Smokey jazz textures and a bit of rock and roll

Over the years I’ve played a lot of styles of music and in my head, I started to hear a mix of the blues-rock guitar I love to play with the textures of pre-bop jazz. And recently, my producer Lorrie Matheson commented that my vocals remind him of jazz icon Mose Allison. That I also often write tunes with bits of humour, wordplay and irony didn’t hurt that comparison. Then my girlfriend pointed out Clarence Gatemouth Brown who took Texas and Chicago blues and put a jazz big-band behind his music. I would say “Snapshot Blues” is my three-piece combo version of that.

For the six-song EP “Snapshot Blues”  I recruited a couple of top-notch players who are conversant with jazz and other styles to bring in the textures I wanted. And, the songs I recorded range from a ‘twisted’ 12 bar blues to some fairly jazz-oriented chords structures. My goal was a ‘refreshing feel’ in my take on blues – and I’m overjoyed how the guys made it come to life.

Comments from listeners

“Dang that is some smokey blues-jazz with a good classic sound to it. I could really jam to that all night I think. Great vocals.”

“This song is the real deal. It has Style! Sass! Flare! And all that Jazz! What a wonderful tune to get you up, moving your feet and singing along.”

“I like the song very much; the guitar is amazing and so are the vocals. I like the bass, and can’t leave out the drums. The whole band is exceptional.”

“This song (Wrapped Up In The Blues) had a really great jazz feeling to it. Like most jazz songs I always listen to the drums and try to compare it to some great jazz drummers from the past like Buddy Rich. I thought that the drums on this song were really good and that in General on jazz songs the drumming always stands out above anything else. It was really nice to hear some singing on the song too and when I listen to Jazz I don’t really ever expect to hear singing but it was really good on this song and I enjoyed it.”

“I think this is one of the finest examples of blues music in the modern era. It has throwbacks to older generations but maintains its own sound.: