Michael Hill's Blues Mob

Michael Hill's Blues Mob - New York State Of Blues - 1998 - Alligator

"One of the places we're coming from is New York, so for your listening and dancing pleasure, complete with New York accent, we present our New York State Of Blues ." - Michael Hill

New York's Michael Hill's Blues Mob are one of the best purveyors of today's modern urban blues. Unlike more traditional bluesmen, Hill doesn't come to his blues from the Mississippi Delta or the South Side of Chicago, but from his native New York City. Born in the South Bronx in 1952, Hill was raised by a close-knit family with roots in North Carolina and Georgia. His music, a mix of traditional blues with rock, reggae, funk and R&B, vividly reflects his upbringing. Always a music fan, Hill didn't start playing guitar until 1970, a year after he first heard Jimi Hendrix. "There was no mistaking what Hendrix brought to the table for me," Hill recalls. "He was the reason I started playing electric guitar." After seeing his hero five times, including a stage door meeting outside the Fillmore East, Hill's fate was sealed. With Hendrix as a blasting off point, Hill next turned to bluesmen like Albert King, B.B. King, Albert Collins, and others to build his sound. His discovery of Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield, as well as authors James Baldwin, among many others, inspired him to write songs that speak about socially relevant subjects as well as more traditional blues topics. By the mid-1970s Hill was working as a sideman or session player with artists as diverse as Little Richard, Carla Thomas, Archie Bell and B.B. King. Hill's biggest break came in 1994, the year Michael Hill's Blues Mob emerged on the national blues scene with their Alligator Records debut, Bloodlines. Living Blues Magazine handed them their Critic's Award for Best Debut Album of the Year. With two more Alligator releases the band has been tearing up the road. From the Chicago Blues Festival to clubs all over the United States, Australia, Brazil, Scandinavia and Europe, Michael Hill's Blues Mob never ceases to amaze their ever growing legion of fans. Hill and his Blues Mob are laying the groundwork for the future of the blues. © Ray Stiles , © 1999 Ray M. Stiles, www.mnblues.com/profile/michaelhill-pf99.html

A truly exceptional album of blues rock, R&B, and soul funk. Michael Hill's potent guitar playing is reminiscent of SRV, Buddy Guy, Hendrix and Carlos Santana. His band is outstanding, and some of the covers here would be hard to beat. This is one of the best albums released in the last ten years, and is VHR by A.O.O.F.C. Buy the band's brilliant "Bloodlines" album. You don't know what you're missing until you hear both albums.

TRACKS

1 Long Hot Night
2 Case of the Blues, A
3 Soul Doin' Time
4 Young Folks' Blues
5 Papa Was A Rollin' Stone / Mama Sang The Blues
6 Anytime, Anywhere
7 New York State of Blues
8 Living For the City
9 This Is My Job
10 Up and Down the Stairs
11 Never Give up on You

All songs composed by M.Hill, except 5, by Whitfield, Norman J., Strong, Barrett: 7, by Pete Cummings, Michael Hill: 8, by S.Wonder: 11, by Kim Hill, Tony Lewis, Michael Hill

BAND

Michael Hill, vocals, guitar
E.J. "the Professor" Sharpe, keyboards
Pete Cummings or Kevin Hill, bass
Tony Lewis, drums

REVIEWS

Michael Hill's third album for Alligator keeps the focus of his music squarely in urban territory. Hill's Hendrix-laden grooves and almost-heavy-metal guitar playing may be off-putting to some purists, but he combines and melds his source point with excellence and passion throughout. This time he splits with the blues in two spots, to contribute cover versions of the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City" as demonstrating part of the group's 'roots.' But he also plays adventurous slide guitar on "A Case of the Blues" and the group contributes some nice bluesy vocal harmonies to "Soul Doin' Time." Hill's lyrics, as always, address contemporary social concerns (nicely done on the title track and "Anytime, Anywhere," as well as on "This Is My Job"), but most interesting is his take on young blues players coming up by the carload in "Young Folk's Blues." His most accessible record to date. © Cub Koda, All Music Guide

You may not have heard Michael Hill, but you should. He is the sound of things to come. Although Hill's explosive guitar playing echoes Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughn, don't let that fool you; he is very much his own man. Check out his unique slide playing on "A Case of the Blues." There are few who can match Hill's frantic approach with a bottleneck. Michael's interpretation of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" breathes new life into this seminal favorite. His band, the Mob, would be hard to top. These are three musicians who have definitely got their chops down. They provide a solid foundation for Hill's soaring performances. With "Young Folks' Blues," Michael shows his pride in being a bluesman of the future. And to tell you the truth, in his hands the future looks pretty bright. © Lars Gandil, © Amazon.com

If there's anything that separates this set from its predecessors, it's the greater number of songs about the most basic of blues topics: relationships between men and women. The opener is a steamy account of a night of temptation from a wife's visiting best friend. In addition to his songwriting talent, Hill is a fine singer with echoes of Magic Sam and Robert Cray.... © Living Blues

