The new Dutch blues band which could make it in 2009 might be Mariëlla Tirotto and the Blues Federation.
 
This band revolves around the elegant Italian/Dutch Mariëlla Tirotto. Before 2000 she had combined singing and teaching toddlers. In 2000, at 40, she chose the uncertain life of a professional musician. That year she made her debut with 'Stranger', a pure jazz record. She had all the distinctive features of a jazz singer.
She and her husband Heins Greten (bassist and keyboard player) decide to expand their territory because of the shrinking jazz market. In December 2006 Mariëlla joins the Nederblues.nl, a blues band which only covers numbers of Dutch blues bands such as Cuby & the Blizzards and Flavium. She gets the taste for blues and the desire to start a band with its own repertoire.
The first result of this new project is 'Somewhere down the road'. It has become a varied piece of work in which boogies, blues-rock and jazz keep each other in balance.
'Playing the game' and 'Come to me' are pounding boogies on which Julian Sas has a patent as well. 'You don't care' is a number in which the engaged brass section and harmonica player Michel de Kok are in a contest. Michel's tearing harmonica playing raises the long slow-blues 'Confused woman's blues' to the ultimate 'goosepimple-moment'. The title number 'Somewhere down the road' breathes a lovely sinister atmosphere. 'Window of my eyes' sounds nearly classical because of Heins Greten's piano play.
Mariëlla's smoky voice is the most important constant in this variety of numbers. Some mention the names of Eartha Kitt or Cassandra Wilson, but she reminds me of Ann de Bruyn (The Crew, Double Brown and The Blue Angels). Harald Koll's guitar sound is 'bluezy', with strong rock accents.
Mariëlla Tirotto and the Blues Federation have got a splendid business card which should open doors to many festivals in Belgium and the Netherlands.
 
Kris Vermeulen (Keys & Chords)