LITTLE RACHEL WITH THE LAZY JUMPERS

Author:  Visitor am 05/03/2010     Evaluation:

The little girl with the big voice is back and she's going to teach you what rhythm'n'blues really is She went to Barcelona, Spain to record and found the perfect match to her astounding voice: The Lazy Jumpers. They get along so fine it seems they were made to be together like butter and bread, Abbott and Costello or Lady Day and Prez.
On one side you have a girl with a voice as good and powerful as Big Mama Thornton, Wynona Carr or Ruth Brown.
On the other side The Lazy Jumpers (who believe me are not lazy at all). Mario Cobo delivers some fine licks in the vein of Johnny Guitar Watson ,or Clarence Gatemouth Brown while Blas Picon and Ivan Kovacevic provide the perfect rhythm section, tight and swinging in the same time.
Eight tracks are from the pen of Little Rachel, two by Eva Eastwood (who was already present on her debut album) and the Lazy Jumpers wrote the rest (including a song from one of their own album).
The music ranges from groovy Rhythm'n'Blues (Bartender Baby; Hey, Big Boy; Please Quit Me Baby) some with juicy saxes and piano to straight blues (I May Be Trouble) which sees drummer Blas Picon taking some mean harmonica solo. And in between you have some pre-rock'n'roll that fits Rachel's voice so well (Panic Attack), a Chuck Berry-esque rocker (Give-Up Honey), a boogie (Bull Ridin' Mama) and a Fever inspired song (Take This Love And Bury It) full of soul and seduction. A couple of tunes have a more modern sound (well, everything is relative) and you could easily imagine Broken sung by Candy Kane and Keep On Movin' by Little Charlie And The Nightcats.
There's a lot more I could rave about (Get On The Right Track is a killer!) but it's better to let you some surprises.
In 2006 Ruth Brown has left the building, it sure is sad and we'll always cherish her music but in 2007 we can say : There's a new Miss Rhythm In Town.

Fred "Virgil" Turgis - Jumpin from 6 to 6