Canadian blues harmonica player Carlos del Junco offers an enjoyably varied set on the aptly titled Blues Mongrel, featuring as it does the blues mingled with some other styles. A better instrumentalist than a vocalist (though he's an okay singer), del Junco is a skilled practitioner of playing chromatically with a ten-hole harmonica. That sometimes leads to a feel not unlike Little Walter, whose "Blues With a Feeling" is covered for the opening track. While he interprets another Chess blues great with Sonny Boy Williamson ...
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Canadian blues harmonica player Carlos del Junco offers an enjoyably varied set on the aptly titled Blues Mongrel, featuring as it does the blues mingled with some other styles. A better instrumentalist than a vocalist (though he's an okay singer), del Junco is a skilled practitioner of playing chromatically with a ten-hole harmonica. That sometimes leads to a feel not unlike Little Walter, whose "Blues With a Feeling" is covered for the opening track. While he interprets another Chess blues great with Sonny Boy Williamson's "Nine Below Zero," not all the songs are as much in the classic straight electric blues mold. He quotes from James Bond soundtracks, covers "Our Man Flint," and offers a Latin-tinged blues in the manner of Peter Green with early Fleetwood Mac on "Plain Old (About Home) Blues." Elsewhere there are nods to ska, country, and mambo, making for a refreshing willingness to go beyond the usual blues strictures without subverting the music's time-honored strengths. The quizzical little upturns on the otherwise fairly standard instrumental blues "No Particular Place," where del Junco inserts phrases owing little to the usual blues progressions, are a good illustration of the material's adventurousness. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
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Add this copy of Blues Mongrel to cart. $26.96, like new condition, Sold by Streetlight_Records rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Cruz, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by Northern Blues.
