Fifty-six-year-old Murali Coryell is a living bridge between the blues' storied history and its contemporary evolution, a spirit-guru and vocal saint who brings a triple threat to every stage: the pedigree of musical royalty, a voice ripe with yearning and R&B-infused grit, and a guitar style that balances sinewy fire with articulate restraint. All of this comes to bear on his 13th album as a leader, Deep Blues.

Covering the classic blues songbook, including works by Charlie Patton, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Joe Williams, and Blind Willie Johnson, Murali brings blues heat and a storyteller’s fire to each of the album's 10 songs on this Audiophile Society release. But he is far from the only star. Surrounding himself with some of the greatest living purveyors of blues and R&B, Murali enlisted Bob Dylan's longtime bassist Tony Garnier, veteran guitar burner Junior Mack (Allman Brothers Band, Magic Slim, Jeff Healey), and Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, the legend who has played on more hits than any living drummer. Together, this team achieves a level of cohesion and focus only possible when veteran masters engage in evocative blues repartee.

Each of these collaborations carries its own story. Purdie's connection to Murali runs deep: when Murali's father, jazz great Larry Coryell, passed away, Bernard came to play at what became a tribute concert for him. Murali's bond with Tony Garnier stretches back to a chance meeting at the Byron Bay Music Festival in Australia, where Garnier was playing upright bass for Bob Dylan and Murali was performing alongside Joe Louis Walker, two musicians who quickly discovered they had much in common. Junior Mack was a first-time collaborator, coming highly recommended by guitarist Jimmy Vivino, and proved to be exactly the complementary voice Murali had been hoping for.

"When producer David Chesky approached me for this project, it was a dream come true," Murali said. "I was blessed to assemble some of the greatest musicians on the planet despite geographical and time constraints. We all share a love and respect for the music and for each other. I'm very proud of the way everybody performed and contributed." Of Purdie in particular, he added: "I was struck by the confidence that Bernard gave to me through his playing, talking, and teaching."

Though Murali is the son of the late jazz-fusion guitar legend Larry Coryell, he bypassed jazz entirely to find his home in the truth of the blues. Rather than riding his father's fame, he forged an identity that honored his roots while leaning into the visceral emotionality of artists like B.B. King and Otis Redding, inheriting a standard of excellence and applying it to a primal, soulful, deeply American medium.

What sets Murali apart is that he is a rare exception in a world where most modern bluesmen are guitarists first and vocalists second. His voice carries the same weight as his instrument: a honeyed tenor steeped in 1960s soul and R&B, capable of breaking into a raspy growl at the precise moment of emotional tension (and release). That range allows him to transform a standard 12-bar blues into something closer to a gospel plea or a late-night confession/invocation.

Just as Murali’s voice is steeped in authenticity, his guitar is equally enchanted, spirited, and inspired. Growing up surrounded by technical wizardry, Murali's playing is instead defined by space, melody, touch, and deep feeling, tactile and vocal-like in its phrasing, warm and round in its tone, with all the comfort and hard-won grace of a Mississippi rocking chair.

Irving Mills’ gut wrenching “St. James Infirmary” heralds the start of Deep Blues, Purdie’s gentle ¾ groove and Mack’s haunted guitar framing Murali’s sorrowful evocation like brothers in arms. Charlie Patton’s jook-joint worthy “Pony Blues” is life affirming and joyous, Murali’s howling jests driving a deep groove of feelgood inspiration.

The Bo Diddley-like beat of “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” draws a spirited undertow to the bluesman’s reflection on life’s injustices, joys, and survival skills, with a Junior Mack guitar solo that tells its own redemption tale. “Sitting on Top of the World,” popularized by Eric Clapton’s Cream and Howlin Wolf’s wide-eyed demon clarity, is given an ample reading by Coryell and crew.

Hudson Whittaker’s “Sugar Mama Blues” returns the group to the road, a swinging jaunt that reflects the repetition of the bluesman’s journey and the freedom of the highway.
“In The Pines,” a traditional song of unknown origin, is perhaps Deep Blues’ darkest, most spectral, and haunting song, Murali’s world weary vocal and Mack’s sinewy guitar the equivalent of daggers to the heart of a beloved, and her final banishment.

The urban blues fills “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Kokomo Blues,” serious heavyweight belters fueled by late night parties, all day benders, and weekend getaways, where reflection is cast aside, celebration is king, and acetylene grooves drive the music like the proverbial hellhound. Classic blues scrawls retain their power and magic though Murali’s loose-limbed delivery, “Forty Four Blues” and “Poor Boy Blues” respectively meting out equal doses of dread and delight, fatalism and glee, gutbucket sincerity and freedom espousing revelry. 

Like all Audiophile Society releases, Deep Blues is available as a high resolution download, in a single package containing DSD and 192/24 WAV file formats all in 3D Mega-Dimensional Sound™!