MITCH KASHMAR "LIVE AT LABATT" Source: Yaxley Blues Club Date: 02/2009 Writer: Michael Cote

Mitch Kashmar, Californian harmonica player and singer, has a long and distinguished musical pedigree, notably fronting the Pontiax, but also backing a cannon of blues greats.

Here he fronts a scratch band of the highest talent, captured in live performance at the 2007 Labatt Blues Festival by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, with the minimum of editing or studio trickery.

The band kicks off with ‘I Got No Reason', a self penned kind of pre rock ‘n' roll R&B swing, a la Joe Turner with added harp. Kashmar is certainly a virtuoso on his instrument, with all the techniques and references, and an excellent command of the microphone, giving a warm amplified sound. Guitarist John Marx also solos, giving a taste of what's to come.

‘Dirty Deal' and ‘Wake Up And Worry', both by Kashmar, are blues shuffles, the former incorporating some nice piano work by Jimmy Calire, Marx storming through the latter. All the songs in this set are long and give plenty of scope for the soloists to explore their chops, so the playing does not consist of concise pearls, but the gems are in there, more so as the band warms to the task. Tom Lackner on drums and Steve Nelson on bass know exactly what they're doing and provide a very tight rhythmic backdrop to the fireworks.

Kashmar's vocal style is an amalgamation of his heroes, probably garnered more by osmosis than study. He doesn't often growl, but he swoops melodically from round lows to near falsetto, and has impeccable phrasing.

Lou Donaldson's ‘Whisky Drinkin' Woman' ,a slow blues on which Marx is particularly good, adds a humorous touch - “She don't like that French perfume, so she puts whisky behind her ears”. ‘Evil Man Blues', a re-working of a Bessie Smith song, gets the Albert King Stax era treatment, with some exceptional piano playing and entertaining call and response harmonica. The Muddy Waters hit‘Sugar Sweet' trundles along sweetly making you want to dance, and at over six and a half minutes long, there's plenty of room for the soloists, who are firing on all cylinders.

‘You're The One' plays out like a laid back Texas shuffle, with Jimmy Calire swapping from piano to organ, pulling some licks right out of the top draw. Roy Brown's‘Lollipop Mama' takes us back to R&B swing territory, introduced in tribute to William Clarke (Marx was formerly Clarke's guitarist). The playing is outstanding, a really swinging band in full flow and Calire, back on piano, gives a lesson in left hand strength.

There are a couple of instrumentals. ‘Castle Rock' closes the set with a good groove, a hot organ solo and the ubiquitous band introductions, which reinforce the live recording. For me, nine and a half minutes of Horace Silver's composition ‘Song For My Father' is a little self indulgent and incongruous, although of course proficient. Perhaps an opportunity to show off the chromatic harmonica?

This is a recording of top musicians at the height of their powers and would fit well into any blues collection. For those of you studying the harmonica, it's a must.