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Laura Tate—Smokey Tango—Blue Heart Records BHR-027

When Dallas, Texas, born Laura was a child, her father was so
appreciative of the music of the late Pete Fountain that he decided
to take his whole family to New Orleans to see and hear him
perform. This musical event has, over the years resonated with
Laura and became the basis for her new album, which focuses
upon southern soul, jazz inflected blues, and mellow roots music.
Laura delivers lead vocals, Terry Wilson is on bass and various
other instruments including; Rhythm, acoustic and slide guitar,
Wurlitzer, percussion and strings, Richard Millsap; drums, Billy
Watts; lead guitar, Jeff Paris; piano and B3, horns are provided by
Paulie Cerra, saxophones and Darrell Leonard; trumpet. Laura and Terry also share production
duties. The twelve numbers here are from varying sources, from Deep Purple to Allen Toussaint.
The delightful atmosphere permeating throughout this album is one of slinky, late night urbane
smoke filled, Jazz immersed Blues.

The Neville Brothers, ‘Yellow Moon’, is first out of the speakers with its sensuously relaxed
approach, which adheres closely to the original, the gently rolling piano fuses wonderfully with
the very mellow horn section as Laura’s vocals delicately dance over the top. On ‘Smokey Tango’,
the music becomes more intimate with its mellow double bass dominating while, lazy brushwork
and gentle rain dropping piano slide across your senses, the gently swinging horns radiate behind
Laura’s inviting and beguiling smoky vocals. ‘I Heard A Rumour’, is a slowly, hip swinging Rumba
with Laura‘s silk like vocals immersed into the rich mixture of muted rising horns and warmly
enticing percussion, while the bubbling B3 and rich guitar work deftly underpins it all. The ballad
‘Against My Will’, is simply, a splendid piano, percussion and mellow guitar piece, that focuses
upon Laura’s crystal clear, crisp voice. I think you should be lying down for ‘Smoke On The
Water’, for this classic has been rearranged into a sultry, slow, funker with an enticing New
Orleans flavour, the loping percussion is joined by low bubbling B3, piano and slowly rising
horns with a muted guitar, it is also, surprisingly engaging! Allen Toussaint’s “A Certain Guy,”
(Gal) remains faithful to the 1961 Ernie K-Doe version and is certainly all the better for it, there
are no flashy reinterpretations, simply a well sung song. The rendition of Percy Sledge’s ‘It Tears
Me Up’, is in the true Southern Soul tradition, splendid!

Most engaging!

Brian Harman

John Németh—May Be The Last Time—Nola Blue Records
NBR-020

Johns’ first forays into the performing world of the Blues were
with his friend Tom Moore in the nineties, when they formed Fat
John & The Three Slims. Over the years John began playing the
harmonica, fronting local bands until he released his debut album
‘The Jack of Hearts” in 2002. After moving to San Francisco in 2004
he worked with Anson Funderburgh for 2 years, in 2013 he settled
in Memphis, Tennessee, working for a time with producer Scott
Bomar and his classic Memphis Soul band, the Bo-Keys, since then
he has worked on solo and collaborative projects. This is his
eleventh album and it is also a live album: Kid Andersen arranged the sessions and musicians,