eharp - yes, you are being a little niaive...affordable multitrack tape recorders have been around for years, as have cheap mixers & mics. The PC makes manipulation, effects & mastering (to a degree) easier (you still need interfaces for multitrack simultaneous recording), but there have always been small scale recording outfits & lo tech, but effective production techniques...google Joe Meek, it's even how Berry Gordy got started.
"For many bedroom producers, Daniel Bedingfield's debut, Gotta Get Thru This must seem like a dream come true. A songwriter, home-producer and vocalist whose laptop hit, the title track of this album, got released by Ministry of Sound to become one of 2001's biggest hits."
His debut album, also titled Gotta Get Thru This, reached #2 in the UK albums chart and went on to sell more than 4 million copies worldwide.
@5F6H, i was wondering if anyone would get around to pointing out george smith as an example of a black blues player paying tribute to LW-(adam says none, not a single one, ever did.)
his tribute to little walter album is exhibit A.
spot on reasoning in that particular post! ---------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
5F, I'd disagree that you need basic performing skills. Someone in the loop needs some basic skills, but it no longer HAS to be the performer (between Auto-Tuning, beat correction and lip-syncing performers). Someone with a little time can take reporters reading the news and turn it into music.
That doesn't mean that there is no musician involved though. Back in the days of musicals they used to dub over stars singing voices with someone who actually could sing. The music was still being produced somewhere, but not by the person everyone saw moving their lips. :)
nacoran, that's true...but what the performer cannot do, falls to someone else to "patch" up, it's swings & roundabouts in terms of man hours spent...but you're right there are labour saving/salvage solutions that were not so easily implemented a few years ago.
@MP: I certainly didn't say that black blues artists didn't do tributes to other artists! That's silly. Of course they do. Once they've developed their own styles, they're able to return to the source--Carey Bell does this vis a vis Big Walter, for example--and demonstrate that they're able to pay tribute to an earlier artist AND clearly maintain their own individuality.
Of course, you haven't addressed the question of who put these particular artists up to the project of creating a tribute album. Sometimes white producers have a hand in that.
My larger point, which remains entirely valid and is not an overgeneralization, is that the best black blues artists are always fiercely insistent on making a name for themselves as performers with something new and distinctive to offer the world. To some extent this is compensatory: they came up in a time where the white world tended to see them as interchangeable and not worthy of respect as human beings and citizens, much less individual creative artists. The crabs in a barrel syndrome, so to speak, meant that it was crucial to say, as a blues performer, "This is ME." A white blues artist who submerges his own personality in one particular black blues artist, as Bharath does, by and large, on his first album, is veering profoundly AWAY from the heart of the blues tradition, rather than honoring it. I'm not sure that this is clear either to Bharath or those who enjoy his playing. It should be.
I'm not making this stuff up. I'm simply pointing it out. Bharath's version of "Fast Boogie" is brilliant playing--unless you're intimately familiar, as I am, with the original. Then it becomes something different: the work of a brilliant copyist; a brilliant student. Little Walter himself left that phase behind, and decisively, explosively. The John Lee Williamson thing had been done.
I've addressed various misunderstandings here, but the truth is, I'd rather celebrate fresh and original new work than point out why a particular contemporary player could be working his creativity a little harder.
Last Edited by on Nov 27, 2010 6:47 PM
Adam said "the best black blues artists are always fiercely insistent on making a name for themselves as performers with something new and distinctive to offer the world"
"I don't want to play like nobody else; I want to play like me." -Big Walter
one thing to remember is that before little walter sounded like little walter he was playing john lee williamson stuff almost note for note . Bharath is playing little walter note for note but not in quite the same way as little walter emulated Sonny boy 1. little walter rather internalized the sonny boy style but didnt make it an exact note for note copy. bharath is playing it like a classical score with no room for improvisation. he is not creating it as a composer but performing it more like classical musician. little walter was a composer . hopefully bharath who has really mastered walters arsenal will come up with his own thing. he is a fine musician and im sure he is looking for his own thing but doesnt want to settle for what people today call "their own thing"which is more of an eclectic jumble of derivative licks from alot of sources and maybe the addition some new experimental jazz wannabee licks -no where on the level of a charlie parker. no one on the scene today has the organic originality of little walter or for that matter even the simple orignality of a jimmy reed. one thing I will credit those players with is that they are taking chances and that is probably the right direction to be in. I would hate to see the blues reduced to classical music. in order for it to remain alive it has to be alive when it is played.
[disclaimer: haven't read through all the messages so this may be redundant]
This is an interesting thread. I would be happy to hear directly from Bharath about how he sees his approach.
From my point of view - musicians should do what they want and can. He has definitely mastered something and we are appreciative of that. May be he is not striving for what some of us are striving for, but this should be perfectly fine with us.
Is there concern that Barath is promoting a wrong, misleading direction that prevents Blues Harp from developing into the future ? Is this kudzurunner's concern ? I don't feel worried about that - new Blues Harp will always have it's fans and artists, and the old school LW type stuff as well.
