Ruf (label)
12 January 2015 (released)
31 December 2014
Thomas Ruf has been one of the leading lights of European Blues for more than 20 years and this year celebrates 10 years of the Blues Caravan – typically three complementary Blues youngsters put together to play together, feature on each others music and show what they are capable of at an early stage in their career. Previous alumni have included Ian Parker, Dani Wilde, Erja Lytinen, Aynsley Lister, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Anna Popovic and Oli Brown and this year the caravan features Laurence Jones, Christina Skjolberg and Albert Castiglia with the inimitable Roger Inniss on bass and Miri Miettinen on drums backing all of the kids.
As always with the Blues Caravan there are many stories to tell – Skjolberg playing left handed with a Hendrix tattoo on her arm and husky Norwegian accent or Laurence Jones looking around 12 but playing like a veteran or Cubano-Italian American Castiglia tearing out riffs and solos like a speed-freak.
The set opens with the three of them playing together before sets from all three.
Christina Skjolberg has a funky style and that husky voice – the Norwegian accent doesn’t hurt either. Laurence Jones aids her on keyboards but her main strength is her guitar which is dynamic and dark, coupled with some self-written songs and an inherent sexiness.
Laurence Jones – it’s difficult not to run out of superlatives for this young man. He has been picked as Britain’s representative in next year’s European Blues Challenge and he has been making waves with some fiery and powerful playing coupled with a voice that is developing a real growl. He has coped with Crohn’s Disease and is turning into a real force for the future. His tracks here are a combination of self-written rockers and ballads like ‘Fall From The Sky’ or ‘Wind Me Up’ but his version of ‘All Along The Watchtower’ burns spectacularly.
Albert Castiglia is quite the revelation. He plays like Tex-Mex rockers always used to – ripping out soloes and burning the place down with sheer boogie. He has been around for a while – notably starting out with Junior Wells – but this set sees him really enjoying his playing. ‘Sway’ is full of massive riffs but surprisingly weak vocals but ‘Bad Avenue’, a standard 12 bar, really sees him playing his heart out. ‘Freddie’s Boogie’ has the crowd bopping like gooduns.
The three link up again for ‘Cocaine’ and ‘Sweet Home Chicago’, trading licks and even playing each other’s axes at one point.
As a way of introducing talent the Blues Caravan works but stands or falls on the talent of the players – 2014 was a Grand Cru year.
