Finis Tasby – Jump Children – Evidence ECD 29097-2 

This 12-track 1998 release bears repeated listening, as it simply exudes all that is right when musical visions meet reality, and the desired outcomes exceed expectations!

Many blues fans may not know much about Tasby, or anything at all, and that is a profound shame.  Tasby was a front man and singer who eventually came to be based in Los Angeles, but his musical pedigree was formed in the place of his birth, Dallas, Texas. 

Having plied his bass guitar and vocal skills with The Thunderbirds in Dallas, a band he established in the very early 1960s, he was able to back such blues luminaries as Z.Z. Hill, Lowell Fulson, Clarence Carter, and Freddie King, among others, when the group was not on the road under their own name.  In fact, Tasby worked with Freddie King in his band as his bassist up until 1972.

In 1973, Tasby settled in Los Angeles, and he assembled a group that proved skilled enough open shows for the likes of B.B. King, Big Mama Thornton, and Percy Mayfield, to name but three artists.  His band attested to its popularity with continual club work in the big city.  Tasby recorded a number of singles in the 1970s and 1980s for Big Town, Watts City Records, and other labels.  All the while, Tasby worked a day job as a vehicle mechanic.

First, how is Tasby’s voice not more revered in the blues?  To this reviewer, it remains both a mystery, and a point of embarrassment, as Tasby was able to capture and channel the unique nuances of a great many styles with apparent ease and high success. 

Whether it’s rollicking material like “Georgia Slop”, the sincere yearning blues of “Mercy’s Blues (I Believe)”, the heavy subject matter and regret found in “It’s Your Fault Baby”, the storming propulsion of “The Jive”, the laid-back carefree temperament of “The Sun Is Shining”, the full-throated bellowing of “Please Accept My Love”, or the torrid desire of “Job For Christmas”, Tasby grabs it, chews on it, considers it ready, and spits out his idealized interpretations.  And man, they hit the marks, without fail!

This recording also shines on the merits of the backing musicians, and a more profoundly skilled meeting of talent one will not find.  Coco Montoya, Kid Ramos, and Rick Holmstrom lend their considerable guitar skill sets, Larry “The Mole” Taylor frames the bottom ends idyllically with his upright and electric bass patterns, Rob Rio’s piano roils along with tasteful aplomb, Lester Buter and Randy Chortkoff provide pleasing harmonica meanderings, David “Woody” Woodford blows excellent tenor and baritone saxophone, and Richard Innes holds it all together with his usual magnificent percussion work.  And, Cynthia Manley and Jessica Williams offer impassioned backing vocals along the way.

The west coast has always swung with a tempo and taste all its own, and Tasby’s talents should have been far more recognized in his lifetime.  This chronicle is a glimpse inside that talent, and it is a wholly satisfying journey.  Trust me, this one’s a goody!

Highly-recommended without qualification!