LYNWOOD SLIM& THE IGOR PRADO BAND "BRAZILAN KICKS" Source: Blues & Rhythm Magazine Date: 02/2011 Writer: Ray Templeton

This is contemporary blues, thoroughly professionally put together and performed. Harmonica player and singer Lynwood Slim is accompanied by a tight Brazilian band, consisting of guitarist Igor Prado, bassist Rodrigo Mantovani and drummer Yuri Prado (and augmented on some tracks by Donny Nichols on piano and Denilson Martins on horns), through a mixed set – from sources as diverse as Little Walter (‘Little Girl’) and Hank Penny (‘Bloodshot Eyes’), plus a handful of the two leaders’ originals.

Slim is a decent singer, with a slightly coarse edge to his voice, and doesn’t, in fact play that much harp, which is a shame, as he sounds pretty good to me on the Walter Jacobs song just mentioned, with a good fat tone and plenty of vibrato. On the same song, Prado plays a nice delicate blues line, enhanced with a little, but not too much, in the way of jazzy flourishes. ‘Show Me The Way’ has a similar feel. The original composition, ‘Maybe Someday’, is a pleasant blues ballad given quite a big treatment, while the instrumental ‘Bill’s Change’ is reminiscent of the kind of tune that bebop jazzmen used to use to build their improvisations around (although the solos here are not at all like that). I think I have the titles right, because it seems to me that the track listing in the booklet doesn’t follow the order on the disc.

These days, when so many musicians tend to take the blues-rock route, it’s nice to hear a band who evidently prefer a sound that is more true to the spirit of the rich legacy of blues, r&b and jazz, and is talented and versatile enough to pay that legacy appropriate tribute. Definitely worth hearing.