StringShot

Blues & Latin

Chops Not Chaps Records

This album from StringShot is a collaboration. Each of the principal players a virtuoso in their own right.

Roy Rogers is a delta slide guitar master. In the 1980’s he was a member of John Lee Hooker’s Coast to Coast Band, and he plays on and produced Hooker’s Grammy winning album “The Healer”. Rogers also played on the soundtrack of the 1990 movie “The Hot Spot” alongside Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal and Earl Palmer. My favorite Rogers’ albums include 1993’s “Slide of Hand” on Liberty Records, and 1996’s “Rhythm and Groove” on Pointblank Records. In 2003 and again in 2005 Rogers received Blues Music Award nominations as Best Instrumentalist – Guitar. In 2011 he collaborated with Ray Manzarek of The Doors on “Translucent Blues”. Rogers last album was 2015’s “Into The Wild Blue” also on Chops Not Chaps Records. On “Blues & Latin” Rogers shares the vocals and plays acoustic, electric and slide guitars.

Brazilian Badi Assad is ranked one of the world’s best guitarists by Rolling Stone Magazine. She is classically trained and the recipient of numerous international awards. She has appeared in classical settings with The Assad Brothers and played Jazz Festivals with Pat Methany and Larry Coryell. She is also the subject of a new documentary “Badi” from the award winning Brazilian filmmaker Edu Felistoque. Assad shares the vocals and plays nylon and steel stringed guitars.

Carlos Reyes is classically trained on violin and on the Paraguayan stringed harp. Originally from Paraguay he now lives in the San Francisco Bay area. He has played in symphonies, as leader in his own band, and with artists as diverse as Steve Miller and Arturo Sandoval. Reyes sings the backing vocals and plays violin, stringed harp, and electric bass.

The ensemble is rounded out by Jim Pugh, keyboards and keyboard bass; Kevin Hayes, drums; and Joel Jaffe, drum and percussion programming. They open with the instrumental “Blues For Brazil” written by Rogers with bassist Steve Evans sitting in. Also from Rogers is the samba “Still Livin’ In A Memory” beautifully sung by Assad “those were the best of times”.

“Between Truth And Luck” composed by Assad and Pedro Luis is another beautiful vocal from her with a violin solo from Reyes. “God Prayed It and I almost lost my mind” is a beautiful song. The carnival styled instrumental “Back To Havana” co-written by Reyes and Rogers features some inventive guitar and violin and Pugh on piano. “Back Along The Way” from Assad and Rogers again features her soft and mellow vocal.

Another instrumental “Desires” written by Reyes features him on the stringed harp. “Lost Again in You” from Rogers features him taking the vocal. “I’m just falling, lost in you again.” “Wounds of Sight” a co-write from Assad and Rogers again features her haunting vocal. “Love Broken” written by Rogers is a vocal duet with Assad; Reyes plays a violin solo while Rogers lays down some evocative slide “now our love has gone away for good”.

Listening to “Blues & Latin” is a highly enjoyable experience. While the songs and music are Latin they are mostly written by Rogers a highly respected blues and slide guitarist resulting in a delightfully mystical “tour-de-force”, a cross-cultural syntheses of Latin music, Jazz and Blues.

Richard Ludmerer