LYNWOOD SLIM& THE IGOR PRADO BAND "BRAZILAN KICKS" Source: Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine Date: 12/2010 Writer: Gary von Tersch

West Coast-based vocalist and harmonica ace Lynwood Slim links up with left-handed Brazilian blues guitarist Igor Prado and his zealous band for one of the most enjoyable albums I've heard in quite a while. Over the past two decades, the redoubtable Slim has amassed a noteworthy catalog of top-notch recordings (including 1991's /Lost In America/ with guitarist Junior Watson and 1994's/ Too Small To Dance/ with fretboard whiz Kid Ramos) which, along with a constant touring regimen, has enabled him to garner a global reputation and the endearing devotion of legions of devotees of that West Coast blues-R&B and jazz melded style. He also has great "ears" and has identified, encouraged and, at times, even produced a number of projects for talented musicians throughout Europe, Canada and lately, South America.

The Sao Paulo, Brazil-based Igor Prado Band, on the other hand, has been steadily gaining a reputation as one of the leading south-of-the-border practitioners of that 1940s and 1950s finger-popping jump blues sound and, in addition to the accomplished 27 year old guitarist Prado, also includes his younger brother Yuri on drums with equally harmonious fortification coming from bassist Rodrigo Mantovani, Donny Nichilo on piano (who really shines on a testy recall of Goree Carter's "Is It True") and temperamentily vibrant alto, tenor and baritone saxophonist Denilson Martins. Igor is also an accomplished composer as well--his pair of atmospheric originals (a hard-driving, strings-on-fire number titled "Blue Bop" and the more saxophone-driven "Bill's Change") and a co-write with Richard Duran titled "Going To Mona Lisa's," that really allows Slim to display his wailing yet smooth-sailing chromatic harmonica virtuosity, reveal some hard listening to Chicago's finest masters of the humble instrument, Little Walter and Junior Wells.