Jimi Bott - Bott & Paid For! - 2006

Product Description: Recorded live all on one rainy night in Portland, this CD represents just a small portion of this huge well of talent and hopefully is just the beginning of what will become a series that will bring “Blues From The Great NW” to the rest of the world.

Review: Jimi Bott’s last CD was the excellent “Cheap Thrills” – a (mostly) live set that featured blues big-hitters like Rod Piazza, Fabulous Thunderbirds and Jr Watson. “Bott & Paid For!” only boasts one artist who would fit into that category, Paul delay – but don’t let that put you off as Marco Savo, Jim Wallace and Suburban Slim may lack the big-name status – but – their talent is undeniable and the music is pure class.
As on “Cheap Thrills”, Jimi Bott gives a master-class in blues drumming – enhancing every track with his innate sense of timing and rhythm, and his ability to provide the featured artist with the perfect canvas on which to lay down their personal vision of the blues.
This set was recorded live, in one evening, at Duff’s Garage, Portland, Oregon, and is divided into four sets – one for each of the featured front-men.
The first set features Suburban Slim (Phil Wagner) – an artist blessed with a deeply soulful voice and an eccentrically manic guitar style that is displayed in all it’s glory on “Jumpin’ With Jimi” – a slab of “blues-surf” that echoes with twangy reverberating guitar licks. “Your Eyes (Give You Away” is a vibrant meld of old-fashioned rock’n’roll and blues replete with wild guitar – whilst (OH) I’m Slippin’ In” is a slinky shuffle laced with twangy string-bending and deLay’s organ-like harp.
Set 2 introduces harp player Jim Wallace who opens Little Walter’s “Blue Midnight” with a “Reveille” like harp intro – his moody, fat-toned harp complemented to perfection by beautifully understated guitar from Marco Savo and AC Porter. “Kiss Me Or Cuss Me” and James Harman’s “My First Crime” are both Harman inspired stompers replete with moaning harp and Kid Ramos inflected guitar – “Rockinitis” does exactly that, Wallace’s Billy Boy Arnold styled harp underpinned by Latinesque guitar and drums – whilst “The Alchemist” features a superb extended drum intro from Bott.
The Third Set features Paul delay, whose unique harmonica style is always instantly recognizable and an undeniable pleasure to listen to. Delay opens with Jimmy Reed’s “(Oh Baby) You Don’t Have to Go”, transforming it into a soulful blues masterpiece oozing with fluid, inventive harp, hot guitar and sleazy blues vocals. “Leave Me Alone” is an anguished deep blues replete with cascading piano and stunning interplay between shimmering guitar and melancholy harp – whilst “(Funky) Tin Pan Alley” is a superb blues that does exactly as it “says on the tin”.
Set 4 is sub-titled the Jam and is billed as Marco Savo & Friends these being Paul delay, Suburban Slim, Dave Kahl and of course Jimi Bott. The band plays two instrumentals “Bott & Paid For! (A Tribute To Tiny (Grimes))” and “Toothache”. These are both swinging instrumentals featuring the smooth jazz inflected fretwork of Savo and the more cutting edged intensity of Slim allied to deLay’s superb harp which melds the influences of Larry Adler and George Smith – bringing a fine end to a highly recommended set.