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Like good whiskey, blues musicians get ever better with age. It was back in the sixties when guitarist/singer Al Jones and drummer Oskar "Ossi" Pöhnl (then in their teens) had their first blues band together. "We never changed our style, we only just improved in it," says Jones. "Blues tunes are technically simple but hard to play. You have to put your personality into them. You have to know exactly what you are doing. Some tunes we've been playing for twenty years. Some tunes need to be played for twenty years until you play them right." Born to an American-German family, Al Jones took up the guitar at age 12. Impressed by the American Folk Blues Festival that was touring Europe in the sixties, he started playing the blues in 1966.
About 10 years later, the Al Jones Blues Band was re-founded on a more professional level. Offering authentic Urban Blues, Chicago style, the band soon proved to be one of Europe's most authentic blues ensembles. They played the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Netherlands, and opened for B.B. King at the Zagreb festival. They toured with Willie Mabon, Sonny Rhodes, Champion Jack Dupree, Louisiana Red and - for no less than eight weeks - Tommy Tucker. As an opening act for Johnny Winter, they nearly stole the show when urged by the audience to do two encores. The band's 1995 release "Watch This!" (BLU-1024 2) was critically acclaimed as a mature, largely laidback slow burner that seemed to burst out of a black neighborhood in Chicago. Their new album, "Sharper Than A Tack," offers a more aggressive variant of the band's style. Pushed by a hot rhythm guitar and occasional saxophone, organ and blues harp, Al Jones' distinctive guitar and relaxed vocals are more intense than ever. "We never play with reduced power," says Jones. "We always want it intense and burning. Nothing shallow." It's just the blues with a funky edge.
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