After having given a lot of acclaim for musical ‘greats’ I have had the pleasure  to meet and/or play with, I felt it important to spotlight some lesser-known, but in my opinion equally talented musicians.

I will start with the team of not-so-little, but dedicated Norwegian blues players who accompanied me on the ‘Precious Little’ CD back in 2005 and on some gigs in the ensuing couple of years. They towered above me in stature, and we often joked about calling our troupe, ‘Jeremy and the Giants’.

The giants are:

Trond Ytterbo on harmonica, mandolin and vocals. A disciple of Little Walter.

Espen Liland on guitar. A disciple of Albert Collins.

Rune Endal on bass. A disciple of Willie Dixon and John McVie.

Runar Boysen on keyboards. A disciple of … well, greats in many genres.

Last but not least, Anders Viken on drums and percussion. A disciple of
S.P.Leary, Odie Payne, those backbones of Chicago blues drummers.

So, with a line-up like that, the project was guaranteed to work, and it did. I have said many times that playing with such a well-knit and sympathetic team of musicians was akin to putting on a tailor-made suit. When entering our first rehearsal, it was like stepping into a 1950’s Chicago blues studio! A precious experience. Thank you, Trond and team.