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MITCH
KASHMAR "NICKELS & DIMES"
Source: Play Blues Guitar
Date: 05/2005
Writer: David Cudaback |
This
is an album full of surprises, all of them pleasant.
For one thing, lost in all the hoopla over Delta Groove
producer Randy Chortkoff’s inspired pairing of
harpist Mitch Kashmar and guitarist Junior Watson (OK,
give the man credit: Putting these two West Coast bluesmen
together was a great idea) is the fact that Kashmar
is a helluva singer. His voice has a deep, soulful sheen
reminiscent of Lou Rawls (with maybe a hint of Jimmy
Rushing) that seems to grow more authoritative over
the course of these 13 tracks and nicely complements
both sides of the album’s somewhat split personality.
Roughly half the tracks are built on a solid swing formula:
Watson plays big, rich licks over a boogie-shuffle rhythm
laid down impeccably by bassist Ronnie James Weber and
pianist Bob Welsh. Watson is known as a pioneer of so-called
West Coast swing; but the sound on this record also
owes a lot to swing-influenced early rock and roll as
well as the big band jazz sophistication of another
West Coast blues guitarist, T-Bone Walker. This exciting
quintet (Richard Innes rounds out the group on drums)
punches up the genre on hard-swinging tracks like “Dirty
Deal,” “New York Woman” and “Just
Show It to Me,” three of seven new songs penned
by Kashmar.
Most of the rest of the CD is devoted to a rawer, stripped-down
blues sound. The best example, “Lizzy Mae,”
is a duet, with Kashmar backing one-time Little Walter
and Howlin’ Wolf sideman Abu Talib (a.k.a., Freddy
Robinson) on guitar and vocal. Kashmar also teams with
the album’s other guest artist, guitarist and
veteran session player Arthur Adams, on a more up-tempo
blues number, “Knock’em Dead.” Somewhere
in between the two genres is the title track, an assertively
funky cut with Watson providing subtle but finely embroidered
rhythm behind Kasmar’s harp solos. Speaking of
which, Kashmar is remarkably generous for a guy whose
name and picture is on the album cover; on most tracks,
he defers to other band members, playing his solos at
the end of the song.
The album is capped by a final surprise: an instrumental
(actually, a soaring, extended solo from Kashmar) with
Welsh slipping out of his Johnny Johnson groove to pick
up a guitar and play some remarkable full-tilt boogie
rhythm licks. |
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