The City Blues by Dr. Ika

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The CD opens with a super groovy title song featuring Papa George’s Great vocal (who also wrote the lyrics) and Alex Gegshidze’s mesmerising tenor sax. Dr. Ika plays sweet guitar solo and all other instruments.

The next track is the time travelling blues, kind of blind Willy Johnson meets Jimi Hendrix, featuring good doctor on all instruments and vocal.

Libido Blues is an erotic, groove hip-hop – esque blues, featuring Mike Chase’s sexy voice ad Dr. Ika’s great guitar work.

The next track is a blues - fusion instrumental arranged from the live and studio samples. Dr. Ika really squeezes sweet sounds out of his guitar here.

The Magic Bulldog is a true, satiric pub life experience blues. Song starts with Andy Thompson’s “sax orchestra” and develops to the funny story told by Dr. Ika and Helen MacDougall with the great sax – guitar interaction coda.

Rainy morning blues after the night booze! - Lazy acoustic blues, deep and slow.

Next track is a gospel – blues song featuring brother Richie Milton (who wrote the lyrics) on all vocals, Mike Chase on the harmonica and Ika on the guitars.

Separate ways – also true life story sung by Papa George who also plays guitar solo on the coda.

Next track is an instrumental dedicated to beautiful Suzanne Chase (Mike’s daughter) who tragically died in the car accident when she was 23 years old.

Composition was recorded live in the Crowdaddy Blues Club featuring Dr. Ika on guitar, Andy Thompson on sax, Henk Boudeling on bass and Ivan Hoe on drums.

The CD closes with a slow blues featuring Helen MacDougal’s sweet voice, Mike Chase’s melancholic harmonica and Dr. Ika’s haunting guitar. True modern classic.

FEW COMMENTS ABOUT DR IKA:

1. "This boy sure can play the blues" - B.B. King

2. "Ika is a big ears player,...his moods and scales are beautiful, they are consistently engaging" - John Stix, "Guitar For The Practicing Musician" US

3. "Dr Ika can play with soul as well as breathtaking technical skill" - Tim Slater, "Guitarist" UK

4. "Dr Ika lets rip with some superb riffs and sequences" - Future Music" UK

5. "Dr Ika is the best thing to come out of Russia" - Adam Crute, "The Mix" UK

6. "Dr. Ika’s sample CD Guitar Odyssey is a triumph in usability" - Big George Webley, "Sound on Sound" UK

7. "I would love to see Ika play live" - Dave Stone, "Fender Back Line" UK

8. “is there no end to this mans versatility? Listening to this CD the answer seems to be in negative! This is a top class, eclectic musicianship with wide range of stylistic influences, but true Blues is always at the core, well produced and excellently played. If they're half as good as this live... somebody get me a ticket please!!...

"Blues Matters!" UK Ashley Wainwright

9. “With this album Dr Ika proved that he is a tremendous blues guitarist with great taste and tone”.

"Blues Revue" magazine – USA

Dr. Ika was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. He started to play a granddad's gramophone at the age of 4, piano at 7 and classical guitar at 12. After listening to Albert King, B.B. King and Albert Collins, Ika discovered the blues and electric guitar.

Later, after having heard the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, he fell in love with rock music which was a strictly forbidden fruit in the USSR. Ika started to play electric guitar and instantly got the blues, because everybody and everything that surrounded him was against it - starting with the Soviet System and ending with his parents. KGB was after him (Ika was listening to the "enemy" radios like BBC and the Voice of America) and police were cutting his moderately long hair short.

While waiting for a better future Ika became a Doctor of Biology and earned a Bachelor's degree in music. When the strict attitude towards the "subversive western music" had softened, Dr Ika started to perform on several rock and blues festivals and twice was honoured as the country's best guitarist.

During the 1986-1989 Ika lived and worked as a scientist in Sweden. He has played with top jazz and blues musicians such as Jimmy Smith, Richard Roberts, Tom Levin and has twice performed with the legendary B.B.King - an unusual claim to fame from a neurosurgeon.

In 1990, back in Georgia, Ika continued his scientific work (research on brain tissue transplantation, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease), and in addition, started to write music for films, cartoons, TV and theatre.

1991-1993 were the most difficult years in Ika's life. The collapse of the Soviet system brought about an anarchy, corruption, extreme poverty and the rise of nationalism instead of democracy, freedom and prosperity. There was no electricity, no gas, and no food or other necessary products. The members of various different gangs were in the streets robbing people and killing each other for petrol, cars or just for a cigarette. Some of the notorious members of Drug Mafia and the war lords got important posts in the government and the future was unpredictable and bleak. It is not surprising that Dr Ika got the BLUES.

Miraculously in 1993, Dr Ika and his wife were awarded the Royal Society Fellowships to carry out research at Cardiff University. They left Georgia for good and immigrated to the UK. Along his scientific work, Ika started to play funk-fusion with the band "The Funker" and also totally different type of music in the rave clubs together with heavy house dance DJ Paul Lyons. Soon he was sharing the stage with such top DJs as Sasha, John Digwid, Carl Cox, Kalvin Andrews, Love Dub, Tall Paul and others.

Experience he gained on the dance floor proved to be invaluable when he later produced a Future Music's platinum award winning guitar sample CD "Guitar Odyssey" (Zero-G Ltd.).

Dr Ika now lives in Hertfordshire. He has given up his scientific career and has entirely devoted himself to music. Ika performs about 200 gigs a year with the "Grapevine" blues band or in duo with a singer Mike Chase. With the Grapevine Blues Band, Ika played on many blues festivals in the UK, sharing the stage with Gary Moore, Stan Webb, The Yard birds, Papa George, Sonny Black and others. He has produced the following albums: "Grapevine Neo Blues", "Dr Ika's Blues..." and "Dr Ika's Tribute to Miles Davis and John McLaughlin".

In May 2002 Ika was signed by "Blues Matters!" label.

At the present Ika is signed with the UK’s virtuoso guitar label Liquid Note Records and he is featured on the “ Alchemists II” album together with the world’s 30 virtuoso guitarists including Ron Thal (aka Bumblefoot), Brett Garsed, Richard Hallebeek, Phi Yann-Zek, Temur Kvitelashvili and others.

This album is also on CD Baby http://cdbaby.com/cd/alchemists2

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