Search - Wallace Coleman :: Live from Sao Paulo to Severance

Wallace Coleman is often compared to Little Walter Jacobs (and, in fact, Track 1 is penned by Coleman in tribute to his favorite harp player) and/or Coleman is tagged as only a Chicago Blues artist. That's a tag he doesn't mind at all, but most people haven't heard Coleman as the multi-faceted musician that he is and this new CD gives you a glimpse into that complexity. "Live from Sao Paulo to Severance" evenly divides the 14 tracks between Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Severance Hall in Cleveland, OH. Coleman spent November 2013 touring with the Igor Prado Band in their home country of Brazil, at festivals, in clubs, and in live performances on TV and, in full-band, live studio recordings. These Brazilian musicians captured the depth and feeling of American Blues and provided a platform for Coleman to stretch out and perform. He calls that a rare treat. When Coleman relaxes as the front man knowing that the backing band indeed has his back, well...you just have to hear for yourself. Track 7 was added to Prado's "Way Down South" CD on the Delta Groove label which held an extended #1 spot on Living Blues Charts in 2015. Tracks 4 & 5 were included in Ari Borger's "Live from the Cincinnati Blues Festival" CD on Chico Blues Records. In January 2015, Coleman and band performed on the main stage of Cleveland, Ohio's most beautiful musical venue, Severance Hall, also the home of the world-renown Cleveland Orchestra. The event was a community day honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For this performance, recorded live, Coleman presented folk, protest, original, and traditional Blues. As driving and raucous as the Brazil side of this disc, several Severance tracks are upbeat and fun, but it is that glimpse we get into Coleman's musical layers, both vocally and in his harmonica playing, where tender moments shine through from him on tracks like the instrumental "Way Back Home," the original "Seems Like," and the Charley Patton spiritual "I Shall Not Be Moved." These bring an appreciation of this diverse work. Coleman's comfort with his Severance band painting a backdrop is apparent in his vocals and his harp playing, and he takes full advantage of the opportunity. Wallace Coleman is an artist who easily shifts gears from driving blues to flowing instrumentals to blues shuffles to tender ballads -- each soundly vastly different, one to the next, but treating each as if it is the only thing that he does. Not to be missed.