce an authentic Chicago blues sound on the West Coast.

Graham Harrison