PHANTOM BLUES BAND "FOOTPRINTS" Source: Net Rhythms Date: 01/2008 Writer: David Kidman

The link for this review is at the end: The Phantom Blues Band - Out Of The Shadows (Delta Groove) This band was originally formed as a studio band to record behind Taj Mahal, but they quickly gained a profile in their own right performing at major blues and jazz festivals throughout the world. Guitarists Johnny Lee Schell and Denny Freemen, keyboard player Mike Finnigan, horn players Joe Sublett and Danny Leonard, bassist Larry Fulcher and drummer Tony Braunagel – they're all accomplished musicians in their own right, but when teamed up together they make a big enough splash to make you sit up and take notice. Running through the gamut of modern blues-style compositions, while taking in hints of flavours from Cuban to soul to gospel along the way, the 14 cuts making up Out Of The Shadows are reliably performed and exciting enough, if not setting any special originality quotient, though you can't say commitment's absent from their forthright and lively renditions of material by Lowell Fulson, Henry Glover, Harry Johnson, Chuck Berry, Jimmy McCracklin and Sonny Thompson. Workmanlike and pleasing.