The debut album of the Dutch singer Mariëlla Tirotto and her band the Blues Federation has turned out great. The half Italian has not only got a cool, cheeky rock- and blues voice, no, especially in the slow lyrics of the album you can clearly feel another side of her, the intensity behind it all. And she can also sing jazz, as you can hear in  various songs on the CD. Except for a couple of lyrics written by Harry Muskee (Cuby & the Blizzards) she wrote the texts of all the songs on the CD, emotional lyrics criticizing capitalism, the indifference of the Western World to the needs of the less fortunate, the depressions caused by the urge for greater prosperity, the cruelty to animals; and about the longing for a carefree childhood, and, as a change, but sporadically, about the ups and downs in a relationship.
Despite the fact that Mariëlla Tirotto is undeniably the eye-catcher, you should not forget her band which supports her with great skills in every aspect. Funky blues with brass-sections, blues rock, Latin, sensual bar-jazz, straight rhythm and blues – you can hear that this formation, characterizing these sounds, consists of experienced musicians.
Listeners with a restricted stylistic tolerance (in other words purists) may have difficulty with the versatility of the 13 songs of this CD, and agreed, not every song will be to everyone's liking, but you cannot deny that they are jewels.
(lei)