VIDEO ROOM

Award-Winning Canadian Guitarist / Producer Tino Izzo Starts IZZO BLUES COALITION with Long-Time partner  Bob Telaro.
(Band Started Over a Jam Session & Scotch) — Isn’t That Always The Way?

 

Izzo Blues Coalition Is Ready to Blues-Rock Your World with “Take It Or Leave It” - 

 

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Ripping guitar riffs, hot-as-hell horns, a torqued, musclebound rhythm section, firestarter vocals and the swagger of rhythm and blues masters delivering the goods with confidence and precision. These key ingredients combine and react for the Izzo Blues Coalition’s explosive new album Take It or Leave It - due October 1, 2021.

 

Izzo Blues Coalition (IBC) is award winning guitarist, hit songwriter and producer Tino Izzo (Celine Dion/Roch Voisine/Bobby Bazini) and his longtime creative partner, drummer/percussionist Bob Telaro. The new album builds on the ‘coalition’ aspect of the band name with Izzo and Telaro inviting two other lead vocalists, Annie Major-Matte and Mimmo Oliveri, to sing songs. Working with a rotating cast of singers, musicians, engineers and arrangers, Izzo and Telaro created a celebratory atmosphere of music making for their second opus that deftly navigates the side-by-side, sonic neighborhoods of contemporary blues, blues rock and traditional blues.

 

Conceived and recorded during the heart of our global pandemic, Take It or Leave It was chosen as the new album title for two, life and art-affirming reasons.

 

“Thematically, the title track deals with the notion that we have no choice but to get up every morning and make the best of it,” says Izzo. “It’s a theme that resonates throughout the album and speaks to our pandemic experiences.”

 

“Secondly, this collection of songs was conceived for the sheer pleasure of it.”

 

Izzo and Telaro say that as contemporary blues artists, this album truly represents who they are and where they come from - hence, Take It or Leave It!

 

The lead single and title track is set to strike the match ahead of firing up the full album with a September 24, 2021 release. An energetic, driving shuffle, “Take It or Leave It” features an off-the-charts vocal performance by Mimmo Oliveri and a huge brass arrangement by Saby Buccella. Buccella is a frequent IBC collaborator who arranges the horns throughout the new album, as well as the symphonic arrangement on the album’s final track, the soaring and emotional instrumental, “2020”. Izzo and Telaro call Buccella “a true musical force to be reckoned with”.

 

Take It or Leave It is composed of eleven original songs written by Izzo and punctuated by a breathtaking cover of the Carole King/Gerry Goffin/Jerry Wexler classic, “A Natural Woman”, arranged by Buccella and showcasing stunning vocalist Annie Major-Matte’s unbelievable range, tone and precision. “The girl can sing!” notes Izzo.

 

Izzo’s characteristic fingerpicking technique and immaculate playing are front and center throughout the new album and, along with the production, arrangements and overall vision, provide for a slick and expansive listen that highlights the Billboard Choice Award winner’s distinct intensity and passion.

 

Take It or Leave It brings a fresh perspective to the contemporary Canadian blues landscape, spotlighting Izzo’s producer chops and the extensive experience the band has accumulated in studio and over numerous live concerts, and most recently, a string of pandemic-necessitated live videos. Izzo Blues Coalition has reached a new plateau of creativity captured in a stellar new album to discover.

 

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