JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD Source: Lansing State Journal Date: 02/2008 Writer: Mike Hughes

Jason Ricci's harmonica will wail at the Cadillac Club Friday
Musician blends rock, jazz, blues into one package

Mike Hughes | Lansing State Journal

Jason Ricci needed one more weapon to become a full-service rocker.

"I was in a punk-rock band," he recalled. "I was afraid I wasn't a good-enough singer, so I wanted to add something."

That's when he picked up a harmonica. He was soon surpassing his expectations.

It should be mentioned that Ricci, 33, is a fine singer. Still, his harmonica-wailing is what catches attention.

He won the Mars National Harmonica Contest, topping more than 1,000 people. He has also drawn strong reviews.

"Ricci links the jazz mastery of Howard Levy with the blues precision of Jerry Portnoy," Brad Kava wrote in the San Jose Mercury News. "(He) hits speeds that make John Popper look like he's standing still."

And he's hard to categorize. Ricci is a rock singer who adds a bluesy, jazzy flavor.

"I was able to transmit what I was feeling inside, to the outside," he said.

On one level, Ricci talks about the blues greats - Sun Ra and Little Walter. On the other, he savors such modern forces as Ronnie Earle, Aerosmith and Roomful of Blues.

He grew up in Portland, Maine, a waterfront town that tends to stir up art and music.

"My father was a very serious and controversial businessman," he said. "But he did like music, too. ... We heard a lot of Janis Joplin at home."

The "controversial" part got heavy at times, Ricci said. At one point, his dad successfully sued someone who had accused him of being in the Mafia.

Ricci's own focus was on the music, he said. He started singing with the punk band early, then branched out. At 21, he won the Sonny Boy Blues Society contest and was on the main stage of the King Biscuit Blues Festival.

He toured with blues master Junior Kimbrough, then (after Kimbrough's death) returned to Portland and organized a band with guitarist Nick Curran.

They both do songwriting, but Ricci writes the lyrics. That includes one song you might not expect in a blues-blaster concert, mentioning God.

"The song is about taking responsibility for yourself," Ricci said. "There are a lot of things I would like to change. Then I look at myself and say THAT's something I can effect."

Meanwhile, he blasts music. Ricci has been touring at a 300-gig-a-year pace.

That made last week sort of pleasant. "To be in one place for four days is special," Ricci said by phone from Key West, Fla.

Then the gig ended and he was heading due North, into the snow and cold. Sometimes, the blues can warm a place up.