Shawn Kellerman – Kell’s Kitchen
In this blistering blues set the evidence shows that Shawn Kellerman possesses blues enthusiasm. The performances have a gritty funky energy that will deal a variety of cards to blues purists & people who take their blues with a funk chaser. There are Sly & the Family Stone potent injections on early tracks, but the real blues start to filter through with swipes at Tom Waits (“You’re Gonna Learn From This One”) – an excellent piece.
Efficiency is what’s displayed in high-octane doses by the 14 blisters on Shawn’s fingers on Kell’s Kitchen (Drops March 29/Songsurfer Records/61:00) a self-produced showcase. While the mobility comes from the seeds of many 70s blues artists that used it as a flavor (Average White Band mixed with Elvin Bishop) – listen to the instrumental “Jig Jiggity.” Wonderful.
But it’s Detroit’s Mutzie Levenberg (“Light of Your Shadow” – 1970) who has a finger in this pie vocally (on most tunes). The growl in Shawn’s voice adds those heavy doses of funk to what is old-world standard blues. These are invigorating ones: “Show Me What You Got,” & “Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon,” both will be killer live tunes. It’s all for selective tastes. It has redeeming moments. The blues here are not as dark as Eric Burdon or as intense as Janis Joplin but the music possesses savoring blues runs that are creative. There aren’t any Paul Butterfield Blues Band-type excursions or Mike Bloomfield guitar duels with Elvin Bishop, but it teeters in that environment.
With Bobby Rush as a guest (vocal/harmonica) on the fine “We Are Blues Men,” the party gets started. Ontario-based blues guitarist Shawn Kellerman stabs the air with his piercing guitar notes & makes a plain apple pie into a 7-layer devil’s food cake. I’ll have two slices.
“Hard Man To Please” steamrolls nicely with an excellent break in the tune – this was arranged with skill. Great track. “Bad Mamma Jamma,” is pure nostalgia akin to the mid-70s J. Geils Band incarnation with their wild “Wammer Jammer.” The entire LP maintains a juke joint groove & atmosphere. “Mac & Cheese,” validates it when Noah Allard takes a lead spin with a humid-sounding blues singer with lots of phrasing mojo. Tasty stuff indeed from this kitchen.
Highlights – “Show Me What You Got,” “We Are Blues Men,” “Hard Man To Please,” “Bad Mamma Jamma,” “Down By the River,” “Mac & Cheese,” “You’re Gonna Learn From This One,” “Jig Jiggity” & “Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon.”
Musicians – Shawn (lead guitar/vocal/bass), Van Romaine, Carlton Campbell, Mike Rajna & Andrew Blaze (drums), Terry Richardson (bass), Jason Ricci (harmonica), Dave Wiffen (sax), Ray Podhornik (trumpet), Lance Anderson (Hammond B3/clavinet/Wurlitzer), Matt Weidinger (Hammond B3/piano), Lucky Peterson (Hammond B3), Cory Williams (acoustic guitar), Dominic DiGravio (electric piano/Clav & synth programming), Miku Graham, Saidah Baba Talibah, Emily Fennell, Meghan Parnell, Jon Knight, Neal Allard & Zoom (vocals) & Shannon Kellerman (voiceover).
Color image courtesy of Alex Rodriguez Cruz & Shawn’s website. CD @ https://shawnkellerman.com/