The Charles Walker Bluesband, from Wisconsin, is at home in all blues and R&B styles. Leader and saxophonist Charles Walker and the fantastic singer Miss Shanna Jackson unify the sound. Charles Walker has written all the music on this CD. Miss Shanna Jackson is a singer in the style of Koko Taylor and Shemekia Copeland, with a powerful, soulful voice, with which she brings freedom and strong feeling to the very different styles of music on the CD. Surprising guitarist Emre Alp, which you can see by his name already, is no American, but is a Turk, and plays the blues "with more" feeling than much of his colleagues from, for example, Texas or Chicago who I have already worked with and heard. Such as I already said, variety is the trump card of this CD, from stamping boogies ("Queen Bee", no, not the well-known cover) to very somber ("Holdin Out") and everything in between. The beautiful sax sound of Charles and the Hammond organ of Rob Waters lay down a beautiful basis for the rhythm and lead work of Emre and the real blues singer, Miss Shanna Jackson. A must listen is the beautiful slow blues "Ain't No Doors" with brilliant roles from the Hammond of Rob Waters, but especially the rhythm of Emre Alp. They create a link to how well they perform live because included on the CD is one live number, "Gamblin On Love", and there is no noticeable difference with the studio-live quality. Also the press is unanimously praising the band, concerning their performance in live shows. "These guys are really good," is a quote from Mr. Robert Cray which saw the group at the Barrymoore, where he was headlining act. Not to be repetitive, but there is beauty in these "The World & Things".

Ron