Willie Lomax Blues Revue:
Best Blues Money Can Buy (Big Boss Records, 2003)
I had the distinct pleasure of seeing
Willie Lomax and Shawn Brown at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival
this spring and it was one great show. Shawn is back doing
keyboard and vocal duties on this cd and all I have to
do is close my eyes and I can see them tearing up the
stage. Brown’s B-3 provides outstanding background
as Lomax shows some tasty licks on every track. The only
guest on this cd is Eric Gales and they had the foresight
to mix him on the left channel and Willie on the right.
All the songs on this 10 track disc were written by either
Lomax or Lomax and Brown and prove that they are more
than just players. Citing the three Kings, Albert Collins,
T-Bone Walker and Johnny “Guitar” Watson as
influences, Lomax smoothly blends all the styles into
one terrific and unique style of his own. Add to this
Walfredodo Reyes Jr. on drums (Santana, Steve Winwood),
Jerry Martini on sax (Sly & the Family Stone) and
just to put the icing on the cake, the magic fingers of
Phil Brown on the mixing board. Don’t wait to buy
this disc; it’ll be a classic before you know it.
Tim Richards
