Page 37 - BiTS_11_NOVEMBER_2022
P. 37

Henry       Kaiser       and      Rome        Yamilov—The            Lenoir
                                        Investigations—Little Village


                                        Rome  Yamilov  is  a  Russian  singer/guitarist  now  living  in
                                        California. Here he teams up with jazz guitarist Henry Kaiser to
                                        explore the work of blues singer/guitarist J. B. Lenoir with the
                                        results  being  recorded  at  Kid  Andersen’s  Greaseland  Studio  in

                                        San Jose.  They are joined by Kid (bass), June Core (drums), Jim
                                        Pugh  (keyboards),  Aki  Kumar  (harp)  and  with  Aki,  Lisa
                                        Leuschner and Kid all helping out with the vocals.  We kick off
                                        with ‘The Whale Has Swallowed Me’ (recently also covered by
    GA-20) given a slight reggae feel and then we have a 9-minute plus instrumental ‘People Are
    Meddlin’ featuring Kaiser’s free-form atonal guitar.  Lisa Leuschner sings ‘Round and Round’ –
    it’s OK but I didn’t think it was as good as Bonnie Raitt’s version of the same song and ‘I Feel So
    Good’ is done as an instrumental and for me doesn’t really go anywhere.


    ‘How Long’ is done more as a conventional blues, ‘Play a Little While’ has Kid Andersen singing
    in his native Norwegian (?) while ‘Rollercoaster - Mojo Boogie’ starts off as the Little Walter
    instrumental before becoming JB’s ‘Mojo Boogie’.  ‘God’s Word’ is another moody instrumental
    with whacky guitars and ‘What About Your Daughter’ is a full tilt rock and roll answer to JB’s
    ‘Talk to your Daughter’ with Rome singing in Russian!  ‘I’ll Die Trying’ is done as a fairly straight
    restrained blues with nice harp from Aki and we finish with a 9-minute mash-up of two of J.B.
    Lenoir’s  civil  rights  anthems  ‘Alabama  March’  and  ‘Down  in  Mississippi’  both  done  as
    instrumentals.   J.B. Lenoir is a blues singer with a very distinctive sound and for me a great
    charm that unfortunately I found missing in these recordings.  Despite great back up work from

    the other players I found Kaiser’s guitar playing detracted from the songs and it reminded me
    of James Blood Ulmer or perhaps  Captain Beefheart – so if you like those artists this may be
    right up your strasse.


    Graham Harrison


                                         John  Nemeth—May  Be  the  Last  Time—Nola  Blue    ASIN  :
                                         B0B71HX6SZ


                                         I  was  lucky  enough  to  see  John  Nemeth  at  the  San  Francisco
                                         Blues Festival in 2007 and later also in a small club in the city and
                                         so I was tipped off to buy his wonderful first major label release
                                         “Magic Touch” with Junior Watson on guitar. I’ve kept up with all
                                         his work ever since as I really like his combination of soul and
                                         blues and his soulful singing and harp playing. This latest release
                                         was recorded before his jaw surgery in May 2022 and the title is
                                         a statement of fact – John still doesn’t know if he will ever be able
                                         to  sing  and  play  like  this  again!  Although  John  now  lives  in
    Memphis the album was recorded in the Bay Area at Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studio in San
    Jose with Kid and Elvin Bishop on guitars (and with Kid also on bass) and Elvin’s pals from his
    Big  Fun  Trio  Bob  Welch  on  piano  and  Willy  Jordan  on  percussion  and  with  Alabama  Mike
    helping out on backing vocals.
   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42