Sugar Blue | Threshold (Coming Jan. 10th 2010)

Known for harmonica work on Rolling Stones’ “Miss You, ” Blue branches out with new album, out January 26, 2010

NEW
YORK, N.Y. — “We have chosen the title Threshold because the tunes open
new musical territory for us, ” says bluesman Sugar Blue of his new
album, due out January 26, 2010 on Beeble Music. The album follows the
acclaimed 2007 album Code Blue, which hinted at a widening musical
path.

In addition to Sugar Blue on harmonica and vocals,
Threshold features guitarist Rico McFarland (Albert King, Otis Clay,
Syl Johnson, James Cotton, Lucky Peterson); guitarist Moto Makino (Los
Lobos); Noel Neal, bass; James Knowles, drums; and Ilaria Lantieri,
bass; with guests Bill Dickens, the “Buddha of Bass” (Stevie Wonder,
Aretha Franklin, Janet Jackson, George Michael, Jerry Harrison) and
percussionist Samuel Torres (Pancho Sanchez, Tito Puente, Chick Corea,
Pete Escovedo). The album, produced by Sugar Blue, was recorded in both
Chicago and Tokyo.

The nine original songs were co-written by
Blue with Lantieri and Makino and range from blues to rock, funk, jazz
and ballads. “Stop the War” is a cry for peace punctuated by Dickens’
bass line. “Cotton Tree” is an homage to living blues harmonica legend
James Cotton, mentor to Sugar Blue as well as hundreds of harp players
worldwide. “Noel News” celebrates the strength of the people of New
Orleans. “Ramblin’” is a duet featuring Blue on both harmonica and
Chromonica, a bass harp. The album also contains two covers: “Messin’
With the Kid” by Junior Wells and “Trouble, ” the Lieber &
Stoller-penned Elvis Presley hit. A spoken interview with Blue finishes
the CD.

The Grammy Award-winning harmonica virtuoso was born
James Whiting in Harlem, New York. Influenced by artists as diverse as
Lester Young and Bob Dylan, Blue began his career playing on the
streets, and later recorded with Brownie McGhee, Roosevelt Sykes and
Victoria Spivey. He relocated to France on the advice of expatriate
Memphis Slim, and while there hooked up with the Rolling Stones, who
invited him to play on their Some Girls, Emotional Rescue and Tattoo
You albums. Offered an indefinite session spot with the band, he turned
down the offer in favor of returning to the U.S. Before leaving Europe,
he recorded two albums, Crossroads and From Paris to Chicago.

In
Chicago, Blue worked with and learned from harmonica legends Big Walter
Horton, Carey Bell, James Cotton and Junior Wells. He played in the
Chicago Blues All-Stars with friend and mentor Willie Dixon and
contributed to Dixon’s Grammy-winning 1988 album Hidden Charms. He sat
in with Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Jerry Lee Lewis for the Cinemax
special Fats Domino and Friends. And he appeared onscreen and in the
musical score of Alan Parker’s acclaimed 1987 thriller Angel Heart,
starring Robert De Niro. Best known for his signature riff on the
Rolling Stones’ “Miss You, ” Blue performed his own version of the song
on his 1993 Alligator Records album Blue Blazes, followed up with In
Your Eyes.

As to how the name Sugar Blue came to be, “I needed
a nickname and all the good ones were taken — Muddy Waters, Blind
Lemon, Sonny Boy, ” Blue explains. “One night a friend and I were
leaving a Doc Watson concert when somebody threw out of the window a
box full of old 78s. I picked one up and it said ‘Sugar Blues’ by
Sidney Bechet. That’s it! I thought it was perfect. So here I am.”

Sugar
Blue incorporates what he has learned into his visionary and singular
style, technically dazzling yet wholly soulful. He bends, shakes and
spills flurries of notes with simultaneous precision and abandon. And
he sings too. His distinctive throat tends to be overlooked — a rich
voice with a whisper of huskiness.