BIO / ALBUM INFO

New York's Michael Hill's Blues Mob play deep blues for the body and soul, both as an astonishing live act--just ask any of the thousands of people mesmerized through a rainstorm at the 1996 Chicago Blues Festival--and as a rip-roaring and award-winning recording group, Michael Hill's Blues Mob stands out in the small circle of young, African-American blues artists bent on keeping the blues alive by taking the music into previously uncharted territory. "Hill is truly the bluesman piloting the music into the next century," proclaimed Blues Revue. Michael Hill's Blues Mob bring raw sweat, energy and intensity to every song they play. Hill's impassioned, sometimes humorous songs, his sweetly soulful singing voice and explosive guitar playing are perfectly complemented by the expert musicianship of the Blues Mob--Pete Cummings on bass, E.J. "The Professor" Sharpe on keyboards and Tony Lewis on drums. With their new Alligator release, NEW YORK STATE OF BLUES, Michael Hill's Blues Mob continue to blaze a modern blues trail filled with cutting edge tunes and foot-stomping rhythms. Through his original songs (Hill wrote or co-wrote nine of the album's 11 songs) and formidable musicianship, Hill and his band boldly raise the bar for their contemporaries meanwhile raising the roof wherever they play. "Incendiary," shouted Guitar Shop. "A wonderful melting pot of R&B, blues, fusion, reggae, and balls-out heavy rock." But it's not just about the fiery music. "For me," says Hill, "writing is as important as playing guitar. The blues is about telling stories. The guitar playing and musicianship are important as long as they're serving the song or story. The lyrics give the playing and singing something to do." NEW YORK STATE OF BLUES is a tour-de-force of tough, inner city scenes, lovers' temptations and blues celebrations co-existing in Hill's guitar drenched, polyrhythmic universe. From the searing opener Long Hot Night (co-written by Vernon Reid) to the prophetic and humorous Young Folks Blues to the reinventions of the Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone and Stevie Wonder's Livin' For The City to the album's closer, the soulful and hopeful Never Give Up On You, Michael Hill's Blues Mob grab their listeners with their every-note-matters musicianship and draw them in with Hill's storytelling skills and his powerful vocals. "Michael Hill is the hippest bluesman around," cheered the Philadelphia Daily News. "Radiating energy, warmth and social enlightenment, Hill emerged from the South Bronx to give blues a new meaning, direction and sound." Unlike more traditional bluesmen, Hill doesn't come to his blues from the Mississippi Delta or the South Side of Chicago, but from his native New York City. Born in the South Bronx in 1952 and raised by a close-knit family with roots in North Carolina and Georgia, Hill's music--a mix of traditional blues with rock, reggae, funk and R&B--vividly reflects his upbringing. Always a music fan, Hill didn't start playing guitar until 1970, a year after he first heard Jimi Hendrix. "There was no mistaking what Hendrix brought to the table for me," Hill recalls. "He was the reason I started playing electric guitar." After seeing his hero five times-- including a stage door meeting outside the Fillmore East--Hill's fate was sealed. With Hendrix as a blasting off point, Hill next turned to bluesmen like Albert King, B.B. King, Albert Collins, and others to build his sound. His discovery of Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield, as well as authors James Baldwin and Toni Morrison (among many others) inspired him to write songs that speak about socially relevant subjects as well as more traditional blues topics. "Marley focused me on songwriting," says Hill. "He was so articulate and clear when he spoke to things. The consistent high level of his songwriting definitely inspired me to speak to issues which don't often get addressed in popular music and to still be uplifting." By the mid-1970s Hill was working as a sideman or session player while still holding down day jobs (including a stint as a New York City cab driver). Over the years, he played alongside Little Richard, Carla Thomas, Archie Bell and Harry Belafonte. He played with Dadahdoodahda, a New York band which also included Vernon Reid before Reid formed Living Colour. Hill recorded with B.B. King and, along with his friend and fellow Black Rock Coalition member Reid, contributed a song to Shanachie Records' TRIBUTE TO CURTIS MAYFIELD. Hill can also be heard on the Rykodisc Black Rock Coalition compilation, A HISTORY OF OUR FUTURE. Hill's biggest break came in 1994, the year Michael Hill's Blues Mob emerged on the national blues scene with their Alligator Records debut, BLOODLINES. Hill and his Blues Mob laid the groundwork for the future of the blues. Living Blues handed Michael Hill's Blues Mob their Critic's Award for Best Debut Album of the Year. Guitar Player called BLOODLINES "a cliche-smashing debut." Rolling Stone said that on the album "Hill's Blues Mob smokes with the combined sizzle of Robert Cray, Living Colour and Jimi Hendrix." "Not since Muddy Waters invented electricity," raved the Chicago Sun-Times, "has anyone charted as radical a course for the blues as Michael Hill." The group's follow-up album, 1996's Have Mercy!, featured another collection of ground-breaking electric blues, at once mind-expanding, soul-satisfying, fun-loving and thoroughly entertaining. Once again fans and critics went wild. Featuring another 13 Hill originals, Have Mercy! took the blues storytelling tradition far beyond themes of simple romance. "Big beats, screaming leads and lyrics from the mean streets," said the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Jazz Times said, "Hill sprays sweet-toned notes with dazzling bravado ... affecting, thoughtful soul." "Hill celebrates the blues form without being shackled to it," said the Washington Post. Even GQ got into the act, declaring, "Hill is a smart, genre-busting guitarist." Since releasing their two Alligator albums, the band has been tearing up the road. From the Chicago Blues Festival to Australia to Brazil to Scandinavia and throughout Europe to clubs all over the United States (including a jaw-dropping set opening in Chicago for Luther Allison), Michael Hill's Blues Mob never ceases to amaze. "We play every show like it's our last," says Hill. Our goal is to turn the place out and make a great connection with every audience." While not shying away from more serious blues, Hill knows that "the music needs to be fun and bring joy to people. Our shows have always been a celebration. For us it's about groove, dynamics, telling stories and good musicianship. We get the people involved and make sure folks have a good time." And that's just what Michael Hill's Blues Mob delivers with New York State Of Blues. "For me," says Hill, "the most important thing my music can do is be a healing force and uplift people." Guitar Player described Hill's cutting-edge, radio-friendly sound -- a-guitar-stoked mixture of timeless blues feeling, blistering musicianship and original songs full of passion and humor -- as "kick ass and world class." As the Chicago Reader suggests, "bring your dancing shoes and your thinking cap," because the Blues Mob's infectious music keeps your tail spinning while Hill's tale-spinning and super-charged guitar playing showcases ... the shape of blues to come in the 21st century. © 2008 live2nite.com, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

