Soul Bag Magazine - Paris, Fr.
review by Eric Doidy / June 2008 issue
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Przemek Draheim, music dir.
Radio SFERA, Poland, Feb 08
This is the music I love so much, blues that is down and dirty, not polish or handsome, but real and Little Freddie is the real deal! His voice tells a lot about him – I can tell he learned his blues the hard way but he learned it well. His guitar chops and fills are deep in the groove and you can’t help but move. He sounds a bit like Lightnin’ Hopkins playing Fat Possum, a bit lazy but with a certain twist, something you can’t learn from records. What also impressed me is you guys, the backing band. I wasn’t surprised when I saw the same line-up on Messin’ Around Tha House as the last cd – the band understand Freddie’s music so well and bring him a perfect and steady foundation, in both, rhythm section duties and harp playing. The real blues is alive and well, hell yeah!
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MESSIN' AROUND THA HOUSE
(MADEWRIGHT RECORDS, 2008)
Little Freddie King Returns
posted by Greg "Doc" Lefebre
27 Mar Doc@Jazz901.org Rochester, NY
When Lightin’ Hopkins is your cousin and you’ve played with such greats as Slim Harpo, the expectations are going to be high. Little Freddie King delivers again on his new release, “Messin’ Around The House” (MadeWright Records). Originally from Mississippi, Little Freddie is mainly known as the local “Blues-Guitar Legend” of New Orleans, where he currently resides. Aside from the three remix tracks by D.J. Martin Tino Gross (Detroit’s Howling Diablos fame), this is a down and dirty straight forward blues CD that needs to be heard. “Wacko” Wade Wright who doubles as producer and drummer on the CD has really captured the soul of Freddie’s music. If you liked the R.L. Burnside remix CDs or you like to hit the treadmill, the remix tunes will do right by you. My favorites tracks are when Freddie just lays back and lets his 68 years of living and playing the blues come alive. Yes his name comes from being compared to the late great Freddie King, who Little Freddie actually had the chance to play bass with during a stop in New Orleans. The excitement of this new release continues as Little Freddie King has lined up some touring outside New Orleans. He’ll be at the Crawfish Festival in Augusta, NJ - Memorial Day Weekend. If you can’t make that then plan on catching him at his usual Spring Stops , the French Quarter Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival & The Ponderosa Stomp.
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Roger & Margaret White, music review
Big City Rhythm & Blues Mag. / Apr. 08
Messin" Around tha House, it's not just a showcase for the old blues, but the future of the blues as well... Freddie doesn't just play the blues; he is the blues you've heard about and thought has been washed away... Little Freddie is one of the last true Delta blues men playing what he calls "Gut Bucket Blues".
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YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I KNOW (FAT POSSUM RECORDS)
"You never quite know what you're going to get when the Fat Possum label introduces a new artist to the mix, but the brain trust of Matthew Johnson and Bruce Watson never fails to come up big. Little Freddie King might be the luckiest find yet, if You Don't Know What I Know is any indication. This is certainly one of the best blues albums of 2005, one that will hypnotize and move your body." Lou Freidman / PopMatters
"Bluesman like Little Freddie King are, unfortunately, a disappearing breed, which makes this disc important both as a good-time blast of backstreet grit and as a document of an artist who is among the last of his kind.
David Whities / Living Blues Magazine
"I don't know exactly where to start because I'm beside myself with enthusiasm for every track. Once again Fat Possum have discovered a long forgotten blues man of the old school and produced yet another dynamic album of the real thing." Red Lick Records / England
SING SANG SUNG (ORLEANS RECORDS)
"You have to love a guy who puts his life out there for the world to chew on, especially if he's a Bluesman, and Little Freddie King, hailed on the jewel case as 'one of the last great country-blues players' is certainly that...King's fantastically sleazy pawn-shop leads drip all over songs like cheap grease and cigar smoke." Robert Fontenot / Offbeat Magazine
"Rough and ready... You can hear it in his original "Bucket of Blood", a spoken poetry of the blues. It's apt that compelling live set was recorded at the Dream Place in New Orleans, because here is music that will enthall the Urban blues fan. SSS is highly recommended."
