JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD Source: Tacoma New Tribune Date: 08/2008 Writer: Rick Nelson

Jason Ricci & New Blood stir up blues, rock, jazz

Harmonica player Jason Ricci isn’t quite the newcomer he seems.

“I’m 34, and I look 12,” Ricci said last week while on tour in Illinois.

In fact, Ricci, who brings his New Blood band to Jazzbones tonight for a 7 p.m. early show, has been playing harp since he was 14 and has learned from and emulated some of the best harmonica players.

His mom took him to hear Charlie Musselwhite when he was 14, but “it was (James) Cotton” whose music really set his lips on the blues harp path, Ricci said.

“And my favorite guys are mostly unrecognized. Of course, I was into Little Walter and (Paul) Butterfield and Sonny Boy (Williamson). I studied all those guys.

“But the guy you can actually hear in my playing, besides Little Walter and Butterfield, but even more so, is Pat Ramsay who played with Johnny Winter. … I moved from Maine to Memphis just to be around him.”

Ricci now makes his home in Nashville, which he sees as perfectly natural despite the city’s longtime ties to country music. “There are all kinds of great players there,” he said.

One of them, New Blood guitarist Shawn Starski, was just honored in the June issue of Guitar Player magazine as among “The Ten Hottest New Guitarists” in the world.

“He’s a monster,” Ricci said.

Maybe it takes one to know one. The latest album from Jason Ricci & New Blood is called “Rocket Number 9,” and Ricci rips through a variety of blues, blue-rock and jazzy numbers. With Starski’s guitar leads as a complement and counterpoint, Ricci displays amazing command of his instrument. His musical directness and honesty is matched by his candid conversation.

When it was suggested that a tune called “Snowflakes and Horses” seems like a tribute to blues-based British bands of the ’60s, Ricci didn’t mince words. “That’s because it’s almost entirely a rip-off of an R.L. Burnside song,” he said. “So you’ll have to ask R.L. if he was influenced by Savoy Brown. I give credit where credit is due. I’m not like that Led Zeppelin band. I basically stole the riff and changed the lyrics, so it ended up being a tune about cocaine and heroin instead of whatever R.L. wrote about.”

Ricci’s vocals are mostly in the serviceable, blues-shouter vein, but he shows real promise with a song called “I’m a New Man.”

“Thanks. I’ve been trying to sing a bit more. I started to sing out of necessity, and the less afraid I am of it the better I am at it. It’s not something that came easy, but I’m a good entertainer. Live, I really sell the song. But on a recording I get wicked nervous about it.

“I could easily imitate other vocalists and be radio-friendly right away, but I refuse to sing in a contrived voice. There are a lot of guys that can do that. I can sing along with the radio really well and mimic really well, so I could take one of those voices and sing with it, but I don’t want to do that.”

Ricci kept the candor coming when asked about what he’s released besides the “Rocket Number 9” CD.

“I’ve done five or six albums,” he said, “but only one or two are worth a damn.”

Judging from reviews, a live show from Ricci & New Blood is worth a lot more than the $8 they charge for the 7 p.m. gig at Jazzbones tonight. Comparisons range from jam bands like Phish to the rafter-raising Allman Brothers.

“We’re a hard-working band, man,” Ricci said.