JOHN ‘BROADWAY’ TUCKER & LESZEK CICHONSKI
Come Together Live!
Omerta.Art OMCD011
www.omerta-art.com   www.bluemovierecords.com   www.cichonski.art.pl

Songs: Messing With The Kid/ Driving Wheel/ Unchain My Heart/ Call My Job/ If You Love Me/ Back To Mississippi/ I Can’t Afford 2/ Just A Little Bit/ Come Together/ Woman I Love

Polish guitarist Leszek Cichonski has already been associated with Chicago guitarists Carlos Johnson and Stan Skibby (see review elsewhere for the latter) and for this set, recorded live in November 2003 at the Free Blues Club in Szczecin, he teams up once again with an American, this time Mississippi-born, Memphis-raised, California-based singer John ‘Broadway’ Tucker, fronting an outfit which also includes the inventive Wojciech Karolak on Hammond organ, David Price on bass and Jim Norris on drums.

John himself may not have achieved much fame or acclaim in the blues world, but he is one of the stalwarts of his local blues scene, the kind of artist who rarely gets picked up by the major labels but who performs an important role within his own community and to the blues in general - so Leszek deserves a lot of credit for this all too rare recording. John’s lived -in, out-of-Mississippi vocals carry the stamp of authenticity - he has warmed up by the old Ray Charles number, ‘Unchain My Heart’ and he audibly grows in stature and confidence as the set progresses. Most of the songs are borrowings, though he avoids the most obvious numbers, and John’s own ‘Back To Mississippi’ is nicely Howling Wolf flavoured whilst his ‘I Can’t Afford 2’ is a fine, slow BB King styled offering.

Leszek is an excellent and generally cliche free guitarist who is certainly in good form here, and the Hammond adds a great depth to the sound. This is a fairly straightforward blues set - the Hendrix infused cover of the Beatles’ title track notwithstanding - and unlike many lesser talents these days, John ‘Broadway’ Tucker can hardly be described as over-recorded (though he has a set on BlueMovie Records and a couple on Messaround), so that although this CD may not set the blues world alight, it is certainly well worth hearing. It sounds as though John had a ball and so will the listener. Norman Darwen

A Hendrix tribute from Poland? Yes, and very impressive it is too. Guitarist Leszek, vocalist and guitarist Stan (who features on all numbers except the title track), bassist Wlodek Krakus and drummer Andrzej Ryszka are obviously and thankfully confident and assured enough not to do things note for note, and this set is totally successful for that very reason; although Chicagoan Stan looks and sounds like Jimi, this is certainly not a ‘Hendrix karaoke’ session!‘Foxy Lady’ has a powerful, sassy vocal contribution from Anika, who also crops up to good effect on ‘Voodoo Chile’ (which is actually the ‘Slight Return’), ‘Thanks Jimi’ is a slow, moody instrumental evoking Jimi’s more mellow side, and the final six titles draw loud applause from a deservedly appreciative audience. It’s good to hear ‘Who Knows’ (‘Band Of Gypsys’ being my favourite Hendrix album), but really, Hendrix lovers just cannot go wrong with this set - in fact, it would be good to hear more in this vein from these guys! Norman Darwen

Otis Clay is one of soul’s survivors, still singing in church in Chicago on a Sunday even though he has to look further afield to find an audience for his old-school secular sounds - so, this CD was recorded in November 2003 at the Lucerne Blues Festival. Otis isn’t a blues singer - but his music is the kind of honest-to-goodness, grits ‘n’ groceries soul music that most blues enthiusiasts lap up! That should certainly be the case with this release. Backed by six musicians (including Hollywood Scott on guitar), plus two backing vocalists, collectively known as the Platinum Band, Otis tears up the house, though as with all good things, we have to wait for Clay’s artistry to fully manifest itself.

‘You’re The One’ makes for a poppy opener, though one which allows Otis to exercise his vocal chords; I did expect things to take off with ‘Nickel And A Nail’ but no, it’s a little too fast to be totally successful, so that it is not until Otis wraps his voice around Ronnie Lovejoy’s southern styled ‘Sho Wasn’t Me’ that things really begin to smoulder with this slow-burn, soulful groove. Unfortunately this is then followed by Kris Kristofferson’s standard ‘For The Good Times’ and not even Otis & co can transcend the schmaltz, though to be fair they do try hard. Fortunately this failure is immediately cast aside with ‘I Can Take You To Heaven Tonight’ which finds Otis wailing like a latter-day Sam Cooke, before he and special guest Sharrie Williams transform Lucerne into a storefront church with a spirited (naturally) ‘Amen/ This Little Light Of Mine’. Otis then turns to the funk with Al Green’s ‘Love And Happiness’ which also gives the band a chance to stretch themselves a little, prior to heating things even further with the aptly named ‘I Just Wanna Testify’ and bringing things to a percolating close with the Staples Singers’ ‘Respect Yourself’.

So, this is not an unqualified success though it does capture the feel of anticipation and build-up so integral to a live performance. It certainly proves that real soul music is safe in Otis Clay’s hands. If you didn’t already know that, I would advise you to check this out! Norman Darwen

Mississippi born singer and guitarist Terry Evans has had a rich and varied career so far, and this CD draws on all its diverse strands: he grew up singing gospel and listening to the blues in secret, wrote for others such as Louis Jordan and Pops Staples after relocating to California, teamed up with Bobby King for a couple of albums and the duo worked regularly with Ry Cooder on his groundbreaking American roots music albums. For this set Evans sings straightahead blues shuffles (try the opener, ‘Uphill Climb (To The Bottom)’, slow blues ballads (‘What About Me?’), gospel wailing soul (Bobby Bland’s ‘Turn On Your Lovelight’), tackles a song that Cooder wrote especially for him (the poignant ‘My Baby Joined The Army’) and even manages to do wonderful approximations of Willie Dixon’s approach on ‘Racket In The Room’ and John Lee Hooker’s later style with ‘Le’s Get Gone’. In contrast, the strutting ‘’I Got A Pony’ veers towards rock and ‘Discover Me’ is lowdown, with some particular dirty sounding trombone - I haven’t really mentioned the musicians, but be assured that their playing is classy throughout. The proceedings end appropriately enough with an unclassifiable ‘Walkin’ Chains’, a slow, atmospheric, seven and a half minutes long opus, part-blues, part worksong, part gospel and part roots - however you want to define it, impressive is a word you cannot avoid!

Most impressively though, Terry keeps things cohesive and fresh-sounding throughout the length of the album. We always knew he’s a very fine singer; this beautifully packaged CD proves that he is a very fine all-round artist. Norman Darwen