The special pleasure Milteau takes in turning back the years is more than in evidence on his new album Memphis - recorded, as the title suggests, in the historic capital of the blues. "We went out and recorded the new album in Memphis at the Royal Studio," explains France's Monsieur Harmonica, "It's a legendary studio in the town's black neighbourhood where a number of major stars such as Al Green recorded. I think the fact that we came up with the idea of actually going to the Royal to record convinced a lot of people to get involved with the project." And with vocalists such as Little Milton, Mighty Mo Rodgers and Mighty Sam McClain on board, Milteau can pride himself on having scored some real musical heavyweights.

The instrumental tracks on Memphis - composed by Milteau and Laurent Vernerey (the famous bass-player who also played a role as artistic director on the album) - are infused with the spirit of the blues. And with titles such as Junior Parker, Master Lester and Poppa Willie, Memphis could be nothing other than one vast musical tribute to the blues! What's more, all the tracks on Milteau's new album are firmly stamped with the "Memphis sound" - a sound which Milteau believes was only made possible by visiting the historic blues capital in deepest Tennessee.
"I'd say there's several Memphis sounds really," says Milteau by way of explanation, "There's the musicians' take on things for a start…And by that I mean 'little' sounds like the Wurlitzer, electric guitars and brass… But if you put all of these elements together you get a pretty compact sound like you hear on Otis Redding records, for example. And then there's the sound of the vocals, of course! That's something I'd definitely have had a problem trying to get in France."

The vocals on Memphis are a veritable treasure trove of musical gems featuring everything from original compositions to surprising covers of Sting's hit Set them free and the Neil Young classic Heart of Gold. Apart from William C.Brown, a sound engineer from the Royal Studio who guests on the album's closing track, vocals are provided courtesy of three big hitters: Little Milton, Mighty Mo Rodgers and Mighty Sam McClain.

"Little Milton's the real veteran on the project," says Milteau enthusiastically, "Milton must be 68 by now and he was actually born in the Memphis region. He's a sort of B.B King - although obviously a bit of a less well-known one. Milton's a real ladies' singer with a lightning guitar style and a roving eye! We originally invited him to come and do a traditional blues number, but we ended up persuading him to do a cover of a Sting song as well! That was pretty amazing really seeing that Milton didn't even know who Sting was!…Then there's Mighty Sam McClain, a blues/soul singer from Louisiana whose career went downhill after the 60s. And, last but not least, there's Mighty Mo Rodgers the intellectual of the group! Mighty Mo was born in Chicago and he's a really brilliant singer who does all these Ray Charles modulations with his voice… We recorded a version of (the Neil Young classic) Heart of Gold with him. Mixing the Memphis sound with Mo's vocals produced something in a real 'Memphis ballad' style."

But don't go looking for examples of Jean-Jacques Milteau's own vocals on the album - he's not there even in the backing chorus! "What I was looking for on the new album was getting some very specific vocals on board," the harmonica-player says, "Blues is a sort of 'mother music' that has generated a lot of vocations and a lot of different styles. But you have to realise that there are actually very few people in the world who are capable of really expressing something through it. I chose all the guest vocalists on the new album because I felt they were capable of expressing something genuine. But as far as the idea of singing myself was concerned, there was no way I was going to get behind the mike and act the clown! That's something I may be able to get away with on stage perhaps but not on an album!"

There are some remarkable tracks on Memphis, but the moment absolutely guaranteed to linger in the mind is the drawling American accent used as a one-sentence intro to the album. "It's actually Little Milton," Milteau admits with a smile, "What happened was we were discussing something together and I'd left the minidisc going in the background because we were trying out a couple of tracks together. There was one point where Milton turned round and said, 'It's OK, you won't have any problem with these guys, they're all excellent musicians!' The expression really struck me because Milton's got this really distinctive voice and a strong southern accent. I thought it would be a good way of kicking off the album, you know, getting people in the right mood!"

Despite the musical accomplishments on Memphis, Milteau is far from optimistic about the future of the blues. "I think blues will die a slow and pretty natural death," he says matter-of factly, "After all, blues is one of those musical genres which existed in a certain time and place because it corresponded to a social state of affairs. And I think it's natural for music like the blues to spawn a host of new 'children' in its wake. You know how it is, things gradually get transformed over the years and these days the original blues has disappeared along with its leading representatives. The last great bluesman is probably B.B. King because we lost John Lee Hooker last year. But whatever happens blues will always be a sort of 'mother music', a music which continues to inspire a wide range of new styles. Blues has been an extraordinarily powerful force over the past few decades, you know. In any case it's been strong enough to get people like me hooked and make them want to play music in the first place!"

So will Memphis go down in music history as one of the last blues albums of all time? "I'll let you into a little secret here," says Milteau with a smirk, "Memphis isn't actually a blues album at all! It's got a strong soul influence to it, but then that makes it a prolongation of the blues I guess!" Whether you rank Memphis as pure blues, soul blues or blues à la française, one thing's for sure this album is definitely worth a listen!