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picking and piano with Dylan-esque harmonica on the playout and the closing ‘Goodnight &
Good Luck’ begins with beautiful unaccompanied slide guitar playing followed by a break of
silence before we get a reprise of ‘Koffeville’ ?!?

I really enjoyed this album, it may not exactly be blues but it is very good with a great sound
and great playing from both Guy himself and also the band of Pete Hedley (drums), Costa
Tancredi (bass) and especially Janos Bajtala (keyboards).

Graham Harrison

Jimi ‘Primetime’ Smith & Bob Corritore—The World in a
Jug—Vizztone ASIN:B0BP6QYR6C

This is another album from Bob’s “From the Vault” series (he
seems to have an album out every other week!). It’s based on four
sessions recorded between 2017 and 2020 in both the Tempest
Studio and Bob’s Rhythm Room club, with Kid Andersen handling
production and also mixing. Bob and Jimi knew each other in the
70s when they both lived in Chicago and when Jimi moved to
Phoenix in 2016 they renewed their friendship. Jimi was brought
up in Chicago and went on to work as a sideman with Etta James,
Albert King, Otis Rush and Bernard Allison amongst many others
and the backing musicians here are Bob’s usual excellent session musicians.

We begin with a swinging version of Canned Heat’s ‘I Got the World in a Jug’, followed by Freddy
King’s ‘Love Her with a Feeling’, the sound is very much Muddy Waters – Jimi’s voice out front,
his guitar and with a great band behind featuring Bob’s wonderful harmonica, tinkling piano
and a rock-solid rhythm section. ‘You for Me’ is in the Jimmy Reed style and ‘Soul Food’ is a fun
song with Jimi singing about the joys of ham hock, fried chicken, black eyed peas and rice etc.
complete with backing singers and a honkin’ sax solo. ‘Walkin’ features Jimi on slide guitar and
the closing ‘Fire and Ice’ is a classic Chicago slow blues. There is nothing new or particularly
original here but I can’t help liking most of what Bob releases - I love the way that he gets the
classic Chicago blues sound in Arizona – with the help of the talented musicians he's assembled
plus Kid Andersen twiddling the knobs.

Graham Harrison

Bai Kamara Jr. & the Voodoo Sniffers—Traveling Medicine
Man—Moosicus Records ASIN :B0BPW5H5JX

Bai Kamara Jr. is from Sierra Leone and as the son of Sierra
Leone’s Ambassador to Belgium, he grew up in Europe and now
lives in Brussels. His music still has that unmistakable African
vibe and—although it is crossed with elements of blues and other
modern Western music— underpinning it all is still that African
rhythm and inflection. ‘Shake It. Shake It, Shake It’ opens the
album in upbeat fashion with restrained guitars and tripping

drums and ‘Good, Good Man’ is a perfect blend of African guitar
rhythms and country blues.

‘Miranda Blue’ is a slightly harder-edged rock blues with louder electric guitar and the slow
blues ‘Star Angel’ is apparently a tribute to John Lee Hooker, although ‘I Don’t Roll with Snakes’