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The album closes with a delicate contemporary ballad, showing yet another aspect of Gipsy’s
vocals. By then though we already know that she, and the band, are pretty impressive.

Norman Darwen

Henri Herbert—Boogie Till I Die—Independent
(www.henriherbertmusic.com)

Born in France, raised in the UK and now based in Austin, Texas,
where this album was recorded, Henri is a very impressive
boogie-woogie pianist and no bad singer either – take a listen to
his extremely listenable cover of Otis Spann’s ‘Must Have Been
The Devil’ or his version of Muddy Waters’ ‘Long Distance Call’.
Mind you, boogie-woogie has sometimes been dismissed as
“limited” – Henri avoids any such (totally unjustified)
accusations by tackling the likes of Nat “King” Cole’s ‘Sweet
Lorraine’ and jazz pianist Oscar Peterson’s ‘Hymn To Freedom’. Duke Ellington’s ‘It Don’t Mean
A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)’ is reworked as a boogie piece, and very effective it is too!

Henri gives the great Albert Ammons as a prime influence and just listening to the wonderful
treatments here of ‘Sixth Avenue Express’ (a duet with Chuck Leavell, by the way) and ‘Boogie
Woogie Stomp’, that comes as no great surprise – he also mentions Jerry Lee Lewis too, which
is perhaps not quite as obvious. Henri finishes this rather tasty release with a thoughtful and
reflective cover of Ray Charles ‘Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)’. Certainly worth
making an effort to hear, this album.

Norman Darwen

Shawn Pittman—Hard Road—Must Have Music

(www.shawnpittman.com)
Oklahoma-born singer, guitarist and bandleader Shawn makes

consistently impressive records, and “Hard Road” is another. Just
listen to the opening track here, ‘Pocket Dial’, with an approach
somewhere between funk and blues-rock, inventive guitar and a
vocal a little akin to Peter Green at times. It certainly ensures you
sit up and listen!

That continues throughout the album; Shawn moved back to
Dallas, Texas to return to his musical roots, and here works in a
trio format; it certainly seems to have been effective. ‘The House Always Wins’ is a gritty
down-home rocker, whilst ‘Sativa’ hits a swampy groove, ‘Backsliding’ is a John Lee Hooker-ish
boogie and ‘Take A Real Good Look’ continues the energetic approach – great stuff!

A few vocal inflections on ‘Tailspin’ made me think of Paul Rodgers, which is fitting but a little
unexpected. ‘Go Down Swinging’ is a lovely piece of early 60s R’n’B flavouring, before ‘Hard Road’
comes on a little like Hound Dog Taylor playing Jimmy Reed, fine vocal, raw guitar and driving
backing. What’s not to like? It maintains a good-time feel that lasts through to the end; the album’s
only slow(-ish) track is the blues ballad of ‘That’s The Thing’.