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Norman Darwen

(www.katieknipp.com)

Zed Mitchell - Route 69 - Z Records

(www.zedmitchell.com)

This is the eighth solo album from Berlin-based singer and
guitarist Zed, marking a half-century in the music business and
his work as a session player with some very big names. Try Tina
Turner and BB King for starters!

The vocal on the opener, ‘By Sundown You’ll Be Gone’, recalls the
cool approach of Mark Knopfler, pushed along by a throbbing

bass and embellished with some stratospheric (but controlled
and relaxed) slide playing. This kind of cool, quietly forceful
groove and excellent blues-based guitar playing continues throughout the entire album. The laid-
back ‘Freedom Trail’ reminds me more than a little of 70s Eric Clapton, and ‘Midnight Melody’ has a
slinky, jazzy feel, a breathy vocal and some deft work on the brushes by drummer David Haynes

and a fine one-off instrumental break by saxman Max Shurakowski.

‘Is This Life’ is a ballad but with a slightly tougher sound than expected, and ‘Life Will Always Find
You’ is an excellent modern blues, more than a little like late period BB King, and the final number,
‘Fake’ reminds me a little of mid-70s Pink Floyd, though the guitar work is perhaps a little bluesier.

So, not a conventional blues album, but a very impressive player showcasing his blues-derived licks
and a bunch of notable songs on a classy album. That should certainly interest some readers.

Norman Darwen

Howlin’ Wolf – Rare Wolf: Chess Records Outakes, Demos,
Alternates 1948 - 1963 – Retroworld Floatm 6408

No need for a lengthy review with this one. Quite apart from the
title of this double CD telling you much of what you need to
know, this is Howlin’ Wolf. If that doesn’t make you quiver with
excitement, you’ve already got the complete Wolf discography on

78s, 45s, long-gone vinyl, bootleg albums from back in the day,
and a whole bunch of CDs. Either that or you’re reading the
wrong magazine.

Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett, born 1910 and died in 1976, was
and is one of the blues’ greatest performers, and this material,
whilst not being his absolute best, is vitally important. Much of it dates from the 50s – raw, rough

and ready, wild, ill disciplined, feral, seemingly spontaneous, and incredibly exciting. Most of the
music on CD2 is better-produced, a little less anarchic maybe, but still wonderful deep blues. There
are glimpses of Wolf’s influences – Charley Patton, John Lee “Sonny Boy No. 1” Williamson and Rice
“Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2” Miller, even the jazzy hokum sound of The Harlem Hamfats. But it is

all subsumed by Wolf himself into his own style.

About thirty years ago, I was in regular contact with a drummer from Arkansas. He wrote to me
once about how Wolf had played at his High School dance around 1952, and even in a letter 40