Search - Melanie Mason :: Live at Blues Alley

Described by the Washington Post as ?a triple threat singer, guitarist and songwriter, able to hold her own in both band and solo settings,? Mason?s third release follows close on the heels of her second solo acoustic album. ?Live at Blues Alley? features Mason on electric guitar, Tommy Lepson on organ, Sam Goodall on bass, and Torro Gamble on drums. Recorded in the summer of 2004, the album captures their compelling live performance at the legendary Blues Alley - the nation's oldest continuing jazz supper club. This CD garnered Mason?s third "Best Blues Recording" award from the Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) in 2005. BLUES MATTERS MAGAZINE, U.K. (Michael Mee): "If Melanie Mason had leant against the door frame of Blues Alley, crooked her finger, winked her eye and thrown back her ginger curls she could not have made a more irresistible invitation than 'Crave,' the opening track of her live CD. Hot, sultry and sexy ? if Mason wasn't breathless at the finish, the audience must have been. The 14 tracks on 'Live At Blues Alley' are split between six originals, seven covers and one hybrid, 'Born In The Country.' As is usual with artists of this calibre, her own songs fit far more snugly than someone else's. The aforementioned 'Crave' and 'Mississippi Blues' are a natural product of her own sensuality...Melanie Mason is no slouch on lead guitar and the album is studded with magical moments, most notably on 'Love's Slow Burn,' a song so heavy with atmosphere it comes with it's own weather warning. As the album progresses, Mason and the band fall back on some old favourites, Hendrix's 'Castles Made Of Sand' and Robert Johnson's 'Crossroads.' Fittingly, the album finishes as it began, with a fabulous Melanie Mason original, 'Gospel By The River.'"