JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD Source: BluesWax Date: 06/2009 Writer: Kyle Palarino

I met Jason Ricci a decade ago during his and my Memphis years. He spent time in the R.L. Burnside/Junior Kimbrough camps with guitarist Eric Deaton learning from the masters and their kids. Ricci and Deaton signed up for the now defunct Beale Street Blues Society's talent competition for a chance to play at the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge. That night they lost to a fifteen-year-old guitarist playing "Stormy Monday." I can't remember the kid's name, but it was the time of our youthful infatuations with Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd early in their careers.

Since then I have loosely followed his road of learning from Johnny Winter's harp player Pat Ramsey to his album releases to his coming out as the first openly gay Blues musician.

Now I took the opportunity to see him again at the Hungry Tiger in Manchester, Connecticut, a great venue that books Blues artists regularly. They book more Blues-Rock acts, but you never know who will show up. Just keep reading, and you'll see what I mean.

Ricci gets lumped into the Blues circuit, but he is not a one-style musician at all. For instance, my favorite part of the show was when Jason ripped into a fitting 1-2-3-4 count launching a cover of The Misfit's Punk anthem "I Turned into a Martian," followed by Eddie Boyd's 1954 Chess Records release "Driftin'." That is Jason Ricci - Blues with a Punk attitude: two very honest, open styles of music. The sound created by Ricci and New Blood is more rooted in on the Blues side, but his growls, snarls, wails, and groans are more rooted in the grit of Iggy Pop and the Stooges.
The opening number was Sun Ra's "Enlightenment." Ricci's harmonica sounded like an organ on the opening notes. I don't care about the effects he used to do it, just that the sound that came out of that harmonica was both eerie and amazing at the same time! Guitarist Shawn Starsky had the haunting slinky slide out to keep the song's feel.

He followed the Sun Ra number with an original song from the grooves of the North Mississippi hill country, "Done with the Devil." This song is the title track on Jason's new album and has a "Snakedrive" kind of riff. 

I won't give a song-by-song description of the show, although it would be easy to do. The set list, improvised as it was, had a perfect flow for the night.

Following the smokin' hot "Devil" was the ultra-cool "Broken Toy." While the tempo slowed for this song, the energy never faded. It has rebellious Punk lyrics to a chilling sparse guitar line. The feel Ricci puts into the vocals could move the coldest of hearts. On "Life of Denial," Jason sang the musical intro to the band before they ripped into the tune with a burning guitar solo from Starsky.

There were a few special treats through the night. The first was the introduction of the beautiful blonde at the front table wearing an embroidered Jason Ricci and New Blood shirt. This was Jason's mom, whom he had not seen in a year and a half. He dedicated the song "I'm a New Man" to her. He had no problem playing in front of his mother, and she appeared to be one of his biggest fans.

Seated with his mom was a gentleman dressed in a pressed grey suit with a clean black T-shirt dancing up a storm. Jason decided to break away from the routine and introduce his uncle and play Lou Reed's "Take a Walk on the Wild Side." The New Blood hit the nail on the head with the song sounding as good as Reed himself. And that is no small accomplishment.

As the night went on, this guy wearing a sweater came into the club on a day when it was 90 degrees outside. He grabbed a towel and started waving off the burning Ricci during an elongated solo. When the song finished Jason asked if Mr. Lucky Peterson was still in the house. And sure enough he was. Peterson took Starsky's spot on the guitar to jam with the band.

Peterson kept the band on their toes going from song to song. He would just yell, "Stop!" and change tunes on a dime. Lucky started "The Sky is Crying" and after one verse cut into Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile." All eyes were on Lucky as he effortlessly plucked through the Blues songbook. Lucky and Jason traded licks back and forth and just had some good 'ol fun on the stage.

As the night was coming to a close, Starsky got back on the stage and ripped into some of his hottest solos of the night. He was not going to let Lucky walk in and take the spotlight.

Jason Ricci plays the harmonica with the perfect balance of speed, technique, and feel, but most importantly, feel. His roots on the instrument might be Little Walter and Sonny Boy, but he doesn't get stuck in the 1950s Blues rut, he explores his instrument like Ornette Coleman. Ricci studied with masters of life and music and the learning experiences were beyond twelve bars. Ricci is to the harmonica what Hendrix and Vaughan were to the guitar. Exposure is the only difference. Jason's music is so universal he could play with Lucky Peterson or Jane's Addiction and fit right in. Not many people can boast that fact. 

The New Blood are a very tight band. Starsky has been with Ricci for a long time and the two know what the other is going to play before the first note sings out. On bass, Todd Edmonds brings a truckload of skill to the groove. But his skills stop there. He is also an accomplished sousaphone and tuba player. Drummer Ed Michaels has worked with groups as diverse as Commander Cody, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Roy Rogers. He is great at following the leader, and in this group that role changes. Even when Peterson was on stage, Michaels did not miss a step. He knew exactly where and when to bring the beat.

When people mention the "future of the Blues," I don't think of Chicago Blues, which I consider the carrying on of a tradition. I don't think of Blues Rock. The 1960s solidified that as a style, and that was forty years ago. I look for new blends, new brews of music. Blues mixed with Jazz and Punk is the Ricci melting pot, and even that is a vague description. His approach and technique on the instrument are unique. I think of John Popper's amazing speed, but his music was not rooted in the past, he is playing hooks and jams from the past twenty years. Ricci hooks into the dirt of America's music and nukes it with a true atom bomb.

As I drove home with my ears ringing, I smiled. You know it was a satisfying show on the drive home. My soul was filled once again. Now it's time to pass it on to you.