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Kyla Brox—Live at Köniz Castle—Pigskin Records ASIN ‏:
B0CGDP5T46

Kyla starts her live set recorded at Koniz Castle, Switzerland in
̈
March 2023 with the jazzy ‘When We’re Alone’ from her 2016
album ‘Throw Away Your Blues’ – it’s a restrained performance
not the opening blast you’d expect but it allows the set to build
from there. ‘Beautiful Day’ is a step up, ‘Devil’s Bridge’ is anoth-
er jazzy one and ‘Bloodshot Sky’ is a dramatic ballad, while ‘Pain
and Glory’ is a plaintive slow blues that features some impres-
sive lead guitar from Paul Farr as well as Kyla’s exceptional
voice – emotional but also completely controlled. The rest of the
band are Danny Blomeley (bass) and Mark Warburton (drums) with Kyla adding her flute on
some songs (‘Bluesman’s Child’ for example) – it’s not the biggest ensemble but they are
surprisingly versatile and flexible.

The set features 14 original songs and two covers with Kyla writing from experience - ‘Blues-
man’s Child’ references her father Victor, ‘Sensitive Soul‘ is written about a friend Jimmy
Bonner and the powerful ‘If You See Him’ is about a former lover. The first cover is of Bonnie
Raitt’s big hit ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ with both Kyla and the band doing a fabulous job.
The penultimate song ‘Choose Me’ unfolds over pounding drums with Kyla belting out the
vocals and then bravely she drops the tempo for a dramatic nine minute plus reading of
Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ that slowly builds towards the end. This is a very good live album
which showcases not only Kyla’s sensational voice and her song writing talents but also the
band who provide pitch-perfect backing throughout.

Graham Harrison

Tom Hambridge—Blu Ja Vu—Quarto Valley Records ASIN ‏:
B0CCV2R5YZ

Tom Hambridge is a drummer, songwriter and producer who
went to Boston’s Berklee College of Music and stayed in the city
to work with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Roy Buchanan
amongst others. Perhaps his breakthrough was producing Su-
san Tedeschi’s Grammy-winning debut recording in 1998 and
he’s gone on to produce a staggering list of artists including
Buddy Guy, Joe Louis Walker, George Thorogood, Devon Allman
and Quinn Sullivan. These tracks emerged when Tom was
producing other artists who went on to contribute to Tom’s

own songs – he wrote all 13 tracks here with long-time collaborator Richard Flemming and
they were all recorded in two studios in Nashville.

We begin with a chugging 12-bar ‘Ain’t That Just Like Love’ with Tom joined on vocals and
guitar by old mate Buddy Guy, then another guitar hero Joe Bonamassa joins him for a rip
roaring ‘That’s My Home’ with stinging lead guitar from Joe. ‘Blues Don’t Care’ appeared on
Buddy Guy’s ‘Rhythm and Blues’ album with guest Gary Clark Jr. and here Tom is joined by
another young bluesman Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, while guitarist Rob McNelly joins Tom
on ‘Sick with Love’ and also ‘Meet Me in Chicago’. ‘Brother John Boogie’ is an instrumental
featuring James Cotton on chromatic harmonica and ‘Smarter than I Was’ has Josh Smith on