Thu 1 Jan 2009
Congratulations to Jason Ricci, The Blues Foundation has nominated him for a 2009 Blues Music Award in the category of “Instrumentalist-Harmonica”.
Hear the interview with Jason Ricci (Reach-ee) and songs from his CD Rocket Number 9.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Miles Davis is widely considered one of the most innovative jazz trumpeter of all times. Jimi Hendrix is widely considered one of the most innovative rock guitarist of all times. Robert Johnson is widely considered one of the most innovative blues guitarist of all times. Jason Ricci is on his way to being one of the most innovative harmonica players of jazz, rock and blues. A few months ago I did a show on Dennis Gruenling whom I feel is one of the best blues harp players out there today. Dennis as good as he is, is like most musicians he only plays one style of music and Dennis is great at it. Jason Ricci however is able to play jazz, rock and blues on his harp and push the boundaries of each.
Some like to say Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to be able to play that good but Jason Ricci did it the old fashion way. He’s been working his ass off studding and playing and playing and playing. The proof is on the CD Rocket Number 9. Unfortunately if you’re like me you may not really hear how great this CD is till you see Jason Ricci & New Blood in concert. I thought a lot of the Rocket Number 9 had other instruments brought in, over dubs, and sound effects added to the CD. When I saw them live I realized Jason and his band were playing everything on the CD by them selves live. As well as some great jamming plus a few covers like Lou Reed’s “Take A Walk On The Wild Side”.
Jason Ricci & New Blood is:
Jason Ricci – Vocals, Harmonica
Shawn Starsky – Guitar
Todd Edmunds – Bass
Ed Michaels is their new drummer
Ron Sutton was the drummer on the CD
Jason’s band New Blood was very impressive. After a song or two I realized Shawn Starsky’s guitar playing was so good I’d go to a show just to see him play. Todd Edmunds bass solo was probably the most creative I’ve ever seen a bassist do. After the show I went home to listen to Rocket Number 9 at 2 am and was amazed at how much better the CD sounded now that I had seen them live. When you listen to this show or when you buy the CD keep in mind they really are playing everything you are hearing.
Rocket Number 9 Kicks off with an Aerosmith like rocker appropriately titled “The Rocker”. From there it goes into what I’d have to call a pop rock song called “I’m A New Man”. Not bad for a pop song although the beautiful harp solo in the middle would never be able to be played on a pop station. Jason said “Loving Eyes” was meant to be something he would hope Junior Kimbrough would have liked but could not quite get it how he felt it should be. The song starts out with a very beautiful eastern sound then moving more in to a wild jam. This was one of those songs I had a lot of trouble leaving out of the podcast. “Mr. Satan” is a tribute to Sterling “Mister Satan” Magee a member of the band Adam and Satan that Jason had really liked. This is a soulful jazzy type of song that is always a delight to hear. Shawn also wrote “Sonja” another very beautiful song that started out as something he’d been playing at their sound checks. Jason finely said you have to teach me this song it’s just so beautiful. Shawn wrote Sonja for mother that’s her name, you can feel the love he has for her in the instrumental. The diversity this band can do is just incurable. This is no more apparent then right here where they go from this beautiful love song “Sonja” to the title track Rocket Number 9. This is the only song not written by one of the band members. It’s a song by Sun Ra the jazz composer, pianist, synthesizer player, poet and cosmic philosopher. This is a wild avant-garde jazz freak out that at times reminds me of Frank Zappa. The best thing to do is just buy the CD then you can hear what this song is really like. The whole CD is full creative jazz, rock and blues that is a joy to listen to.
Will Jason Ricci be the next Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix or Robert Johnson on the instrument of his choice, it’s hard to say. So for he has gotten off drugs at a much younger age than Miles did. Has managed to lived longer than Jimi and is already more famous than Robert was when he died. Jason is only in his mid thirties and he’s broken a lot of ground and still has many years to go.
Congratulations to Jason on be nominated for 2009 Blues Music Awards (W.C. Hand Awards) for best Instrumentalist-Harmonica.
Songs in the show:
Deliver Us
Snowflakes and Horses
The Way I Hurt Myself
Sonja (only 2 minutes of the 6 minute song)
The Rocker
Go to buy Rocket Number 9 from Eclecto Groove Records
Go buy Rocket Number 9 from CD Baby Website
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Blues Music and Interviews
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