JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD Source: Various Date: on going... Writer: Various

Jason Ricci Quotes
What some critics are saying about JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD:

"'"Blues original' is a bit of an impossibility by now, given that most blues musical styles have already been done to death. But Ricci and his band are truly original, steering through arrangements that resemble a blues jam band rocking out a late-night jazz club. His instrument of choice is the harmonica, but his virtuosity transcends definition, and he's also blessed with a big booming voice. With New Blood as pretty much equal creative partners, the band's second disc, 'Done With the Devil' is exceptional, both entertaining and interesting. (Rod Lockwood/Toledo Blade)

"Ricci may be the least likely blues great ever. He's gay, sober and politically outspoken. He listens to everything from classical to rap. And his hair and clothes are those of a punk rocker...[Sun] Ra song, "Enlightenment," closes Ricci's latest album, this year's "Done With the Devil." He also reworks tunes by Willie Dixon, Mongo Santamaria and Glenn Danzig alongside his own compositions. It's electric and exhilarating in a way the blues too often isn't. No small part of that is due to the expert musicianship of Ricci and his band mates...Ricci and New Blood have been blowing minds at blues clubs and festivals across the country and in Europe" (Curtis Ross/Tampa Tribune)

"Hold Sun Ra and Little Walter in equal sway and you have my attention. Hold your own onstage with Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside and you have a lot of other people's attention. Those factual tidbits are part of Jason Ricci's story. The harp player throws punches and thinks outside the box, sometimes stretching the blues orthodoxy, sometimes walking the line. In 2007, 'Rocket No. 9 'proved he could tickle the jam band crowd by stretching stuff out. This year's 'Done with the Devil' sounds like a modern take on the first two J. Geils Band discs. 'I Turned Into a Martian' is frenzied harp via Black Flag; 'Afro Blue' is the Coltrane nugget travelling the spaceways." (Jim Macnie/Providence Phoenix)

"Jason Ricci and his band blew into town, and blew me away - twice. As I was driving cross-town to watch Ricci and New Blood play again - this time at Texas Station on Friday, I pondered the question: What makes you go back to see a band the second night? I'd heard raves about Ricci from a harmonica-playing buddy whose opinion I trust. ('He's the Hendrix of the harp.') So I went to see Ricci's first show in Las Vegas...And he was right. Ricci wasn't just good, he was unique....He's such an out-of-the-box performer. He's part Jim Morrison, part Junior Wells, part Iggy Pop, part Toots Thielemans part Judy Garland, part Lee Oskar. I've seen a lot of really good harp players -- including Thielemans and John Popper, Oskar and Magic Dick, Charlie Musselwhite and Howard Levy and all those great guys from the Bay Area. But I have never seen anyone do what Ricci does. He has all that speed plus touch and sensitivity, amazing breath control, great tone... There were times when he was doing all those standard harmonica virtuoso riffs -- the stuff you see all the great players do once or twice in a night -- and then he'd just blow them up and take them in another direction. And he was doing great stuff on every song. Suddenly he'd be playing an improvised Bach fugue. Then on the next song, it sounded like a calliope was rolling through the club. Sometimes he sounded like an organ or a heavy metal guitar or a steel drum. Sometimes he sounded like a woman moaning or a locomotive. He's so amazing that I sat there the second night about 20 feet from him and watched what he was doing. I kept shaking my head and wondering: How in the hell is he doing that? I was even more blown away....Plus he's got a great band with good ears. -- I asked myself: What makes you go back to see a band the second night? It's the virtuoso playing, for sure. But I decided it was
this: Relentless passion." (Mark Whittington/Las Vegas Sun)

" high-energy, uniquely talented singer and musician who...keeps hammering on, busting out the kind of live shows that people buzz about for months." (John Sinkevics/Grand Rapids Press)

