Page 46 - BiTS_05_MAY_2023

The band is Philipp Fankhauser; lead vocals, guitar, Marco Jencarelli; guitar, Hendrix Ackle;
piano, organ, Richard Spooner; drums, Andrew Tolman; bass, Daniel Durrer; saxophones and
Lesley Bogeart and Lucky Wuthrich supplying backing vocals. The thirteen numbers were
rehearsed and recorded within a week at the “Salon Davinet” in the hotel Giessbach in Brienz,
Switzerland. Philipp’s vocals possess a soulfully mellow, rasping feel and the numbers’
arrangements perfectly capture the feeling of sparseness in emotional mood and the geography
of Texas, in the fifties.

The mellow opener is ‘Heebie Jeebies’, the combination of enjoyably gently swaying saxophone
and crisply tinkling piano, create an ambience of a once empty dance hall beginning to fill with
good times and an audience full of justified expectation. The very mellow Jazz tinged guitar and
gentle saxophone of ‘Just One More Time’, delights the soul in this enticing walking blues. The
sanctified, subtle piano and slowly smoldering organ in the ballad ‘Love Prayer’, pauses your
thoughts, while behind, Philipp and the gospel chorus emphasise belief.

‘May The Best Man Win’, is a wonderfully stirring fifties rumba, where the engaging percussion
underpins a gentle combination of foot tapping piano and swaying saxophone. The melancholy,
sparse, piano and guitar driven slow burner,‘It’s My Own Tears’, deserves your empathy, while
the delightfully delicate swaying doo-wop, of ‘I Need You Now’, is splendidly led by a gently
vamping piano and swirling fifties organ, as a crying saxophone pleads in the background.

Splendid!

Brian Harman

Bob Corritore and Friends—Women in Blues Showcase—
Southwest Musical ASIN: B0BSTX5RBS

It’s hard to keep up with all the releases that Bob puts out from
his ‘From the Vaults’ series although most of them are very good
– and this one is no exception. All feature his excellent harp
playing but this one features all female singers out front - from
Chicago blues veteran Koko Taylor to the 17-year old daughter
of bluesman John Primer, Aliya Primer. Barbara Lynn gets us
underway with a rocking 12-bar ‘You’re Gonna Be Sorry’ then
Carol Fran steps up for a gentle slow blues ‘I Just Need a Friend’
and with ‘Crawdad Hole’ Valerie June delivers a marvellous
acoustic blues with lovely harp from Bob. As you’d expect we get classic Chicago blues from
Koko Taylor on ‘What Kind of Man Is This’ and Shy Perry also does a great job on Koko’s ‘Wang
Dang Doodle’.

I loved Diunna Greenleaf’s relaxed, delicate vocals on ‘Be For Me’ but on ‘Don’t Mess with a
Messer’ she really belts it out on this jump blues and Carol Fran is back for a Muddy-style blues
‘I Needs To Be Be’d With’ and also a New Orleans-flavoured ‘Walkin’ Slippin’ and Slidin’. And
more sounds from Louisiana with ‘Te Ni Nee Ni Nu’ by young Aliya Primer. Barbara Lynn
returns for a loping authentic take on Jimmy Reed’s ‘You Don’t Have to Go’ and Francine Reed
fronts The Staples’ reverb-laden ‘Why Am I Treated So Bad?’ with superb lead guitar from Kid
Ramos.

For some reason I wasn’t expecting too much from this record but I REALLY enjoyed it, great
playing from Bob himself and also his extensive cast of backing musicians featuring Chicago
veterans like Bob Margolin and Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith, as well as West Coast-based players
such as Fred Kaplan and Kid Ramos. Not forgetting the singers out front - all of them really
killed it – if you like classic mainstream blues get this record you won’t be disappointed, these
may not be the biggest names in blues but they all deliver top notch performances.

Graham Harrison