Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Magic Slim and the Teardrops: Black Tornado

95

Magic Slim and the Teardrops: Black Tornado

By

View read count
Magic Slim and the Teardrops: Black Tornado
Critics tend to overemphasize regional differences in blues styles, but I'll concede that Chicago blues can be particularly loose and low-down. Chicago blues is really Delta blues electrified, and Mississippi-born Magic Slim may be the genre's finest living purveyor.

You won't find a more authentic blues man than 61-year-old Magic Slim, whose given name is Morris Holt. A high-voltage guitarist and soulful singer, Slim honed his skills in his native Mississippi and then became a fixture in the Chicago blues scene after moving to the Windy City more than 30 years ago.

Black Tornado is loud, agreeably raucous, and extremely hard-rocking. Always a great cover band, Slim and the Teardrops play seven originals on this one, including four by the leader. The new tunes stand up very well next to great-sounding covers of "Still a Fool" (Muddy Waters), "It's Alright" (Houndog Taylor) and "Bad Intentions" (Joe Scott).

Slim may not be the flashiest guitarist around, but his tremulous solos and crunching chords are refreshingly raw. Plus, his rough-hewn vocal delivery is downright captivating. I absolutely love it when he growls a la Howlin' Wolf, and it doesn't hurt that the Teardrops form one of the tightest blues ensembles on the planet. The band consists of Slim's brother Nick Holt on bass and background vocals, Michael Dotson on guitar, and Allen Kirk on drums. Slim's son Shawn Holt also plays guitar on "Young Man's Blues."

Everything works on this one, but the best tracks are the slow and smoldering "Still A Fool," the country-influenced instrumental "Black Tornado" the fast and furious "Magic Boogie," and the classic-sounding "I Can't Trust My Woman."

Black Tornado has the unvarnished intensity of a superlative Chicago blues recording. It's simply the most electrifying blues release I've heard so far this year.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Black Tornado | Year Released: 1999 | Record Label: Blind Pig Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.