PEPE AHLQVIST & UMO Jazz Orchestra - MISTER BLUES (2006)

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PEPE AHLQVIST & UMO Jazz Orchestra - MISTER BLUES (2006)

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The Finnish blues artist Pepe Ahlqvist will be known to many European blues lovers as he has been active since the early seventies and made some excellent records along the way! Though many will recall him as a singer and harmonica player, here he has dropped the harp and taken up his first instrument, the guitar – and how! Not that he is a flashy player – far from it, but the notes he chooses are just right – quality over quantity. The Umo Jazz Orchestra are the kind of outfit all too rarely heard these days, a big, swinging and genre hopping outfit, akin to the Ray Charles Orchestra at its best, or Gil Evans Band (think particularly when they worked with Cleanhead Vinson). Pepe sings well in a variety of styles, from the swinging jump-blues of the opener to the blues-rcoing cover of BB King’s ‘So Excited’ that closes the set – in between there are soul numbers, a variety of blues styles, some wonderful modern(ish) jazz with a cover of Horace Silver’s ‘Senor Blues’, funk via ‘Dancemaster’ and even the almost jazz-meets-rap of ‘T’s And B’s’. This kind of big band blues comes along all too rarely, which means it is invariably worth listening to – and this release is sheer class.