David Lewis / Cadence Magazine.
SWAMP BOOGIE (ORLEANS RECORDS)
"This record swings from the get-go. From Little Freddie King's first thumb-strummed rhythm to his deep pocket leads. Subtle, yet deep reaching. King locks into the pulse in that irresistible fashion it seems musicians only learn from spending years in New Orleans."
Debra DeSalvo / Blues Access
ROCK & ROLL BLUES - (AHURA MAZDA RECORDS)
Recorded in 1971, Zora Delta Music, BMI and is considered the first amplified blues recording in New Orleans. Band memebers; A.B.Bruer, Rudy Taylor, John S. "Harmonica" Williams (born 1920 moved to N.O. 1957), Little Freddie King.
(Out of Print - Collector)
PERFORMANCES:
MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL --Canada
"As soon as the music started, the crowd and myself started to dance and clap our hands. He already gained his public with his very energetic show. Then there has been few standing ovations even after the people were asking for more the group left with their accomplished mission."
Gamillah's Review / WVOF-88.5 FM Connecticute
BURNLEY BLUES FESTIVAL - England
"And while all the bands went down well with very appreciative crowds, the highlight of the weekend for many was Little Freddie King on the main stage at the Burnley Mechanics. Despite being well into his 60's, King still shows the kind of passion for his blues music one would expect from a child with a new toy. For almost two hours solid he jived across the stage and showboated his way through a blistering set of songs which had fans young and old literally begging for more. The truly amazing Little Freddie King".
Andrew Greaves / Burnley Express News
ESTAFETTE BLUES FESTIVAL - Holland
"Freddie was one of the highlights of the event, and he has that magic juke joint sound that is rarely heard at festivals."
Cella Huggins, Editor / Juke Blues
N.O. JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL - New Orleans
"Freddie's been a persistent presence in the Crescent City every since before there was even a Jazz & Heritage Festival, because he's played at every one, with the warmth and sparkle of his very personality, and he has a wonderful knack for reworking classic modern blues compositions into completely personal permutations of these familiar themes".
John Sinclair / Music Journalist / Detroit
DEBRECEN JAZZ FESTIVAL - Hungary
Freddie King's music proved to be genuine country blues, the band tight if not outstanding, giving the impression of authenticity."
Gabor Turi, Mayor / Naplo Newspaper
FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL - New Orleans
"One taste of his still-fresh Mississippi accent and one lick on his electric guitar, and you won't be sorry you got a chance to sample what the blues is meant to sound like - real, cathartic, cool and always with a touch of the roughness that makes it the blues to begin with. An accomplished musicianship make him one of the city's hidden gems.
Lisa O'Neill / Where Y'at Magazine
EVENTS Performed:
BLUES TO BOP - (Switzerland)
OTTAWA BLUES FESTIVAL - (Canada)
KING BISCUIT BLUES - (USA)
NANCY JAZZ / PULSATION FESTIVAL - (France)
SAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVAL - (USA)
POCONO BLUES FESTIVAL - (USA)
CHESTERFIELD CLUB - (Paris)
JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL - (Paris)
PORTSMOUTH BLUES FESTIVAL - (USA)
COIMBRA BLUES FESTIVAL - (Portugal)
TERRA BLUES CLUB - (New York)
CASTEL SAN PIETRO, IN BLUES - (Italy)
BANANA PEEL BLUES CLUB - (Belgium)
MOJO BLUES FESTIVAL - (Rome)
MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FEST - (Canada)
SONS OF MUNDO BLUES FESTIVAL - (Portugal)
BURNLEY NATIONAL BLUES - (England)
BLUES ESTAFETTE - (Holland)
N.O.JAZZ & HERTIGE FESTIVAL - (USA)
FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVAL - (USA)
MICHAEL ARNONE'S CRAWFISH FEST. (USA)
N.O. JAZZ & HERTIGE FESTIVAL - (USA)
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