Jubilee is departure for Manx, but no less appealing It was by chance that local blues musician Harry Manx found himself sharing a stage with guitarist Kevin Breit at an Ontario folk festival nearly two years ago. But Manx’s fans will no doubt question the role of fate in bringing these two musicians together, for fate has shown a keen appreciation for music. The outcome of that encounter is Jubilee, a CD that takes Manx in a slightly different direction than that seen in his first two recordings, Dog My Cat and Wise and Otherwise. The trademark Manx blues style is still there, but Breit’s influence adds another dimension. There is less of the East Indian sound and more of what might be called European. And it’s very good. It is Breit’s electric guitar that contributes most to the change in Manx’s sound, and nowhere is it better than in the CD’s first track, Diving Duck Blues. This mellow but upbeat tune is typical Manx on acoustic slide guitar and harmonica, but Breit's rhythm and lead parts give it that new dimension. It is also one of the more bluesy tunes. This release should be -- and probably is -- classified as folk. But blues fans needn't despair: tunes like Take This Hammer and Weary and You Run ring with familiarity. If someone else hadn't written the first, Manx would surely have done so. Manx does all the vocals on Jubilee, but several of the tunes are instrumentals. Manx and Breit co-wrote only one, Unmoved By Love, a gentle ballad and one of two tunes featuring Manx on mohan veena, the instrument that has done so much to set his music apart. Jubilee itself is set apart to a great degree by the mandolin sounds that Breit brings to a couple of the tracks. No Particular Place to Be/Itchy Knees and Elbows and Curly Ray and His Brother, both written by Breit, have a European/Gypsy feel to them. Once again, Manx covers a Jimi Hendrix tune as he did on Wise and Otherwise. Manx's version of Voodoo Child is an improvement on the original. Die-hard blues fans will find that Jubilee represents a significant change in style for Harry Manx. But then the Eastern influence on his first recordings brought a significant change to established blues music. Blues lovers should find Jubilee equally appealing. —Tony Richards SaltSpringMusic.Com