Music Reviews
Artist:
Sugar BlueTitle:
Code BlueLabel:
BeebleWebsite:
http://ww.sugar-blue.com

If Jimi Hendrix played the Harmonica . . . .
It takes a brave man to devote himself to the blues, we all know they don't do it like they used to, so why bother? Well Sugar Blue has done just that and spent his life refining his own style of modern blues. He has performed with just about everyone who's anyone in the world of blues (think Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis ), and beyond (the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa to name a few).
Blue's voice is not the greatest there is, its fine but doesn't stand out, yet his harmonica work does. The album is propelled along by high-power harmonica solo after harmonica solo, and acts as good an example as any as to why he is so revered. The Grammy award winner is equally adept at the fast and furious, and the slow and soothing; on 'Cold Blooded Man' we get a seemingly never ending, ripping, screeching solo, while 'Nola' offers up a gentler, floating harmonica melody .
The album's 11 gritty tracks encompass both jazz and funk and even include a sample of George Bush speaking after hurricane Katrina. Above all 'Code Blue' show that blues is far from being the music of times gone by.
Reviewed by : Joe Kent