Philadelphia bred bass ace Jerome Tucker and guitarist Tim Bastmeyer combine forces and a variety of influences on an excellent new CD.
Jerome Godboo adds some hot harp playing on the first track ‘Wallflower’ and also adds some spooky harp on the ominous swamp blues of ‘Obeah’ which also has some jazzy saxophone from Richard Thornton. But is all about keeping a rock solid groove throughout the CD. I would have liked to hear more harp, but there is not room for it with all of the jazz sprinkled throughout the CD.
The band paints their musical colours over top of the groove laid down by Bastmeyer and Tucker.
Both Bastmeyer and Tucker share lead vocal duties as well as guitar and bass duties, but the band shines, especially on several more jazz influenced songs especially ‘To The Moon,’ which features Richard Thornton’s fantastic sax.
Their voices are very appealing.
The second track ‘One of those Days begins with a chorus of police sirens and some sexy saxophone, some understated organ, plus a little funk from Tucker and Bastmeyer.
'They have a great time by bringing out more of the funk on ‘Juke Joint’, which features some weird talk box effects
The bass is at the forefront on the fourth track ‘When You Love A Woman’ which features a smooth bass groove and a very tasteful guitar solo.
‘The Devil In Me’ is a highlight which has a funky ’90s rock feel along the likes of one hit wonders Bootsauce (Everyone's a Winner).
They slow things down on the jazzy instrumental ‘First Kiss’ which shows off a sultry bass groove and some tender ’50s and ’60s pop influenced arpeggiated guitar.
Another highlight is the groove filled ‘Rewind’ which is another organ fuelled, somewhat menacing sounding jam which is powered by a grinding guitar riff. There are a lot of grinding, catchy guitar riffs as well as some stellar, tasteful solos.
For something a little different, they explore their soulful, sexy Barry White sides on ‘Spanish Paradise.’
Overall, if you love you blues with a touch of funk and a whole lot of jazz, you will love Tim Bastmeyer and Jerome Tucker’s new CD.
Artists: Tim Bastmeyer/ Jerome Tucker
Genre: blues/jazz/funk
