The Mighty Blue Kings - Meet Me In Uptown

Album: Meet Me In Uptown
Size: 97,5 MB
Time: 42:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1996
Styles: Jump Blues/Swing
Art: Full

1. Jumpin' At The Green Mill (4:06)
2. Baby Drives Me Wild (2:18)
3. Grinnin' Like A Chessy Cat (3:27)
4. Loose Lips (2:02)
5. Cadillac Boogie (3:13)
6. Buzz Buzz Buzz (3:07)
7. Big Mamou (3:32)
8. Honey Chile Jump (3:03)
9. Spark Of My Life (4:19)
10. In The Night (3:36)
11. Meet Me In Uptown (2:59)
12. Rag Mop (3:18)
13. Pink Cadillac (2:23)
14. Tenor Madness (0:30)

Yet another band to emerge out of the '90s swing revival scene, but these guys came out before Brian Setzer hit it big, before the movie Swingers was ever scripted and before those Gap ads taught us how to "Jump, Jive an' Wail." It's safe to say that Chicago's Mighty Blue Kings were ahead of their time before any trend bandwagon hit. And with their debut Meet Me in Uptown, these guys are playing smooth without any big-budget production or high energy.

Instead, this record has more of a laid-back, bluesy feel with production that sounds as if it was recorded in the 1940s. But it's not like this album is undanceable - it still swings hard. And with that, the Mighty Blue Kings prove that a modern-day swing band can capture the authenticity of how the music was meant to sound. /Mike DaRonco, AllMusic

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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The Mighty Blue Kings - Alive In The City

Year: 2001
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:23
Size: 88,8 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Scans: Full

1. Tryin' To Have A Good Time (3:28)
2. Lonely For Your Love (2:23)
3. Alive In The City (3:02)
4. Devils On My Back (3:18)
5. Will It Go Round In Circles (3:48)
6. My Heart Is True (3:29)
7. Ain't No Fun To Me (2:50)
8. Call Me Honey (3:04)
9. How Long, How Long (4:50)
10. Your Good Thing (4:19)
11. Gimme Love (3:46)

Ross Bon was part of the Chicago music scene beginning in 1992 as a harmonica player and vocalist. He recorded with artists such as Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Buddy Scott, Pinetop Perkins, Junior Wells, Dave Specter, James Cotton and Kim Wilson. In 1995, he joined with guitarist Gareth Best, bassist Jimmy Sutton, drummer Bob Carter, pianist Donny Nichilo and saxophonists Samuel Burckhardt and Jerry DeVivo to form the Mighty Blue Kings. They made their debut performance opening for the late Junior Wells at Buddy Guy's legends in Chicago; and followed up with a weekly residence at Chicago jazz club The Green Mill. Later, the band toured the US.

The band's lineup for their 1997 release, Come One, Come All, consisted of Bon, Best, DeVivo on drums, bassist Brett Simons, keyboardist Simon Sweet and saxophonists Jonathan Doyle and Mark Colby. The band released two studio albums, Meet Me In Uptown (1995), and Come One, Come All (R-Jay Records). Together, they sold over 100,000 copies, with the latter having debuted in the top ten on Billboard's Blues Album chart.

They subsequently released three additional albums, Live From Chicago, (reaching #14 on Billboard's Blues Album charts), the holiday record, The Christmas Album and Alive In The City. The Mighty Blue Kings disbanded around 2001. In early 2010 Ross Bon formed a new band under the name, Ross Bon & The Mighty Blue Kings. /Wikipedia

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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The Mighty Blue Kings - Come One, Come All

Year: 1997
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:31
Size: 80,7 MB
Styles: Jump blues, swing
Scans: Front, tray

1. I Can't Stop It (2:55)
2. Baby You Rich (2:16)
3. Go Tell The Preacher (2:55)
4. Little Too Late (2:37)
5. Put Your Hand In Mine (2:50)
6. Looking For My Baby (2:53)
7. What's A Man To Do (2:21)
8. Don't Let Go (3:02)
9. Got The Sun Shining On Me (2:30)
10. Long Distance Lover (3:38)
11. No Blow, No Show (3:40)
12. Green Grass Grows All Around (2:50)

The Mighty Blue Kings turn out retro-swing like the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Royal Crown Revue, but there's a crucial difference - the group concentrates on jump blues, not swing, unlike so many of their contemporaries. They also tend to be more musically skilled than many of their peers, which gives them more blues credibility. Come One, Come All, the group's second album, still sounds a little stiff compared to classic jump blues, but it's still an entertaining record.

Lead vocalist/songwriter Ross Bon has a fairly good melodic sense, and the group has a lot of fun just playing music. Fortunately, that translates to a good time on record as well, and even if the Mighty Blue Kings aren't quite authentic, they have a good time and make sure their audience does too. And that's about all you need from a retro-swing, retro-jump blues record. /Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic

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The Mighty Blue Kings - Live From Chicago

Year: 1998
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:11
Size: 110,7 MB
Styles: Retro swing, jump blues
Scans: Full

1. Buzz Me (3:58)
2. Money's Gettin' Cheaper (4:02)
3. Baby Drives Me Wild (2:19)
4. Manic Depression (2:43)
5. Grinnin' Like A Chessy Cat (4:58)
6. Buzz, Buzz, Buzz (3:29)
7. Green Grass Grows All Around (4:50)
8. Sunshine In The Rain (3:03)
9. Meet Me In Uptown (2:48)
10. Little Too Late (3:01)
11. Don't Let Go (3:56)
12. Big Mamou (3:00)
13. Rag Mop (4:58)

So much of the retro-swing craze is defined by its dynamic performance aesthetic: this stuff doesn't warm you up, it fires you off. Live-gig swing albums thus make sense in ways that studios can't quite capture. The Mighty Blue Kings' lusty, athletic, and completely up-to-the-minute lounge act contributes a vocally dominant, more jazz-based Chicago sound than its, say, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy counterpart. Singer Ross Bon, a competent blues-harp player who contributed to a 1996 Willie Smith album (as did Kings guitarist Gareth Best) fronts this band with decisive adult vocals and a watch-me-work-people onstage attitude. He pulls it off: the audience contributes almost as much on "Buzz Buzz Buzz" as the band. "Manic Depression" has an inclusive, big-band feel, while the clarinet moments on "Big Mamou" round out a boisterous valentine to rock & roll that could have topped charts in the 1960s. Live From Chicago -- featuring cuts from the studio releases Come One, Come All and Meet Me In Uptown, is a timely and intelligent move in the timely and intelligent career of the Kings, who are competent and savvy enough to outlast the bangles of the fad and ride the rails wherever it goes from here. /Becky Byrkit, AllMusic

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