"I challenge you to find any album, let alone a Blues album, that includes covers of not only Willie Dixon, but also Sun Ra and Glen Danzig songs. Yet this is what Jason Ricci and New Blood's 'Done With the Devil' pulls off remarkably well. Add in some hard-driving Texas Swing, a gen-u-wine love song, some deep-grooved Funk and a song even Donald Fagen would love and you get Ricci's most ambitious, personal and successful effort to date...there's never a shortage of passion and energy at a JRNB concert...a concert sure to dazzle the musical palates of any lover of virtuoso instrumental performances, tantalize the musically curious and ruffle the feathers of Blues traditionalists." (Blake Taylor/Cincinnatti CityBeat)

"Harmonica ace and Nashville Music Award nominee...the music of Jason Ricci and New Blood contains plenty of emotion, drama and musical flamboyance. With a toughness and sensibility developed and honed during his years spent living and playing with dynamic individuals like Junior Kimbrough and his son David Malone, as well as R.L. Burnside and others in the Memphis/Mississippi blues community, Ricci's playing, singing and writing adroitly blend vintage spirit and contemporary insight and attitude." (Ron Wynn/Nashville Scene)

"a gifted harmonica player who knows how to dazzle a crowd with his speed-defying licks and techniques on the harmonica, and his showmanship on stage." (Deborah Ramirez/Sun-Sentinel)

"...the superlative harmonica skill of frontman Ricci is the soul of the group. After a lung-stretching 10-minute solo that almost made me pass out just from watching, it was clear that he's as inspired a harpsman as I've ever seen. Besides impressive power, his playing also has amazing grace and range, working a lithe side of the instrument that's seldom explored. What Andrew Bird does with whistling, Ricci can do with harmonica. In an age when the blues is enjoying its most relevant reinvention yet, Ricci could be a huge figure. Tattooed, pink-haired and openly gay, he shatters the stereotype of the bluesman...a genuine rock star in the blues world...there's something possibly big here." (Bao Le-Huu/Orlando Weekly)

"Nashville-based Ricci deftly combines the spirit of the blues with a more modernist sensibility that involves jam-rock, R&B and even punk. He's a solid singer, but makes more of a mark with his wild-eyed harmonica work." (Eric Snider/Tampa Creative Loafing)

"Holy crap! Where'd the heck this come from? ... 'Done with the Devil,' just burst across the sky like some flaming supernova. Big guitar, massive drums and some of the most electrifying harmonica playing I've ever heard...the tone it produces is mind-boggling, not sounding like any harmonica I've heard before. It resonates against it's own notes, sound remarkably full and fluid, wailing like some wildly distorted guitar... one of the best blues albums I've heard all year. Jason's voice is just as strong, deep and mournful, troubled and emotive. This is the voice of a man that has been through it, lived it, breathed it. A big voice that seems to be totally at home with itself, yet a total contradiction to the relatively baby-faced blond from which it comes. The band behind Jason is just as strong. Shawn Starski is a guitar player of note, his playing filled with nuance and passion, and Todd Edmunds and Ed Michaels keep that all important rhythm fully locked in. Done with the Devil,' simply rocks, tearing it up in all it's blues swagger." (Ripple Effect)

"***1/2 Jason Ricci shatters blues stereotypes. He's openly gay and likes to skateboard. He's as influenced by punk, gypsy music, jazz fusion, psychedelic music and Tom Waits as vintage blues. He also plays harmonica with a howling, gutbucket, hard-blowing physical intensity that puts emotion above all else, though he's pretty much a harp virtuoso. An unflinchingly honest artist, Ricci never hides his hurt; he lets it bleed....sings in a soul-baring, world-weary way before his harp takes over and makes you feel the sting...Throughout the CD, Ricci and his exceptional band forge exciting, wide-ranging blues. Jam-band and jazz-fusion influences poke through; so does Aerosmith-like blues-rock power on the tough title cut, while the CD closes with carnival flair on "Enlightenment." Who else who would dare cover Sun Ra, Willie Dixon, Misfits, and jazz artist Ramon Santamaria on the same disc?" (Dr. Rock/Erie Times-News)

