Kat Baloun & Tomi Leino Trio - She's Got It (2013)

Personnel:
Kat Baloun: vocals, harmonica
Tomi Leino: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Jaska Prepula: double bass, bass guitar, guitar
Mikko Peltola: drums

Born in El Paso, Texas in 1956 and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, singer-harmonica player Kat Baloun discovered her passion for blues music as a teenager. The passion grew again in the early 1990s, first in San Francisco and then from 1994 onwards in Berlin, where Baloun made her permanent home. Touring adventures across Europe finally brought her to Finland in 2010, when she found common ground with the Tomi Leino Trio. Two years later, the joint album "She's Got It" was released. Since then, Kat has returned to the country at regular intervals (most recently in July 2024), always accompanied by at least part of the same line-up.

One of the lady's recent visits was in the summer of 2023, when the performances were also recorded with a view to future publication. That time, only the perpetual motion bassist Jaska Prepula from Leino's trusted band made it. Along with him, guitarist Jonne Kulluvaara and drummer Juppo Paavola are responsible for the gig album recorded at Lossiranta in Angelniemi, Haliko, Salo. The recording in January 2024 was one of the last assignments of the late respected kapula artist that was immortalized until publication.

Baloun, who has a great sound both as a soloist and as a drummer, serves up a strong round of blues, rhythm'n'blues and soul blues on the CD. The set, which starts with his own brisk Jimmy Reed-style Can I Call You Honey shuffle, whips up a suitably unsophisticated flight, including Ruth Brown's jump-rumba 5-10-15 Hours , LaVern Baker's harsh gospel-driven Saved , Howlin' Wolf's How Many More Years and Freddy King's Sittin' On The Boat Dock . More regular members of the standard club appear in the form of Little Walter's Can't Hold Out Much Longer and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells' dance groove Snatch It Back And Hold It .

A slightly more recent era is symbolized by the swamp pop-tinged ballad Ain't No Hurry To Go Home, written by the Swede Allen Finney and previously covered by Sven Zetterberg, and, believe me, Beast Of Burden from The Rolling Stones' "Some Girls" album , which can also be tamed as a soulful stage interpretation in an exemplary way to its rooted blues stable. ~Pete Hoppula