|
After last year's release of the Now And Again album by the Jim Kweskin Band which featured Samoa Wilson's vocals on four tracks, we received numerous inquiries about Samoa's stunning performances. The next natural step is Samoa's first album, Live The Life, recorded with the Jim Kweskin Band, which includes eight solo Samoa tracks, two duets with Jim Kweskin and two Jim Kweskin Band instrumentals.
Musicians: Matthew Berlin, Leo Blanco, Mickey Bones, Jerome Deupree, Geordie Gude, Jim Kweskin, Matt Leavenworth, Bruce Millard, Paloma Ohm, John Ramsey, Titus Vollmer, Samoa Wilson
|
|
Matthew Berlin (bass)
Leo Blanco (piano)
Mickey Bones (military snare drum)
Jerome Deupree (drums)
Geordie Gude (vocals, harmonica)
Jim Kweskin (vocals, guitar, banjo) Matt Leavenworth (fiddle)
Bruce Millard (mandolin)
Paloma Ohm (drums, alto sax)
John Ramsey (drums)
Titus Vollmer (acoustic guitar)
Samoa Wilson (vocals)
On National Public Radio's Fresh Air, rock historian Ed Ward listed, among the most important bands of the early '60's, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Byrds, "and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band." Ward added: "I'm not kidding." They toured America, headlining concerts with artists like Janis Joplin, Peter Paul & Mary, Linda Ronstadt and The Doors as opening acts. They appeared often on national television and were, by some accounts, "the coolest band of a cool decade."
Fast forward to a new millenium, and The Jim Kweskin Band is a sophisticated, mature group of superb musicians fronted by singer Samoa Wilson. Essentially together since 1997, The Jim Kweskin Band exudes old school bohemianism while playing a mixture of jazz, swing, folk, blues and old-timey music with a contemporary style while, somehow, still keeping the original feel and meaning of the songs.
According to James O'Brien of the Listening Room: "Samoa Wilson (the youngest member), lithe, modern and powerfully gifted in voice, brings a cutting edge vision to the ensemble. There is, conversely, something about her presentation that defies the moment. The effect of the Jim Kweskin Band is one of unhitching from the year and date, a wander through the material that seems slightly psychedelic."
|
