(Blues / Harp) Jason Ricci - Down At The Juke - 1997, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

JASON RICCI & NEW BLOOD

Born Jason Joseph Ricci, February 3rd 1974 in Portland Maine. A four-year-old Jason
was randomly digging near a bird fountain in the front yard of his parent’s large home in
Falmouth Maine. While Digging he unearthed a small, black, wooden, gargoyle that
oddly showed no signs of deterioration or damage from its years in the cold Maine
ground. The black solid Idol stood about eight inches high and around 3 inches wide and
terrified Ricci’s father. All who came in contact with this strange wooden archetype were
perplexed by its story and feared it’s demonic features and evil grin. The young Jason
Ricci however kept it near him always, he felt it’s forces as part of his own and it stood
on his nightstand whenever he slept. The Gargoyle’s presence only comforted the boy
until it’s mysterious disappearance a year or so after it’s excavation. One night many
years later when Jason was 21, he was in between bands and living back with his mother
in Maine again. He wandered down the stairs at Three AM to find his mother still awake.
They began to converse and some how the subject of the dark idol came up again for the
first time since it’s loss some sixteen years before. Ricci asked his mother if she knew
what had happened to the gargoyle? His mother sighed and waited a moment, she told the
young man she didn’t know what actually had happened to the statue but that she thought
Ricci’s father had some how gotten rid of it. She then paused again, taking a deep breath
and she looked her son in the eyes and said: “You know Jason Joseph Ricci, the strange
thing about that gargoyle is: when I was a little girl growing up in Connecticut I dug up a
wooden gargoyle just like that one in my yard too.

Ricci was tormented with a turbulent childhood riddled with his parent’s divorce,
alcoholism, institutions, a controversial and very public national court case involving Joe
Ricci, Jason’s father and numerous occasions of a youthful Ricci running away for home
for weeks sometimes moths at a time. The young man at the age of 17 was already a
budding performer having worked the club circuit in Portland with various punk bands
and had been playing harmonica and singing with a growing interest in the blues. Before
he was 18 he quit school, got a GED and ran away for good heading west to Idaho for a
short-lived colleges study of wild life management.

During this time Ricci honed his skills working as a musician, student, convenience store
clerk, dry cleaner, day laborer and a doorman at a little Blues club called The Blues
Bouquet in Boise. In between his formal studies at college and his part time blues
apprenticeship at the club he devoured books by Joseph Campbell, Jung, Castaneda,
Pascal, Kerouac, Burroughs’s, Ginsberg and the essays, articles, records and books of
Timothy Leary, which lead him directly to Tibetan Buddhism. When not on mystical
journeys into the mountains and the mind Jason Ricci was hanging out after shows, back
in hotel rooms or at parties at the feet of the touring pro’s who had worked the club that
night. Ricci refined his harmonica playing and singing under the changing, nightly
guidance of modern blues masters such as: Mark Hummel, Madison Slim, Sam Lay, and
many others who passed through the club. Jason also joined his first blues band at this
time called Street Wise and toured the North West doing a short lived stint with former
John Lee Hooker bassist Jimmy Lloyd Rea as well.

After a few years in college in Idaho Jason gave up his previous aspirations in the field of
wild life management to move to Memphis TN and informally study harmonica with
Johnny Winter side man Pat Ramsey. Almost immediately after moving to Memphis in
1995, Jason won the Sonny Boy Blues Society Blues Contest at 21 beating out some
heavy competition including a young Michael Burks. Ricci had made a journey that day
to what was left of Sonny Boy’s old house in Helena and made an attempt to
communicate with the spirit of the great harmonica player taking a piece of rubble from
the foundation and keeping it in his pocket during the show. Ricci later competed in the
International Blues Competition representing Arkansas and went on to perform under his
own name for the first time at the famed King Biscuit Blues festival.
Jason’s study with his mentor Pat Ramsey was cut short by a job offer that came by way
of Junior Kimbrough’s oldest son David. Jason moved to Pot’s camp Mississippi. While
living with David, Ricci played full time with David’s band, Junior Kimbrough, RL
Burnside, Duane Burnside, Kenny Brown and countless others at impromptu juke joint
Sundays and various clubs around the south. Ricci released his first solo album that year
on his friend Billy Gibson’s North Magnolia Music label.