"a gritty-but-professional-sounding, 12-track disc that explodes out of the speakers from the first track, the aptly named, guitar-driven "The Rocker." As if to confound those who wish in vain to categorize him, Ricci mixes things up from the start, following the opening rock song with a pop-blues tune, a spacey, 11-minute jam, a jazzy instrumental and a traditional blues track. All of the songs feature Ricci's harmonica wizardry and longtime collaborator Shawn Starski's searing guitar." (Andy Vineberg/Bucks County Times)

"Ricci is a talented harmonica player who leads his own band, playing original blues, jazz-based workouts and hard- rocking jam tunes that deserve a wider audience." (Douglas Lytle/Bloomberg News)

"Get fired up for some blazing blues from Jason Ricci & New Blood ...Ricci is not your average blues harp honcho. He cites the Pixies and Sun Ra as influences, along with such icons as Little Walter. His style mixes Delta grit with soaring psychedelica, kickin' rock and surging jazz riffs. Ricci's give-and-take with guitarist Shawn Starski is incandescent on the new release 'Done with the Devil.' It'll be postively Mephistophelean on the dance floor tonight." (Kati Schardl/Tallahassee Democrat)

"Make no mistake: These guys can hit it. Ricci, who cites Little Walter, Paul Butterfield, and Johnny Winter's late sideman Pat Ramsey as his avatars, is a mind-bending soloist whose floods of sixteenth notes might lead most listeners to erroneously conclude he's playing a big chromatic harp. He's matched at every step by guitarist Shawn Starski, and bassist Todd Edmunds and drummer Ed Michaels lays down a perfect foundation. (Bill Bentley/sonicboomers)

"an intoxicating blend of blues, rock, funk jazz and more" (John Benson/The Vindicator)

"a fiery, thrilling and boundary-smashing rock band...Ricci takes the harp into terrain with squonks and squalls that sometimes sound more like horns or guitars than harmonica. His impassioned vocals also stand out, especially the devilishly scary performance on "The Rocker."
Guitarist Shawn Starsky is equally stellar... Some CDs feel so real, so honest, they smack you in the face. This is one of those" (Dave Richards/Erie Times-News)

"The most exciting and revolutionary new harp player in the often stale blues-rock genre lists the Pixies and Sun Ra (whom he covers on his sizzling recent release) along with Little Walter as influences, but that only scratches the surface of his driving, eclectic style. He truly is pushing the once-lowly "Mississippi saxophone" to Hendrix-like dimensions, combining blues, psychedelia, hard rock and jazz in dynamic, colorful directions that are guaranteed to blow the roof off..." (Hal Horowitz/Creative Loafing-Atlanta)

"The harmonica whiz could wage a serious battle with Blues Traveler leader John Popper in the virtuosity department, and the band belts out a rough-edged sound that is just as likely to channel Aerosmith as Little Walter...Ricci also is a strong lyricist, tackling social commentary in "Deliver Us" and facing up to big questions about life and death in "Loving Eyes." And he sings these tunes with the scratchy, soul-worn voice of someone who is singing something he believes." (Mike Cote/Colorado Business Magazine)

"What would happen if a gay teenage Punk rocker from rural Maine grew up to be the most electrifying young artist on the Blues scene?
Whatever it is, it wouldn't be your father's Blues...[through] the skill and outrageous showmanship of a young man who seems to be the harmonica-playing demon spawn of Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, Ricci's fame and following has grown and expanded into the Jam band and AltRock circles...some of the tightest, most exhilarating performances on the touring circuit."  (Cincinnati CityBeat)

"Although Ricci is a life-long fan of traditional blues, an acolyte of harp masters like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson (II), and vetted in the Mississippi Hill Country style by no less than Junior and R.L. themselves, Jason is also part punk-rocker at heart, and it's this dichotomy that drives his unique sound. He plays like the masters of yore, yet comes up with imaginative phrasing and new ways of expression that take the blues into an aggressive and entertaining new universe."
(Rev. Keith A Gordon/Cashville411)

