In the hands of many a lesser man, the harp is a pleasant, perhaps humourous accompaniment to a guitar, but in the hands of a master like Del Junco, the harp takes centre stage, shining with a beautiful brightness all of its own as a lead instrument.
He takes the listener around the world on his new, mostly instrumental CD “Mongrel Mash.” On the cover is a creature which is part bulldog, wildcat and part lemur, which is smoking a harmonica. It is a pretty good pictorial depiction of his music. There is a little bit of zydeco taking you deep into Louisiana swampland on the first track “ The Crazy Bastard,” which features a beautiful hook by guitarist Kevin Breit as Del Juncos harp weaves in an out of the melody.
The second track is also an instrumental, “ My Favourite Uncle,” which continued a little in the vein, but is also reminiscent of big band jazz.
Del Junco reflects his blues roots on a cover of “Mojo,” which also features him singing. But more importantly it featured some mind bending harp playing. His solo has a lot of classical elements, which fit with a gorgeous blues groove.
“Heddon Tadpolly Spook,” is something a different altogether with a circus -like groove, some jazzy guitar playing and Del Junco’s inimitable harp playing.
Things slow down a little on the opus “Slick,” featuring mournful acoustic guitar from Breit, whose playing is just as mind-bending as Del Junco. After the beautiful classical interlude, it breaks into a solid jazzy blues groove.
They run the gamut from jazz and blues to more exotic sounds from Mexico and The Caribbean on “Mariachi,” on which slinky bass from Henry Heillig melds with some tasteful exotic harp
One of the outstanding jazzy numbers is a rewrite of T-Bone Walker’s “A Fool’s Alibi.” which features some tasteful organ helping set the groove behind del Junco’s harp.
The Cd ends with an upbeat blues stomper, “Lil’ Laptop.” which features more amazing harp and some very cool guitar.
It is fantastic. An easy listen which will grab your attention and taps into the full potential of the lowly harmonica.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor
Cd: Mongrel Mash
Band: Carlos Del Junco and the blues Mongrels
Genre: jazz/ blues
Record label: Big Reed Records
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