Ricci later left Junior's band to start his own group in Jackson Mississippi with guitarist
Eric Deaton (RL Burnside, Kimbrough, T-Model, Afrosippie). With this outing Ricci and
Deaton toured most the southern states, backed up Big Bad Smitty who lived with the
two young men during the time. In 1997 Jason released his second album for North
Magnolia Music label “Down at the Juke” largely inspired by the North Mississippi
sound and some years earlier than the North Mississippi Al Stars formation. This album
also featured Guitarist Enrico Crivellaro who Ricci had toured Europe with earlier that
year. Also that year Ricci performed numerous times as a member of the House Rockers
at the legendary Juke joint The Subway Lounge.

Although Jason Ricci’s name was growing steadily and his career seemed on the rise
Ricci was haunted buy figurative and what he still feels as actual literal demons perhaps
left from the wooden gargoyle. Ricci turned to self-medicating to deal with the failure of
repeated relationships, his struggle with his sexuality, the stress of the music business and
numerous spiritual and family related issues. After a battle with drugs and alcohol, which
left Ricci, imprisoned for one year in Florida Jason began to rebuild his earthly and
spiritual life. The now sober musician, clear headed, took a break from the music
business waited tables, sold records at a used music store and worked for the popular
Florida based local band called the Nuckle Busters as well as Acoustic Guitarist and
singer Keith Brown. Ricci recorded several records while in Florida “Keep On Moving”
by Keith Brown, Road rage by The Nucklebusters and others as well as the well received
blues CD “Feel Good Funk” under his own name. During his stint in the Nucklebusters
band in the year 2000 Ricci won The Mars Music National Harmonica Contest beating
out 1000 other competitors and winning a host of prizes and popular performance slots.
A refocused Ricci began a new probation free life in Nashville Tn in 2001 when he took
his first national touring gig with Zydeco, blues rockers Big Al and the Heavy Weights.
Ricci garnered excellent national press with this band and Blues Access Magazine
published a four page article about him titled: “Playing from the Heart” which author DR.
Adam Gussow writes: “I am convinced Ricci along with New Jersey’s Dennis Gruenling
is the best harmonica player of his generation. Jason Played all over the country,
appeared twice on Emeril Legassi’s cable show “Emeril Live”, Picked up numerous
endorsements and learned how to book, manage, and run a band by watching the self
made Big Al Lauro.

In 2002 Jason Ricci left Big Al and The Heavy Weights and bravely came out of the
closet as the first openly gay blues musician starting his own nationally touring road band
Jason Ricci and New Blood. The band toured heavily 300 days a year, year after year. In
2004 for three weeks the bands hard worked paid off when a bootlegged recording from a
Jersey club (Mexacali Blues) was the most down loaded live show in the world over the
Grateful Dead, Phish and other popular jam bands clocking over 21,000 thousand down
loads in two weeks. The same year they released a live album titled “Live at Checkers
Tavern.” In 2005 Jason Ricci won the Muddy Waters Award for most promising new
talent and later in 2006 the band released the CD: “Blood On The Road”. “Blood On The
Road” was an independently produced CD that topped the XM radio charts as a top ten
“Pick For Click” for a solid month that year and sold over 12,000 copies from the stage
alone. The Independent CD Blood On The Road was also listed in the Mercury News as
the top ten albums of 2007 along side Green day and Prince. 2007 saw the band
nominated for band of the year by Blues Wax Magazine and had the group expanding
into Canada and Europe.

