Jeff Chaz

Apartment 14

JCP Records

Jeff Chasman a.k.a Jeff Chaz was born in Lake Charles and raised in Creole, Louisiana. Creole was in Cameron Parish where the iceman delivered a block of ice for the icebox, and his physician father would tend to the care of his largely Cajun and Creole French speaking patients, traveling often into rural areas by pirogue, a type of stick propelled canoe. Chaz was steeped in the soul of Southern music from a young age. After starting out on trombone and trumpet, he shifted to guitar and vocals while touring with a Boston soul band. He cut his teeth in Memphis blues joints and gospel churches before settling into the New Orleans scene. He performed with many greats including Little Milton,  Albert King, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Ruth Brown. He won the first Beale Street Blues Society Award and performed at the opening of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Museum. His previous releases include “Sounds Like The Blues To Me”, and “This Silence Is Killing Me”. His music can be heard all across North America and Europe. Chaz has also done some acting and can be seen in the movie “Ride Hard:Live Free”.

Chaz opens with the title track, Apartment 14, and a great rhythmic riff, on a funky  instrumental, a spring-board of what is to come. On “Baby Don’t You Know” we get to hear his clear voice as he sings “baby, don’t you know what your doin’ to me, your driving me crazy don’t you see, if you just say what you mean everything would be ok”.

On “Serial Killer” Chaz belts out “I know of a man, whose a serial killer, and he plays a  mean guitar, serial killer, you better play it safe and put a big tip in his jar”, with some  great horns and an arrangement from A.J. Pittman. The slow blues “You Got A Funny Way Of Showing”, “you got a funny way of showing your love for me, all you do is cause  me pain and misery, everywhere we go, you got to talk to one of your used-to-be’s, why  don’t you forget about your past, your supposed to be with me”.

On the walkin’ blues “Drinkin’ Pet Milk” Chaz chimes “I love you baby, you make me feel  like a man, your love is so good, it’s like drinkin’ pet milk to me”. “The Brownsville Crawl”, is another great instrumental with just the right amount of reverb, that closes out this fine EP.  With “Apartment 14”, Jeff Chaz brings the grit, groove and guitar right back to center  stage. With this new EP he reaffirms why he is a beloved ambassador of modern blues.

Richard Ludmerer

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