We've had this CD sitting around in the KlubKat office for quite some time, mainly due to the sheer volume of material we receive for review. To be honest, I really can't think why we haven't looked at this before…
Gazz is good. I mean really good. Whether it's your sort of thing or not, you can really hear the professionalism in the music - these are not just some guys from nowhereville who have decided they must have a band because everybody else does - rather, Gazz take pride in their music far more than a lot of bands we hear from.

For the purposes of this review, we listened to the Gazz CD "Gazz". Not the most original title, but it didn't put us off. The band originally came together as friends and room-mates, and seem to have come a long way since those halcyon days (!) - this is best described as Indie crossed with Grunge undertones. The bass guitar is very "Alice in Chains", one of our favourite bands, and the quality of vocals are much better than we often expect from unsigned bands.
The track "I'm Okay" is pure chart material, probably the best complement we can give. In general, this is the most modern pop we've heard in a long time - most of the stuff we get is heavy rock or very soft laid back stuff - but we fear it is perhaps still a little dark on the whole for traditional radio.

Gazz sound very professional, and will make a hell of a lot of fans if they carry on the way they are going. Keep it up, guys :)

Johnny J Blair
http://home.earthlink.net/~the3blrs

As soon as I slipped the CD into the player, I knew I was going to enjoy this artist. Johnny J Blair, or JJB as he seems to like being known (despite that moniker being a large chain of sports shops here in the UK), takes us back in time to the more laid back days of piano funk and jazz. But here's the key - he somehow manages not to lose most of the audience in the process.
For the modern audience, and those who don't know any better, a serious beat runs through these tracks, bridging the gap between age old traditional instrumentals and the modern dance floor. This certainly isn't the sort of thing you would hear at any mainstream club in the UK nowadays, but it's perfect for that easy listening feel you want at the end of a hard day. JJB is a definate stress reliever!

To be honest we can imagine Johnny setting up in a blues club where folks would come from miles around to listen to their favourite sound, rather than attracting a large audience to one of the big name venues - but that's probably the point of this sort of thing. If JJB became enormously famous overnight, and everybody wanted to rush to his next gig, he would probably feel inclined to play up to the audience and go with the flow. We like the sound the way it is - laid back, relaxing, with a real blues club feel.

One unusual feature of the music is the occasional strong political or religious overtones - something not often seen in music. This is not a bad thing, and actually adds something to the music. Just be prepared.

Overall, we think you should give JJB a try. You might like it, you might not. We do, and we have it on as background music when we're working. In particular, the track "Love, Love Alone" has just got such a great beat we almost want to get up and dance…

For this review, we listened to Johnny J Blair's CD "Fire". You can listen to his latest releases and get the most up to date news at the website mentioned above.