Salerno, Vince / Mcclendon, Gerald Blues From All Points (CD)

(Prada Records) 11 tracks, digipack.

Following their highly acclaimed 2019 Pravda CD.
Grabbing the Blues by the Horns, veteran Chicago saxophonist/harpist Vince Salerno and vocalist Gerald McClendon return with a hard-hitting encore disc that extends their eclecticism even more daringly than on its predecessor.
Vince, long a fixture on the Windy City's blues scene
his horn on an extraordinarily wide-ranging musical menu
menu that includes swinging blues T-Bone Walker's Street Walking Woman, zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier's Ay-Tete Fee and John Coltrane's Bessie's Blues, on which he switches from his usual tenor sax to baritone.
A double helping of Jr. Walker Cleo's Mood and Hip City gives Vince plenty of room to wail in his upper register, and he brings out his harmonica for the fast-paced traditional
Chicago blues "Highway 49," backed by Thomas Klein on slide guitar.
Gerald sings everything with oozing, passionate power, including the hard-rocking originals Antidote To Love and Do Drop In. The wonderfully solid rhythm section is led by the extremely versatile keyboardist Thomas Linsk. Nearly half of the album consists of new material, including the rollicking instrumental Harpcordia. On the driving Blues And Trouble, McClendon vocally shakes the rafters, Klein peels off two choruses of laser beam guitar, and Vince magically trades fours with himself on bari and harp.
Blues From All Points is the best kind of pandemic ointment imaginable, it gets the body moving and heals the soul at the same time.
Simultaneously. Time to get in the groove! - BILL DAHL