Blues Element

At the heart of Blues Element is the songwriting team of Jamie Browning and Iain Green.

The songs keep pouring out... they didn't mean to put a band together, and were in fact temporarily out of commission as a live act while they searched for a replacement for their beloved guitarist Kenmi, who had to jet back to Japan and will be there indefinitely. Before he left they whipped into the studio and put most of the beds to bed for their 2nd release, and then began the search for a new guitarist*.

The newest album "Are You Ready" features 12 new original jazzy/blue future standards written by vocalist Jamie & drummer Iain, and brought to life at Wellesley Sound in Toronto with the help of Kenmi Chank - guitar, Garfield Stoddart - guitar, Jason Wilson - piano, Rhodes and B3, Justin Snikkar - bass,  Rebecca Campbell - background vocals, Jeff McCulloch - Engineer, and Yohann Francoise and Jeremy Cowie - Assistant Engineers. Jamie and Iain then had the good fortune and pleasure to record the vocals and then mix and master at Silverbirch Productions with amazing Mix Engineer Ted Onyszczak and Mastering Engineer Andy Krehm.

The cd release party was held January 13, 2008 at the Cadillac Lounge in Toronto. As the new cd continues to make its way to radio and into online digital stores updates will be posted as to its reception. (Likely a page to post reviews and feedback will be created, although an entire overhaul and redesign of this site is imminent and very much needed...)

In other news... at the time of writing this all 10 tracks from Blues Element's 2005 release "Baby's Got the Blues" are also still on the air somewhere near you!

Recorded in the fall of 2004, this album was a whirlwind fun miracle that brought together the incredible and diverse talents of some of the best players in Toronto's sprawling musical community including Alec Fraser, Rod Phillips, Michael Fonfara, Michael Keith, Dave Powell, Bryan Huntley, and Kenmi Chank.

Recorded and mixed at Liquid Toronto with blues maestro Alec Fraser (Jeff Healey, Jimmy Bowskill, Broken Joe) wearing the engineer and producer hats, "Baby's Got The Blues" was originally to include one cover song. That recording had to be put on the back burner due to an unsuccessful search to locate one of the publishers in order to obtain the licence to release it.  Jamie and Iain may one day attempt the search again, but for now they've agreed that it's less trouble to write their own tunes.

And that is certainly something they are happy to do, deep into writing and preproduction now for cd # 3.

Since the pair's music has been so well received by radio, traffic to their websites has been increasing on a daily basis, as have the sales of digital downloads. In 2006 BGTB track “It’s Not You” was included on the soundtrack of the feature film “Chicknapping”, and AYR track "(In) The City" has been selected for the soundtrack of 2009's "In Fear and Faith".  2009 has so far also brought the good news of their #6 spot on the Blind Lemon 2008 Top 20 Canadian Blues Albums and a feature on the House of Blues Radio Hour.

*Live Blues Element continues to be an evolving entity, but the show always starts with a fun, sexy and very danceable mix of original tunes plus mid 20th century R&B, funk, blues, and jazz. Artists covered include Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown, James Brown, Louis Jordan and more.  The 2008 hometown line up in addition to Jamie & Iain featured Adam Rawski on lead guitar and Jason Farrar on bass. The "away games" line up brought to the stage Dave West on lead guitar and Andrew Stewart on bass. 2009 is shaping up to be an interesting mix including Justin on bass again and Russel Williams on guitar, alternating with the Adam/Jason team,  Adam/Justin, and Russell/Jason... sure to keep everyone (including Jamie & Iain) on their (tappin') toes. A few special performances will feature both guitarists.

And... it will be interesting to see which bunch joins Jamie and Iain in the studio for cd #3.... stay tuned...