Harlem guitarist/composer/singer Solomon Hicks delivers another showcase of his heady signature blend of blues, jazz, soul, funk and gospel on new album, How Did I Ever Get This Blue? on Provogue Records.
A SOLID APPRENTICESHIP
Born in Harlem in 1995, Composer, singer and guitarist extraordinaire Solomon Hicks served an early apprenticeship at The Harlem School of Arts and the Jazzmobile educational programme. But, he’ll be the first to tell you that his trade was really learned by racking up the hours in the clubs and bars of NYC. The Cotton Club, The BB King Blues Club, Harlem’s New Amsterdam Musical Association and, of course, The Apollo Theatre: Solomon Hicks played them all as he honed his skills and mastered his craft.
It was Solomon’s appearances at The Cotton Club – fabled stamping ground of Duke Ellington – that led to Solomon’s debut album, Embryonic, released in 2010, when Solomon was just 15 years old. How Did I Ever Get This Blue? will be Solomon’s fifth album and it follows in the tracks of his 2020 offering, Harlem. Like Harlem, How Did I Ever Get This Blue? is a mix of Solomon Hicks original numbers and some of the most imaginative reinterpretations of otherwise familiar songs that you’re ever likely to hear.
A HANDPICKED BUNCH
Solomon’s music is a blend of blues, jazz, soul, funk and gospel and, like Harlem, How Did I Ever Get This Blue? is a showcase for that signature recipe. His breathtaking, bluesy, guitar is augmented by a hand-picked bunch of musicians that includes Kevin McCormick on bass, French vocalist Bénabar, Joanna Connor on slide guitar, Tommy Mandel on keyboards, Keith Shocklee on drum programs, John Nemeth on harmonica, Les Warner on drums and Frank Amato on vocals. The sound is tight, accomplished and perfectly-balanced.
RADICAL REINTERPRETATIONS
It’s Solomon’s rework of the Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland song, Further On Up the Road that gets How Did I Ever Get This Blue? off to a flying start. Solomon’s smooth guitar sound occupies that reassuring middle-ground between blues and jazz and there’s a passion in the vocals that allow the band to claim full ownership of the song. Reflecting upon this reinterpretation, Solomon says: “I feel like I’m in Memphis when I Hear the Bobby ‘ Blue’ Bland version – it just had a really nice mid-tempo feel, like I’m driving in the car. I didn’t want to take the song away from its roots, but it just sounds like we’re bringing it up to date. It sounds more like New York City than a studio down south. It’s more polished. But it gets right to the point with the guitar and vocals. It wastes no time getting you into that.”
And, as we’ll see, that’s an approach that’s used to excellent effect throughout this album.
The fluid, punchy rhythm and blues theme is continued for Dimples, with the band disciplined and restrained – at least until they reach the cascade of notes that conclude each verse of the song, before Solomon’s talent for radical reinterpretation is exercised once again for the version of John Lee Hooker’s Driftin’ and Driftin’. A song beloved of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, it’s presented here as a heavy, heavy, blues number, with a whole new batch of lyrics.
ON FIRE
And, speaking of radical reworkings, Solomon and the band give a new lease of life to All Your Love (I Miss Lovin’), a slightly sinister reimagining of Otis Rush’s 1956 classic that’s laced with simmering fuzzed-up guitars. The version of Johnny Copeland’s Flyin’ High (Yesterday) is tight as a drum, with a melodic vocal and a rich sound from the band, before Solomon really comes into his own for the album’s title track. The band are on fire by this stage, with John Nemeth’s howling harmonica and sprinkles of piano from Tommy Mandel providing the highlights. And the vocals have an easy intimacy, alongside a good dose of bluesy anguish.
I’m Burnin’ Up is another of Solomon’s own songs, but the sound here is very different, with soaring guitar and a driving drumbeat taking the mood away from the bluesy comfort zone, to explore territory that is altogether rockier. But that’s just a short excursion; the interpretation of Bruno Mars’ When I Was You Man represents a comfortable return to the sleek, fluent, blues that is the bedrock of How Did I Ever Get This Blue? An excellent, tuneful, guitar solo provides the intro, before the mood switches to soulful sophistication. Kevin McCormick’s bass is rock-solid and Tommy’s organ provides a smooth counterpoint to Solomon’s rampaging guitar.
THE PENNY WILL DROP…
A rocky rhythm, piercing guitar licks and pulsing bass add an edge that’s almost punky to the imaginative rework of Adele’s Rumour Has It. Slide guitar complements Solomon’s lighting-fast soloing and the pace is relentless. But that pace is dialed right back for the version of John Hiatt’s Feels Like Rain, the album’s most soulful track. There’s a nice blend of acoustic guitar and synth string effects, with the soulful richness coming from Kevin’s well-considered basslines – and it’s all topped off by a grand, cacophonous, finale.
If you’ve got this far and haven’t yet realized what a top-notch rhythm and blues band should really sound like, I’m certain that the penny will drop with Memphis Tennessee, the album’s sharp, poppy, singalong, closing track. It’s magnificent, and Solomon makes his guitar licks sound so very effortless; almost as though his guitar is an extension of his body!
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
“I want to shock people,” says Solomon, with a megawatt smile across his face. “It’s great to be alive in a time when I can reach back into the past but also be inspired by the now and the future. With How Did I Ever Get This Blue? I wanted to showcase where my ear, my head and my guitar playing is at right now.”
That’s a big tick in the ‘Mission Accomplished’ box, I reckon.
Watch the official video to Further On Up the Road – the album’s opening track – below:
Solomon Hicks: Website