"a contemporary harmonica wizard, someone whose lengthy lines, angular phrases and exceptional control and sound have stamped him among the best of his generation on the instrument."  (Ron Wynn/Nashville City
Paper)

"Nashville’s Jason Ricci is the greatest harp player you’ve probably never heard. And this album ["Rocket Number 9"] is a careening joy ride to every corner of the blues, from the traditional "Deliver Us" to the power-groover "I’m a New Man" to a blistering Martian cover of the Sun Ra-penned title cut. Guitarist Shawn Starsky is also a whammer-jammer.
Get hip to them now. (Ted Drozdowski/Gibson.com)

"Sometimes the most moving artists are those that make the biggest mess. It’s usually the music not drawn within the lines that lives the longest, and Jason Ricci and his bodacious band New Blood are getting their sound all over everything. It would be a huge mistake to call them a jam band, just as it would be a major gaffe to use the word blues when describing what Ricci does. Labeling him a harp player beyond belief goes without saying, just as it’s not stretching things too far in claiming that the band itself is pushing roots music into a brand new realm, one song at a time. Whether it’s “The Rocker,” which Ricci wrote about his addiction to crack cocaine, “I’m a New Man,”
composed on his way to jail, or any other selection here, it’s clear Jason Ricci & New Blood have taken the road less traveled and gone completely off the grid. It’s best to approach this album without any preconceived expectations, because just about the time you have it pegged, something so striking and strong will fly by that all you can do is smile. A quick listen to their ten-and-half minute version of Sun Ra’s “Rocket Number 9” at the end of this interplanetary excursion will convince all within earshot that there really is room for new surprises, and that’s not even the longest or most lively song on the album. For the well rested."  (Bill Bentley/Studio City Sun)

"Ricci’s new album might help open some new eyes to his diversity as an artist...Moments of metal, power rock and jazz fusion, all accentuated with Ricci’s exceptional harmonica work, mix with a faintly blues essence and Ricci’s smooth vocals." (Glenn BurnSilver/Loveland
Reporter-Herald)

"surprisingly fresh take on the blues...Ricci is definitely not your grandfathers’ bluesman, or for that matter, your fathers’. Sure, he found inspiration by way of Paul Butterfield and Canned Heat, but was initially influenced as a teen by punk rockers the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and the Dead Kennedy’s...The band’s latest CD, 2007s Rocket Number 9, crisscrosses many genres as they take the listener on a sonic journey, which melds a punk rock attitude with a blues foundation...As he and his main collaborator, guitarist Shawn Starski, continue to grow, they are rewriting the rules of what blues music can be."  (Tony Engelhart/Weekly Volcano)

"The title track of Jason Ricci & New Blood's Rocket Number 9 (Electro
Groove) is a sizzling cover of outer limits jazz maestro Sun Ra, offering stark evidence that neither Ricci nor his band is what you might expect from a Nashville-based harmonica player and nominal blues-rock outfit. For one thing, Ricci, who grew up gay in rural Maine and has played with the likes of Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, is pretty much as ferocious and adventurous on the mouth harp as anyone out there, combining speed, dexterity, and an eclectic array of licks that have earned comparisons to Little Walter, Jimi Hendrix, and John Coltrane. He's also a searing vocalist whose yowl wouldn't be out of place in, say, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Chief foil Shawn Starski is a dazzling electric guitarist who plays with passion and insight beyond his years... the especially versatile quartet rambles among blues, rock, and jazz with myriad influences ranging from swamp funk to punk, bop, and psychedelic jam band stuff"  (Rick Mason/Minneapolis City Pages)

"Jason Ricci and New Blood performed to a packed house of dropped jaws at The Front Row Bar and Grill in Parkersburg Friday.  Ricci’s extremely unique harmonica style, vocals and remarkably energetic performance kept the crowd tapping their feet, swaying their heads and dancing throughout the show. Some who had planned to stay for only an hour were still there soaking it in when the show ended four-and-a-half hours later. (Dave Payne, Sr./Parkersburgh News and Sentinel)