MORE ABOUT MICHAEL HILL

Michael Hill, a Bronx-raised guitarist, singer and songwriter, took his earliest inspiration from the sounds of Jimi Hendrix. His other songwriting influences include socially conscious artists like Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield. Hill has recorded two albums for Alligator Records of Chicago, Have Mercy (1996) and Bloodlines (1994), which both contain extensive social commentary. Both releases have gotten good reviews from critics and sold respectably, yet he's still considered too "heavy" for some U.S. festivals and clubs. Despite this, Hill has made tours of clubs and festivals around Germany, France, Scandinavia, Austria, England, Italy, Brazil and Australia. The 45-year-old Hill argues that his political songs follow the true blues tradition, which includes sounding off on societal problems. Blues songs of the 1920s and '30s by Leadbelly, Mance Lipscomb, and other classic blues artists often dealt head on with society's ills. Hill sees himself as following this tradition. Songs like "Falling Through the Cracks," "Bluestime In America," "Why We Play the Blues," "Evil In the Air," and "Presumed Innocent" reveal another side of life to 1990s fans of blues music, most of whom are middle class, suburban and white. Hill, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., since 1988, was born in the Bronx in 1952. The Bronx that Hill remembers was a working-class community with families who looked after one another's kids. Hill comes from a close-knit family, and his brother Kevin began playing bass with him when he formed his first band in 1973. After seeing Jimi Hendrix play on five occasions around New York City, including at the Woodstock Festival, Hill knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He began playing guitar in 1970, and was soon playing out in rock and soul bands by 1972. He took cues from guitar players including B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Albert King and Carlos Santana, and his style is a comfortable mesh of all these, plus his own touch. Reading the books of Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and other black novelists, Hill began writing songs that spoke about socially relevant subjects as well as more traditional blues topics. By the mid-1970s, Hill was working as a sideman or session player with the likes of Little Richard, Archie Bell, Harry Belafonte and Carla Thomas. In the mid-1980s, working with Living Colour's Vernon Reid, he helped establish the Black Rock Coalition, a New York City-based group of black rock & roll bands, craftspersons and artists. He caught the attention of Alligator Records in 1993, and in 1994, the label released Bloodlines, which was hailed by some critics as the best debut blues album of the year. Hill's range on his Steinberger guitar is awe-inspiring, and he'll often follow up a slow blues ballad with a fiery blues-rock shuffle that shows off his rock influences, people like Jeff Beck, Hendrix and Santana. Backed by a trio known as the Blues Mob, which consists of keyboards, bass and drums, Hill's live shows are an artful blend of originals and a few interpretive covers. Combine great guitar playing with a strong voice and thinking man's lyrics, and you've got all the ingredients for major blues stardom, and Michael Hill's Blues Mob are helping the idiom continue its evolution. They returned in 1998 with New York State of Blues. Cut loose frtom Alligator, Hill released Audience of One with Inthemix in 2000, Larger Than Life on Singular in 2001, a concert album called Electric Storyland Live on Ruf in 2003, and Black Gold and Goddesses Bold on JSP in 2005. © Richard Skelly, All Music Guide