Hi folks.

It's been awhile since I posted here and just wanted to drop a line to say hello. I am grateful for those of you on this site who have bought the new Mambo Sons disc "Racket of Three" and also to those publications like Modern Guitars who have given the CD a thorough and positive review. This is our third disc and I think our best work to date, but these things don't just promote themselves, you have to gig, make contacts, send a bunch of them out and at the end of the day, you can only do this if you believe in your music. Another way we are promoting our music is through the web, and we've recently given our website an "extreme makeover" so please stop by at www.MamboSons.com to check that out.

Mambo Sons had a great time at our CD release party last month, and I can tell you there is nothing more intoxicating than putting a song over for the first time live, especially when you're ready to play it live. I love the trio aspect of this group...we all have to do the "heavy lifting" as far as live playing is concerned. I am a believer in the live is live/studio is studio philosophy and distinctions. What I mean is that when you are in the studio you can add layering, tones and polish to give a song the "tuxedo treatment" and make it look "as good as its ever gonna look" to quote Corey Glover. Live however, it's a whole other ball of wax. On many of the tunes on "Racket" such as "Be On Time", there are multiple guitar parts to give the song some depth and feel, but when we play these things live as a trio, I have to sort of come up with a reasonable amalgamation of all of the parts.

This is nothing new, a lot of guys did this, especially in the '70s when the studio became like an extra member of the band. Two immediately come to mind, Jimmy Page and Robin Trower. I've recently gone back to a lot of the music that I enjoyed growing up in the Seventies, and since so much has been written about Jimmy Page, I'd like to take a minute and give Robin Trower his props.

Just this morning, I popped in the "Robin Trower Live at King Biscuit Flower Hour" CD (recorded in New Haven CT in '77, about 20 minutes from where I grew up) and really enjoyed listening to both Jimmy Dewar's excellent vocals (one of the most soulful vocalists ever, imo) and of course Robin's excellent playing and choice of parts. A prime example of this is the live version of "Somebody Calling" off this CD. In the studio version of "In City Dreams" (nice cover art courtesy of our friend Funky Paul Olsen!), Robin is playing at least four guitar parts, clean, dirty, flanged and heavily flanged, but live you can almost imagine his concentration as he triggers the well placed effects to pull this song off. Wow! It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Robin, or trios in general.

Speaking of trios, I am still abuzz from seeing Cream one week ago. Thanks to Modern Guitars putting my review "out there" and getting it on the news wire, my assessment of the show was referenced by Reuters, BBC, MSNBC and a whole other bunch of news organizations. Maybe not co-incidentally, I saw a spike in Mambo Sons CD sales during this period.

Thanks and let's keep in touch...

Tom