Pipeline Review, Narva and Tallinn Pics

Haavisto, Roots & Partanen's live version of Elmore James' "Hawaiian Boogie", the lone instrumental on the trio's "Tribute to Elmore" EP, gets a special mention in the current issue of the Pipeline magazine - a British quarterly devoted solely to instrumental rock. Norman Darwen calls it "another wonderful cover of the slide guitar classic" while rightly noting that it's "drawing some of its inspiration from Hound Dog Taylor".

The photos below are from events earlier this month - the first of the two is by Kris Moor from a Poetry Wednesday at the Writers' House in Tallinn (click HERE for full gallery!), the second from the MONDO interactive Music & Migration exhibition/happening at the Central Library in Narva (more pics HERE!).

Soul Bag Review

The "Tribute to Elmore" live EP with Ismo Haavisto and Matias Partanen has been reviewed by Christophe Mourot in the French Soul Bag magazine: "Five tracks with slide guitar, drums and wild vocals, unamplified harmonica, recorded live at the 2018 Augustibluus festival in Estonia. About time this was released because it's excellent!"

Photo by Leif Laaksonen.

July Gigs & Twoj Blues Review

In July 2021, Andres Roots will be performing solo and acoustic around Estonia, appearing at the Tallinn Art Hall, the Tartu St. John's Church, the Pärnu Yacht Club and the Haapsalu Railway Station. The dates are as follows:

11.7 - Soolo @ Kunstihoone, Tallinn

27.7 - Tornimuusika @ Jaani kirik, Tartu

28.7 - Bluusipäevad @ Jahtklubi, Pärnu

31.7 - Augustibluus @ Raudteejaam, Haapsalu

Meanwhile, the Polish blues magazine Twoj Blues has published a review of the "Tribute to Elmore" EP, recorded with the electric trio of Ismo Haavisto, Andres Roots & Matias Partanen at the 2018 Augustibluus festival. 

According to the magazine's Editor-in-Chief Andrzej Matysik, the CD "conveys the richness of Elmore James' legacy" and "the healthy, raw sound takes us to the atmosphere of clubs on Chicago's South Side in the 1960s." Dziękuję bardzo!  

 

Blues News Review!

Pete Hoppula reviews the "Tribute to Elmore" EP in the June issue of Finland's Blues News magazine, calling the Haavisto, Roots & Partanen version of "Hawaiian Boogie" "the most firepower one can fit into 171 seconds". 

Hoppula writes: "For people like me who sorely miss live music, it's like twisting the knife in my ribs. For heaven's sake, let us experience such moments in the real world again!"

You can read the whole story HERE.

Blues in Britain Review!

Norman Darwen reviews the "Tribute to Elmore" EP by Ismo Haavisto, Andres Roots & Matias Partanen in the June issue of Blues in Britain: 

"My, but this is wonderful… Recorded live at the Augustibluus Festival in Haapsalu, Estonia, these five tracks are just bursting with energy and wild slide licks - not only Elmore style, but there are also dashes of Earl Hooker and his wah wah slide playing. The Hound Dog Taylor flavoured instrumental, ‘Hawaiian Boogie’, rocks like crazy, but then, so too do ‘Dust My Broom’, ‘One Way Out’, ‘Look On Yonder Wall’ and ‘Shake Your Moneymaker’...  These guys just hit it and let it go where it takes them."

Blues Again Review!

"Five titles of rare intensity. The musicians give it everything, as if their lives depended on it," writes César Sezer in the French Blues Again! webzine about "Tribute to Elmore" - the new live CD EP from Ismo Haavisto, Andres Roots & Matias Partanen. "Here is a CD which makes you want to move, which recharges the batteries and which helps us come out of the torpor, certainly a very good medicine."

Read the whole story HERE! 

Keys and Chords Review!

In Belgium, the Keys and Chords webzine has given the Elmore EP 4.5 stars out of 5 - Philip Verhaege writes: "Hell yeah, the audience went crazy and the roof is gone!" 

Read the whole thing HERE (a summary in English is included)!

Photo by Carita Pakula/Rauma Blues ry.

 

Reviews from Finland!

Suonna Kononen (of Huojuva Lato fame) gives the Haavisto/Roots/Partanen EP four stars in the Finnish daily Karjalainen, calling it "powerful cooking" and stating that "one could have easily listened to more than a 5-track mini-CD's worth of this "Tribute to Elmore"." 

Meanwhile, another review in the Apulaissheriffi blog says "it sounds like it was fun and a blast for the players and even more so for the festival audience..." 

The CD is almost sold out, so order yours now HERE (Estonia & the world) or HERE (Finland)!