Jason Ricci and New Blood have always been a unit, a band and a collective group. There
was one bass player before Todd “Buck Weed” Edmonds, MR. Slim Louis and the band
has had at least four full time drummers over the years but t group has always grown
together, written together and no one member is or has ever been musically in charge.
“Buck Weed” has been a driving force in the Jazz-fusion styled arrangements of the band
as well as a contributing songwriter. Todd Buck Weed Edmonds Plays Tuba, Upright
Bass, Electric Bass, and Bass Harmonica and for the most part has been as much a part of
this group as Ricci himself. On that note Shawn Starski has been in the group from within
it’s first year on the road and his star has risen on it’s own right within and beyond new
Blood itself and Shawn has written on his own and with Ricci the bulk of the groups play
list. Touring, writing and performing together over 300 days a year since 2002 had this
band tight and ready and in 2008 they were given their first big chance when they were
signed by Rand Chortkoff to Eclecto Groove Records a subsidiary of Delta Groove
Records. 2008 saw Jason Ricci and new Blood releasing their first in stores everywhere
album: “Rocket Number Nine.” Rocket Number Nine was produced by multiple Grammy
award winning producer John Porter (The Smiths, Los Lonely Boys, Clapton etc.) and
climbed the Billboard Blues Charts to arrive at Number Four for multiple weeks as well
making the “Pick to Click top ten on XM and Sirius Radio charts again and was chosen
as album of the year by Gibson Guitars. The press was hefty too with a feature story and
interview with Jason in Blues Review Magazine, and Shawn Starski being nominated as
one of “The Top Ten Hottest New guitar Players In The World” by Guitar Player
Magazine. Ricci remained an in demand studio musician as usual with guest appearances
on Albums with Cedric Burnside and Lighting Malcolm’s CD: “Two Man Wrecking
Crew”, Motor City Josh’s: “Tribute to Howling Wolf”, and Walter Trout’s CD “The
Outsider” among others. Later in 2008 Ricci would join Walter in Europe on tour with
his band The Radicals for some critically acclaimed shows and a partnership that
continues today.

In 2009 Jason Ricci and New Blood finished up work on their latest offering for the
Eclecto Groove label titled “Done With The Devil”. This is their most ambitious album
yet produced by Grammy Award winner Phil Wolfe (Alabama) featuring ten original
songs by the band and two covers spanning the distance between Sun Ra and the Misfits.
The CD like Rocket Number Nine is an even greater expansion on an eclectic mix of
Rock, Blues, Jazz, fusion, folk, funk, eastern, carnival, punk and jazz often within one
tune or solo for that matter. Lyrically Jason expands on some of the drug abuse related
themes of Rocket Number Nine in this new outing but ventures further away from the
egoless Tibetan Buddhist influence lyrics on songs like Loving Eyes and takes a
decidedly darker and more esoteric approach to spirituality on Done With The Devil.
2009 had Ricci and company up for a second nomination for “Band of the Year” by
Blues Wax Magazine, Jason won The Blues Critic’s award for “Harmonica Player of the
Year” beating his heroes Rick Estrin, Mark Hummel, Steve Guyger, Billy Gibson an
Willie Big Eyes Smith, Ricci also stole a literary award for ”Article of the Year” from
Blues Wax Magazine, and biggest of all he has been nominated for the first time for the
B.M.A. (Formerly Handy) Award for Best Instrumentilist: harmonica. Shawn Starski
signed an endorsement for Category 5 Amplifiers has agreed to interview with Vintage
Guitar Magazine and is in constant demand from gear companies all over the world to
play their equipment.

In the end awards, history and accolades aside Jason Ricci and New Blood are an organic
band that plays music together, beyond musical category, adhering to no rules or genres
restrictions, fusing the forces of good and evil, light and dark and positive and negative
into an alchemy of spirit evoking, musical sorcery that stirs emotions, provokes thought,
bends will and channels demons and angels nightly before falling asleep unafraid next to
black wooden gargoyles dug up from the cold ground.#777#777

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 13. June 2009, 15:12

Jason Ricci / Down At The Juke

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1 | 0:00.00 | 3:51.07 | 0 | 17331
2 | 3:51.07 | 3:41.20 | 17332 | 33926
3 | 7:32.27 | 4:17.25 | 33927 | 53226
4 | 11:49.52 | 6:09.30 | 53227 | 80931
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9 | 39:23.02 | 5:41.23 | 177227 | 202824
10 | 45:04.25 | 6:21.30 | 202825 | 231429
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REM GENRE Blues
REM DATE 1997
REM DISCID 800DEE0B
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.99pb4"
PERFORMER "Jason Ricci"
TITLE "Down At The Juke"
FILE "01 - Down At The Juke.wav" WAVE
TRACK 01 AUDIO
TITLE "Down At The Juke"
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TITLE "Shakey's Jump"
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INDEX 00 03:48:40
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TITLE "Delta Dip"
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TRACK 05 AUDIO
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FILE "07 - Can't Close Our Eyes.wav" WAVE
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