Little Charlie & the Nightcats

• Genre: Jump Blues
• Little Charlie & the Nightcats Website

About

San Francisco Bay Area stalwarts Little Charlie & the Nightcats have been making their mark for nearly 30 years. Led by guitarist Little Charlie Baty and harmonica player/vocalist Rick Estrin, the band play a lean, hard-driving combination of Jump Blues, Swing, Chicago Blues, Rockabilly and jazz with amazing virtuosity, and they use clever original material and obscure cover songs to come up with a language all their own. Baty is a widely acknowledged master guitar player, fusing the swinging style of Charlie Christian and horn players like Lester Young with the sheer sonic fury of players like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. Estrin, as well as being a masterful harmonica player, is a songwriter of uncommon skill, breaking free of the moribund clichés that plague much modern blues.

- Tom Heyman