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'Cornbread'By Cornbread

Porky Cohen – Rhythm & BonesPorky Cohen – Rhythm & Bones
{June 18, 1996 | Bullseye Blues}

Porky Cohen played with the Grammy-winners Roomful of Blues from 1981-1987, prior to that he recorded with jump-blues greats Big Joe Turner, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Jimmy Witherspoon and Earl King. From 1942 to 1950, Porky played with the big bands of Charlie Barnet, Tommy Dorsey, Lucky Millinder, Benny Goodman and more. Zalman "Porky" Cohen was born June 2, 1924, in Springfield, MA and died April 14, 2004 Providence, RI. His career covered jazz, blues, swing, big-band and Dixie-land.

Porky’s tracks are:

1. Don't Lose Your Cool (Albert Collins) – rock solid bass, great guitar playing. The song has a swing feel to it.

2. Jim Dog – a bit reminiscent of the 40’s swing.

3. Sent For You Yesterday - featuring Sugar Ray Norcia (Count Bassie) – classic rockabilly swing.

Porky Cohen4. Day Dream (Duke Ellington) – a mellow jazzy tune with nuttin but horns and some tasty chops on the piano.

5. Red Rock – jump blues swing and it's mighty fine.

6. Slidin' Horns – excuse my brief absence mama walked by, grabbed me by the hand and we danced briefly.

7. Walkin' with Mr Lee – I really like this track, there are two horns playing (kind of an echo effect), not like dueling banjos, tasteful and fast paced with bass shuffle.

8. Cloudburst is a Dixie-land tune, very Mardi Gras like.

9. D'Natural Blues – excellent bluesy piano shuffle with horns in lieu of vocals.

10. P.D.Q. Boogie – another fast paced tune, blues folks will dig the guitar parts.

11. Trombone Porky - featuring Michelle Willson – a sultry trombone jazz piece with playful vocals.

12. Do Anything You Wanna – Big Band Swing with clean muted horns that are far from dominating and over powerful.

13. Porky's Blues – is the 9th instrumental, this one is slower than the others, yet one of the better songs on the CD.

Porky plays well, very well, there is plenty of soul on these 13-tracks and first solo album that spans his memorable career. Yea, maybe I’m a lot biased, a Porky Cohen review written by Cornbread Cohen, but I have more than good reason to be. I’d classify this as big band blues. Don’t go and get this if you’re looking for red hot Chicago blues, get it if you like horn playing, big band sounds and excellent trombone that put Porky in a league of his own.

This review is dedicated from Cornbread & Porkchop Cohen to Porky Cohen, may he forever play on.

Ciao' for now, peace.
Peter 'Cornbread' Cohen, CBP

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