Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Live at Chan’s – Vol. 2 Blue Bella Records BBCD1012 Format: CD Released: 2009 by Joseph Taylor josepht@soundstage.com Musical Performance Recording Quality Overall Enjoyment

Last time around, Nick Moss & the Flip Tops released a two-disc set, Play it ‘Til Tomorrow (2007), with the second disc highlighting the band’s talent for acoustic blues. The music was as energetic and heartfelt unplugged as it was with the amplifiers roaring. For Live At Chan’s, Vol. 2, Moss and his band return to the Rhode Island restaurant and jazz club that was the setting for their first live disc in 2006. Moss plays blues that is firmly rooted in the tradition of the great Chicago musicians of the '40s and '50s, but he and his band keep the music sounding fresh and vital. They treat it with respect and love, but never with so much reverence that it lacks the sense of adventure that keeps the blues alive.

Like its predecessor, Live At Chan’s, Vol. 2 opens with an instrumental, "Spare Ribs & Chopsticks." Moss, whose vocals on the rest of the disc are as strong as his guitar work, plays quick runs that don’t descend into showiness, and throughout the disc he balances dexterity and feeling. One reason his records are so enjoyable is that he doesn’t dominate them. He shares the spotlight with bassist Gerry Hundt, whose harp playing is a high point, and pianist Willie Oshawny. Lurrie Bell, a Chicago blues player who should be better known, joins Moss for four tunes, and the two guitarists give a master’s class on how to play this music.

Live At Chan’s, Vol. 2 is a terrific location recording, with a palpable small-club atmosphere. It’s another entry into an impressive body of blues music.

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