Saturday, April 15, 2006

Steve Freund @ The Mojo Lounge

Friday night, I dropped by the Mojo Lounge and caught the Master Blaster, the man of the hour, too sweet to be sour, the prolific Steve Freund. When I walked into the Mojo, the joint was jumping and people were having fun. Fortunately, the blue coat man never came in with his big gun, so no one had to jump and run.

It was a good crowd. There were numerous musician on hand to catch the show. Chris "Kid" Andersen, Peter Brown, Jerome Engleberts and several others were in attendance. Steve was joined by Bob Welch, Burton Winn and Robi Bean. The band is one that feels like it's straight from Chicago. It's super tight, yet feels loose at the same time. When he kicks off a tune, it's nothing but pure deep Blues featuring an amazing tone that cuts like a razor. They plowed through a multitude of classic blues tunes borrowing from the songbooks of BB, Albert and Freddie King. He also mixed in more than a few Steve Freund tunes. He played three long sets with very short breaks. Like always, Bob sounded great on piano. He tickles the ivories in the old school way conjuring up the almost forgotten sounds of Sunnyland Slim and Otis Spann. Burton Winn and Robi Bean lay a foundation that is so solid, you could build a skyscraper on it.

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