JJ Milteau doesn't get mentioned too often. He's a very versatile player and he does some interesting rhythms. Demi Evans (the singer) is one of the best female blues singers anywhere. She's popular in Europe, especially France. It's too bad she's known by so few here in the States, even though she was born in Texas. See if you agree.
You're right. JJM doesn't get a lot of attention, in the States anyway, although in my opinion he's one of the best players around. And I've never heard of Demi Evans, which doesn't mean much (I'm not the best source of who's who in anything). My guess is that this is primarily all about American chauvinism: If it ain't happenin' here, it ain't happenin'. Stupid, and dangerous really, but a common theme none the less.
Thanks for posting. Yes, I agree. Fantastic stuff. ---------- Matthew
JJ Milteau has recorded, back in -95 i think, one of the greatest "harmonica albums" so far, "Routes". Can be a bit hard to get your hands on but worth a try. (A harmonica album is a sort of concept album, featuring harmonica in various musical styles. Often a bit stale as an idea but here quite fun.)
"American chauvinism" it probably is -- and I won´t berate you with my notions of it since youre obviously aware of the slant things tend to get in foras such as this -- and I wonder how many people here have even heard of, say Charles Pasi or Alexandre Thollon?
@Martin: you'll actually notice that Milteau and Pasi are in the Honorable Mention list here ( http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/blues_harp_gods.html ) But, it is true they are almost never discussed here.
@mikolune: you´re right, my bad. Hadn´t noticed that --I tend to skip "lists" of all kinds. And this list evidently finds John Mayall to be a more accomplished blues player than e.g. Gwen Foster and Rhythm Willie, which pretty much says all about its´ near-sighted contemporariness. (But I notice a push for the Yazoo album, thanks.) I´m not French but I could easily muster half a dozen or so other French names that would be of relevance here, but that´s just the way things are.
Chauvinism would be this: if Milteau got use of american musicians, what Milteau actually is, would be thanks to those american musicians. I think there are lots and lots of very good players, so it's impossible to linger on one or the other: just see the "reserve" only in the US and all of them are not known. Chauvinism is a feature of a particular european country, that's BTW not far from Belgium.
JJ Milteau is well known in France. He inspired a whole generation of great French harp players, including Greg Zlap and Rachelle Plas. Hohner issued a signature edition harp with his name a few years ago.
As I once told BronzeWailer, there are songbooks from Milteau's albums "Bastille Blues" and "Merci d'être venus": you'll have the sheetmusic and the original backing track. Have a glance at http://www.partoch.com/artistes/partition,MILTEAU+JEAN-JACQUES.html
Yeah, JJM does very nice books - here's one I really liked, that comes with a CD - warning: book in French! 10 Thèmes de Blues. It has a bunch of classic blues pieces, a great repertoire builder, with also some improvisation ideas. It comes with the chord structure of the songs, which is nice to understand what is going on, especially that most are not the standard 12 bar. The chord grid is also helpful for impro.
Last Edited by on Aug 22, 2012 11:41 PM
Indeed, Mikolune is right - JJ Milteau has written several excellent books for those of you who read French. He also co-wrote the French translation of Winslow Yerxa's book Harmonica for Dummies.
@laurent2015: If I understand you right you´re saying JJM´s greatness is due to his having worked with American musicians? Eh, not true, I think. He was a very adept player already on an early bluesgrass album (from -76, -77 or so) and not an American in sight. But if you´re saying his backing musicians has improved over the years, yeah sans doute, and that is to a considerable degree due to American musicians. The early collection "Blues Harp" is very hard to listen to from the backing aspect (although the harmonica is great).
You´re right that Chauvin was French, if he ever existed, but that doesn´t precludd a few other countries from being part of the phenomenon ...
Lovely. Beautiful. Great feeling. And, of course, that all important and often elusive..........drum roll....... ......................................................... ta da!............tone.
Martin, I agree with you, but, though, I don't feel here -an american forum- the needed level of bad faith to turn into chauvinism. Artists like Jacques Brel, Raymond Devos or Django Reinhardt led their carrier in France but who really knows that they actually are not french, but Belgian? As for Milteau, his skills obviously don't rely on american musicians, but a chauvinist would claim the opposite.
@laurent2015: OK, see your point, but as a matter of fact I don´t think of this as an American forum ... Maybe I should -- Adam G is obviously American -- but the presence of som many nationalities somehow reduces the "Dirty-South aspect of things. Being Belgian can be a bit tough, I gather, with that rather self-conscious neighbour. Raymond Devos was a wholly un-known name to me, I must confess, but typical: here in Sweden we have a process going on that tends to obliterate everything that is not American.
I know Sweden is extraordinary severe with a lot of things, notably concerning the children or drinking when driving and several other stunning government's positions. I heard that some states in US are very severe as well, but let fortunately people breathe in peace, at least for the moment. Maybe somehow these states are kind of inspiration for Sweden?
@laurent2015: I think the Puritan tradition in the States at some point in time goes back to the same sources as the severity of certain ideas of governement ruling in Sweden -- but then we´re talkin 400-500 years ago. So I wouldn´t say that the US necessarily provide inspiration today for governing the state of Sweden; but they certainly have had an enormous impact in the general area of so called "culture".
