Jason Ricci Blows Through Denver (longish)

[Mojo Red <harplicks@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi gang,

I went down to Ziggie's in Denver last night to
catch Jason Ricci and New Blood. What a player!!

I'd heard about Jason on Harp-L, but never heard
him play until last night... This guy is
Omigod-good... Big FAT tone with a very musical,
non-tradional though hugely funky overblow approach
(picture a very funky Carlos DelJunco).

His band New Blood consisted of killer guitarist
Jason "Kingish" Madaris, an older guy named Tom on
bass and a young, very skilled drummer, who is from
South America, but whose name I can't recall.

Unfortunately, this being a Wednesday night in a
club that doesn't believe in marketing (I found
about it through Danny's gig list), there were only
a handful of folks in attendence, but Jason held
nothing back. What a treat!!

The band was super-tight and Jason was sounding
Huge playing through his wireless SM-57 to a
Bassman RI with a few pedals rarely engaged. 

He opened with the extremely funky From the Soul
and then covered Slim Harpo's Hip Shake which Jason
absolutely tore up. After that I was lost in a blur
of awesomeness... They coverd a lot of musical
ground moving effortlessly from ZZ Top to groovin'
swing tunes to subltle and melodic stuff such as
his original tune Missippi Mood. Much of his
material came from his wonderful new CD "Feel Good
Funk".

We chatted during the break and I was really
impressed by his friendly and self-deprecating
manner. The guy's a total Monster Player but I
could detect no attitude and he seemed genuinely
interested in where I was coming from as a harp
player.

We were soon joined by another harp player and
started talking shop, and new harps coming out. I
had a chance to show him one of the new Hering
Vintage Harps I had in my pocket. He asked me to
play a bit so I played the head from Looking to the
Future. He said, "Yeah, but I bet you could make
ANY harp sound good." We laughed, but I totally
took that as a compliment. :-)

Anyway, Jason looked strong and sober and a his
playing was superb... Very original lines all over
the harp, peppered with very controlled
overbends... which he subtly bent on occasion. The
guy can play as blazingly fast as Sugar Blue but
was not drunk on speed. Definate Adam Gussow and
DelJunco influences, but he's cutting his own
musical swath. He was playing customized Golden
Melodys with what appeared to be rosewood wood
combs. 

I wish Jason all the success in the world. If you
ever get a chance to hear him please go. It is
jaw-dropping good music.

Harpin' in Colorado,
- --Ken M.

=====
"When you speak of Walter Horton, the first thing you think of is his tone, that big, fat tone."
- ---Li'l Ronnie Owens

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