So today on Blues Wednesday I found two names on the Roots Music Report Blues Chart that looked interesting. The first was Mitch Kashmar and the Pontiax and their new album 100 Miles to Go on Delta Groove Records, and the second was Raoul and the Big Time and their album Blue Midnight: A Live Tribute to Little Walter. I assumed that Raoul was a harp player from the Little Walter Tribute, but what I didn’t know was that Mitch Kashmar was a harp player, too. Rhapsody didn’t have the new Mitch Kashmar album so I listened to his 2008 release Live at Labatt and it was a good one, as was Blue Midnight Both albums will be downloaded on to the player for some extended listening.
From the Delta Groove website here’s some info about Mitch Kashmar:
The musical styles of The Pontiax drew on a wide range of influences including Chicago Blues, New Orleans R&B, West Coast Jump Blues and Swing, Boogie Woogie, Louisiana Swamp Rock, Texas Blues and straight forward Jazz. The Pontiax also became very popular within the music community being called into action on stage as back up band with many legendary blues musicians such as Albert Collins, Charlie Musselwhite, Luther Tucker, Pinetop Perkins, William Clarke, Kim Wilson, Roy Gaines and many of the aforementioned artists.
Kashmar was recognized two consecutive years in a row by the Blues Music Awards with nominations in 2006 as Best New Artist Debut and followed in 2007 as Best Instrumentalist – Harmonica.
“Mitch Kashmar is my absolute favorite blues harp player of his generation, and one of my favorites period! He’s also a first-class vocalist – his singing really knocks me out.” – William Clarke
There are a lot of great tracks on the album and I really want to listen to it some more. You can check out the album here
Rauol and the Big Time hail from Canada and were formed in 1998 by by Ottawa raised actor/musician Raoul Bhaneja. Members of the Big Time are Darren Gallen on guitar, Cheong Liu on upright bass and Tom Bona on drums. From their website:
Their energetic mix of “Toronto / Chicago / Hollywood” Blues has won them numerous awards on a national level at the Maple Blues and Real Blues Awards, including Best New Artist, Best Debut CD and multiple instrumental awards.
A Live Tribute to Little Walter features Bharath Rajakumar, Doctor Nick Ouroumov, Tortoise Blue, Mark “Bird” Stafford, Mike “Shrimp Daddy” Reid, Julian Fauth, Jake Chisholm. Like Mitch Kashar Raoul is an award winning harmonica player! The vocals on the album are handled by various artist all with good voices! Overall the album was great and will be listened to some more!
Also today at various times while writing I listened to some jazz and New Age and listened to a new album by R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton, and Will Clipman released in January of 2010 Dancing int Silence. I love that Native American flute and this trio makes some great music together their album Feather, Stone and Light is a favorite!
Here’s a video by Raoul and The Big Time