The Blues & Soul Revue 1999 show (featuring Otis Clay, Jimmy Johnson, and A.C. Reed) took place in July and it was a great event. The guitarist for Otis Clay band was Shun Kikuta, a Chicago-based Japanese guitarist. Shun is very popular among blues fans in Japan, so it was a pleasant surprise for many of us. By the way, Shun has three fine solo albums released in Japan from King Records. He is right now preparing these albums to be released in the U.S. as well, so might be a good idea if you checked them out. They feature tracks with great guests such as Otis Rush, Koko Taylor and Junior Wells which are definitely worth hearing. He will also be releasing a set of videos here in September. It will include a blues tour guide of Chicago with him guiding your way. It will also have some guitar instructions by him.

P-Vine has released second batch (3CDs) of the Modern/Kent Blues Treasures series in June. "Blues Divas 1950's" feature Helen Humes, Little Esther, Zola Taylor, Dolly Cooper, and Donna Hightower. "West Coast Modern Blues 1960's Vol. 2" feature Arthur K. Adams, Sam Baker, Big Mama Thornton, Fillmore Slim, and Esther Williams (with Jimmy McCracklin). "Barrelhouse Rockin' Blues 1940's-1950's Vol. 2" features Little Willie Littlefield, Floyd Dixon, Johnny Otis, and Earl Curry. Lots of great and rare tracks here. I hear P-Vine is also preparing a new one by the Carter Brothers, the second album following the critically acclaimed comeback album "Coming Back Singing The Blues" in 1997. Watch out!

Now for the Japanese bands. Hooker, a band formed in 96, has their first full-length album released. It's titled "Blues Leave Me Alone" and includes some nice authentic covers of Chicago blues classics. Ban Ban Bazar released their forth album simply titled "4". It's a fine one featuring original tunes with flavors of good old jump & jive music. (some calypso, too!) I hear their CD release concert at the Club Quattro on July 2 was a huge success as well.

Arkansas Fats, a blues singer active around Tokyo and all over Japan since the 70's, died on June 17, after a long battle against illness.Fats was an African American singer who came to live in Japan from the States in the mid seventies.There will be a tribute concert for him at Jirokichi (a club he used to sing and hang around often) on August 10.

The feature article of the latest issue of Blues & Soul Records (No. 28, published on June 25, 1999) is the "Slide Guitarists of The Blues." It names many different types of slide players and analyzes their playing. The issue comes with a CD with lots of tracks featuring great slide guitars.Also in the issue are interview articles of Gatemouth Brown, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Popa Chubby. (7/29/99)