Ike Cosse - The Spot Is Hot (1995) [CD Rip]

Guitarist and vocalist Issac "Ike" Cosse has been leading a band called the Coldbloods around the San Francisco Bay area for the last 20 years. Cosse took his earliest musical inspiration from guitarists like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix, and he played jazz and fusion for some time before settling on the blues.

Cosse joined the band of saxophonist Joe Puttley in 1983 and learned the finer points of blues playing from him, as well as the need to be an entertainer when on the bandstand. After working with Puttley for a number of years, Cosse was given the chance to sing; "Crosscut Saw" and "Further On Up the Road" were the first two blues songs he performed on stage.

After forming his own band, Ike and the Coldbloods, in 1987, he began to work the clubs around the San Francisco Bay area, where he had relocated some years earlier. Ike and the Coldbloods played at Slim's in San Francisco, Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz, and other venues around the Bay area. After several years of interpreting cover songs in Bay area clubs, Cosse realized if he was going to take his music anywhere, he would need to perform original compositions.

After dropping a copy of his self-released album off at B.B. King's Club in Los Angeles, Cosse got a booking there, opening for Coco Montoya and Johnny Johnson. Cosse's first album, The Spot Is Hot, was released on his own label in 1995. Since then, he's recorded an album for JSP Records of London, The Lowdown Throwdown. Cosse currently lives in Santa Clara, California. ~Richard Skelly