Paul Orta & Friends – Paul Orta & Friends (Great Blues Recordings).
Paul Orta has had one of the best schoolings in the blues that you could think of. His formative years were spent in the playing company of such luminaries as Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Pinetop Perkins, Eddie Taylor and Robert Lockwood Jnr. You would expect a top class musician to emerge from that history and on the evidence of this new CD you will not be disappointed. It is a compilation of songs from four of his previous albums plus some additional recordings with various groups. Orta has made Europe his home for the past six years and he has connected with a number of European artists as well as finding time to record with some of Texas’ best musicians. The opening track, You Don’t Have To Go, has dual harmonicas (Orta and Lazy Lester) and these set the scene for this blues chugger. Orta delivers it with a lazy vocal and gives us a top class blues with a live feel, ably backed by “Uncle” John Turner on drums. Tear Drops keeps the pace slow and the wailing harmonica is the real deal. Hoochie Coochie Girl has injected pace and top harmonica again. He gives us Swing Blues and Rock n Roll on Robbing Little Woman, complete with lung bursting fills and bouncy delivery. Little Girl is choppy and shows a little frailty in the vocal. It’s back to the slow ones for Hey Mr Devil and this is a highlight with scything harp in a Chicago style.
Eyesight To The Blind is a famous old song and Orta’s upbeat vocal comes into its own. That is followed by an acoustic blues with a barroom feel in the form of Your Looking So Good. Bala Pradal’s piano and Orta’s harmonica compliment each other and the slide guitar from Karim Albert Kook adds so much. It is simple in its execution but sometimes he gets a bit overpowered. Ma Cherie (Sugar Bee) has Cajun influences as the title alludes to and the fuzzed vocal adds great effect. Boogie Til You Drop has Orta unleashing his harp again but the song is only saved by his prowess on the instrument. The raw Everytime is upbeat but Orta’s deficiencies as a vocalist start to show up here although it may have been cut in one take. The closer, I Don’t Want No Woman has a better vocal, provided by U.P. Wilson and is a slow, acoustic-based blues. Not my way to end an album but pleasant enough anyway.
Paul Orta is in the higher echelons of blues harmonica players and this is a great introduction.
http://www.great-recordings.com/
http://www.paulorta.com/
David Blue
Paul Orta has had one of the best schoolings in the blues that you could think of. His formative years were spent in the playing company of such luminaries as Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Pinetop Perkins, Eddie Taylor and Robert Lockwood Jnr. You would expect a top class musician to emerge from that history and on the evidence of this new CD you will not be disappointed. It is a compilation of songs from four of his previous albums plus some additional recordings with various groups. Orta has made Europe his home for the past six years and he has connected with a number of European artists as well as finding time to record with some of Texas’ best musicians. The opening track, You Don’t Have To Go, has dual harmonicas (Orta and Lazy Lester) and these set the scene for this blues chugger. Orta delivers it with a lazy vocal and gives us a top class blues with a live feel, ably backed by “Uncle” John Turner on drums. Tear Drops keeps the pace slow and the wailing harmonica is the real deal. Hoochie Coochie Girl has injected pace and top harmonica again. He gives us Swing Blues and Rock n Roll on Robbing Little Woman, complete with lung bursting fills and bouncy delivery. Little Girl is choppy and shows a little frailty in the vocal. It’s back to the slow ones for Hey Mr Devil and this is a highlight with scything harp in a Chicago style.
Eyesight To The Blind is a famous old song and Orta’s upbeat vocal comes into its own. That is followed by an acoustic blues with a barroom feel in the form of Your Looking So Good. Bala Pradal’s piano and Orta’s harmonica compliment each other and the slide guitar from Karim Albert Kook adds so much. It is simple in its execution but sometimes he gets a bit overpowered. Ma Cherie (Sugar Bee) has Cajun influences as the title alludes to and the fuzzed vocal adds great effect. Boogie Til You Drop has Orta unleashing his harp again but the song is only saved by his prowess on the instrument. The raw Everytime is upbeat but Orta’s deficiencies as a vocalist start to show up here although it may have been cut in one take. The closer, I Don’t Want No Woman has a better vocal, provided by U.P. Wilson and is a slow, acoustic-based blues. Not my way to end an album but pleasant enough anyway.
Paul Orta is in the higher echelons of blues harmonica players and this is a great introduction.
http://www.great-recordings.com/
http://www.paulorta.com/
David Blue
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