Superharps
Cotton, Branch, Musselwhite & Norcia
(Telarc 83472)
Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a harmonica?!? Not
just one super harp, but four! And not just any four either! We are
talking USDA Prime, corn fed, A Number One, harp honking Jedi masters
here. If you are fond of the harp, this is the CD for you. If you are fond
of great Blues jamming, this is the CD for you. It doesn't get any better
than Cotton, Branch, Musselwhite and Norcia and when they put their
instruments together, the resulting music is engaging and bursting with
flavor.
You have a variety of styles on display here. Each as accomplished
as the other. All the tracks are primo; but the ones that will blow you
away (ouch pun intended) are the harp to harp, battling solo tracks
between the artists.
Check out the amazing call and response of "T.D.'s
Boogie Woogie" for a fantastic example of how this works. This is
exactly the kind of perfection you would expect from these talented
performers and they do not disappoint. Check them all out together on the
final track "Harp To Harp" and the incredible variety of their
styles becomes crystal clear. Not to slight the outstanding individual
performances. Some of them are voraciously entertaining and not just the
harp bits. Take for example, the piano work on the James Cotton track
"The Hucklebuck." Anthony Geraci or David Maxwell (notes unclear
on this point) turns in a beautiful ivory tickling masterpiece here, well
worth the price of the CD, even if it were the only thing on the CD.
Fortunately, it's par for the course on this collection. Kid Bangham pulls
off some great riffs on the guitar and Michael "Mudcat" Ward
does some acrobatic work on the acoustic bass. Of course, center stage is
the pocket rockets. A fun, energetic CD. Let's hope this is Part One of
many.
- Bill Fountain -
Southwest Blues CD Review - February 2000
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