WBS CD Review

Blast Off

Blues Orbiters

www.bluesorbiters.com

Blues Orbiters are just babes in the Seattle Blues scene but are already establishing themselves a top draw in the rainy Emerald City. Ranging in styles from Traditional to Contemporary Blues, straight-ahead good time blues is what they offer up on their impressive debut, Blast Off.

Maybe it’s the vintage instruments and amps that give this relatively new band such a traditional sound. Fans of the likes of T-Bone Walker, Albert King to Duane Allman and Peter Green gives them many wells to draw from. Whatever the case may be, it works for this quintet who consist of: Jeff “White Chocolate” Hayes drums, vocals and lyricist, Peter Norris on rhythm guitar. Rodger “The Immortal” Smith keeps the tempo flowing on his Fender Jazz Bass. Brian Lee on Telecaster and harp, and Jim Walls adds the final touch with his vintage sax.

Blast Off commences with a bit of wittiness by means of a tasty shuffle ‘Love Makes You Fat’ is lyrically amusing and musically zesty. ‘Somedays’ is another funky shuffle chock-full tight solos from Brian Lee harmonica and guitar and Jim Walls unleashes on sax. Comprised of mostly original material Blues Orbiters select their covers carefully and pay homage to another Northwest Blues Man, Robert Cray on a pleasing version of ‘Phone Booth’. Combining jazz-guitar with a tropical rhythm, the Orbiters slow it down a notch on ‘A Test Of Time’. Brian Lee shows off his slide-guitar technique on the instrumental mid tempo shuffle ‘Rhumba Boogie Blues’. The classic ‘T-Bone Shuffle’ with a respect to the original recording is a superb methodology to conclude this record.

Combining a sense of humor, great musicianship and a carefree attitude, Blast Off is the freshest sound to come out of the Seattle area so far this year.

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Blues Orbiters
Blast Off -Oxford
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J.J. Cale
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Malcolm Clark Band
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Dave Conant
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Jack Cook & Marc Breitfelder
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Henry Cooper
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James Cotton
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The Crossroads Band
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