Playboy's Playmate №8 Angela Little (august 1998)

Anyone who associates "Texas Flood" only with Stevie Ray Vaughan has never auditioned Larry Davis' version. Davis debuted on vinyl in 1958 with the song, his superlative Duke Records original remaining definitive to this day despite Vaughan's impassioned revival many years down the road. Davis grew up in Little Rock, AR, giving up the drums to play bass. Forging an intermittent partnership with guitarist Fenton Robinson during the mid-'50s, the pair signed with Don Robey's Duke label on the recommendation of Bobby Bland. Three Davis 45s resulted, including "Texas Flood" and "Angels in Houston," before Robey cut Davis loose. From there, Davis was forced to make the most of limited opportunities in the studio. He lived in St. Louis for a spell and took up the guitar under Albert King's tutelage while playing bass in King's band.

Mindflower is the brain/soulchild of Fabio Antonelli along with Fabrizio Defacqz and Alberto Callegari. Various albums have featured a host of other musicians but these three have been the core group. "The Art of Dreams in a Little Bottle" was released under the moniker of Fabio Antonelli Ensemble, but as far as the RPI team is concerned, as well as the presentation on the artist's website will acknowledge, the album can easily be included on the artist page of Mindflower….

Claus Zundel, also known as The Brave is a German composer, songwriter, producer and pianist. He has created several worldwide successful musical projects, most notable Sacred Spirit and B-Tribe (sold 20 million. copies combined), as well as more Indie projects such as "Moroccan Spirit", "Classical Spirit", "Divine Works", Ancient Spirit and his latest project "Tango Jointz". His music style is usually called as "The Brave Sound" as it considers a large number of music styles mixed in his special way. He often collaborates with musicians and singers from around the world and creates "The Brave Sound" projects with them.

Little Wing is one of the most adventurous albums in White's lengthy canon – adventurous and esoteric. The opening "Discoveri" still feels as though it could have emerged from a Peter Gabriel session, at least until White's guitar kicks into play, and lays waste to all around it. Deeply immersed in the blues, but with an eye for many of the same musical notions that rendered Jeff Beck's turn-of-the-century output such a wonder, Little Wing packs no less than half a dozen stone cold White classics, including the electrifying power ballad "Long Distance Loving" and a truly eye-opening arrangement of the Jimi Hendrix-penned title track. Indeed, if the album has any downside at all, it's that the first half is so heavily weighed down with jewels that the remainder simply cannot compete, and the listener's attention really does start to wander. But there's a simple solution to that, of course. Just set your player on random, and listen to Little Wing take flight.

Although not a blues band in the truest sense of the word, consider this their 'roots music' album. Frontman Little Mike Markowitz turns in a batch of original tunes that more than tip their collective and stylistic hat to Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Louis Prima and James Cotton. The band goes through its workmanlike paces and that same blue-collar approach applies to the lyrical themes on these songs, full of tried and true formulaic stories about sex, the road and bad whiskey and women. It's a shame that the blues can sometimes be reduced down to a pile of cliches but at least the musical side of the equation works.

Guitarist, songwriter, and singer Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones began working professionally at age 16 with Freddie King's backing band, the Thunderbirds. He got his first guitar from his uncle, jazz musician Adolphus Sneed. Jones cites an eclectic array of influences: Freddie King, Cornell Dupree, and Larry Carlton. For many years, he's backed various Dallas-area vocalists on guitar, but in the mid-'90s, he came into his own as a vocalist with an album for JSP Records, I Need Time (1997), which showcases his crafty songwriting, great guitar playing, and powerful singing…