Well...he plays very good ! And this is just one song, so I think he can play more then one style. According to his 'my space', these are his inspirations, for me that makes this discussion a little bit redundant.
Little Walter, Freddy Below, Jimmy Rogers, John and Gracie Brim, Muddy Waters, Big Walter, Sonnyboy Williamson II, Sonnyboy Wiliamson I, Roosevelt Sykes, Howlin Wolf, Hubert Sumlin, Big Bill Broozy, T Bone Walker, Luther Tucker, Robert Lockwood Jr, Robert Johnson, Charlie Christian, Tampa Red, Big Maceo, Otis Spann, Junior Watson, Eddie Taylor, Floyd Jones, Kid Thomas, Willie Smith, SunnyLand Slim, Johnny Dyer, Memphis Slim, Memphis Minnie, Lafayette Leake, Eddie Boyd, Albert Ammons, Willie Dixon, Big Crawford, Ransom Knowling, Louis Meyers, David Meyers, Sam Meyers, Jimmy Reed, Floyd Dixon, Tiny Grimes, Jimmy McCracklin, Bo Diddley, Elmore James, JB Lenoir, Hop Wilson, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, Johnny Guitar Watson, Otis Rush, Robert NightHawk, Johnny Young , Johnny Shines, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Paul Oscher, David Waldman, SP Leary , Goeroge Smith, Louis Jordan, Louis Prima, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Knight, CHampion Jack Dupree, Jerry McCain, JB Hutto, Bob Corritore, Rusty Zinn, Kim Wilson, Lil Charlie and Rick Estrin, My Brothers on the 88, Nick Curran, and so many others that humble todays brand of unthoughtful , unheartfelt , unskilled , and generic musical stylings ---------- http://www.myspace.com/arnoudbluesharp
Arnoud - good post mate, a little research goes a long way!
Adam, you ended your original post with the challenge 'you tell me'. Well, I tell you that I saw a clip (on You Tube I believe) from a documentary about Satan and Adam in their hey-day. Sterling said (and from memory I paraphrase) "... everyone should play a musical instrument. Then when life goes badly then they can sit down and play music for their own enjoyment."
I also tell you (even if my memory of Sterling's words are incorrect) that it is more important to enjoy playing than to make a name for yourself (I state this without the usual IMHO and await the usual howls of protest).
Lastly, (IMHO!!!) progress within the Blues is rather a collective effort. Sometimes, if viewed from the outside (or in a historical review) there seems to be a period of rest, where no advance is being made, but suddenly someone appears and (hang on to your hats) we are off with a new sound/ technique/ whatever. The very many good players (this automatically excludes me!) are all taking part in the collective, but only the very few are destined to be credited with a particular development. At this moment Bharath may not have floated into that very few, but who knows what he might do in 2011 or beyond. Unknown to us he might simply be 'resting' (recycling the traditional blues sound) and have some revolutionary ideas swilling around in the back of his mind - one things for sure, if I was him I'd think twice before launching anything new after the hammering his (more than) decent playing has got on this forum. Fortunately however, the innovators have the confidence to get on with it!
Yes, at bottom, THE most important thing for a musician is to follow his muse and to get some soul-deep satisfaction by doing so. "Follow your bliss!" is what Joseph Campbell said. I agree. I'm sure Sterling said something like that! But he said many things. One thing I remember him saying with some regularity was--well, he would talk to me about his three-octave sound on the guitar. He was very proud of having come up with an approach to guitar playing that was, as he saw it, genuinely new. "That's a hard thing to come up with a new sound, Mister!" he'd say loudly. "Can't everybody do that, now." But he was disinclined, ever, to look at a player and say, "Hmmm....That's derivative." He wasn't a critic in that way. He was an appreciator....And he appreciated his own guitar style more than any other.
There's a lesson here, surely. Positive thinking is ultimately the best bet, and the surest way of becoming free in all senses of the word. The cosmic Yes!!!! I'm OK with that.
@jagrowler: I agree completely with your analysis vis a vis Bharath (and also the earlier analysis that sees him as in some sense a classical performer). It wouldn't surprise me at all, really, if he surprised the heck out of us with something unforseen in the not-too-distant future. Cultures need agents of various sorts in order to stay healthy. Healthy cultures need agents provacateurs; they need historians; they need futurists; they need people who make distinctions between very good, excellent, and brilliant; they need people who say "F that, just play!" All those functions are important.
Play from your soul, play whatever it is you need to play, and let the chips fall where they may.
Last Edited by on Nov 28, 2010 5:19 AM
@adam, an attempt to distill your premise: The heart of the blues tradition is innovation. This is consistent in your writing and (I think) often the crux of misunderstanding in your efforts to make the point (M-BH). Identification is closer to what I would call the heart. It's personal and connects because it comes from the center of who you are. The great players make the instrument a tool. Howlin Wolf on harp. Clapton, one note. Blues is a medium to personify and if you really have something to say you'll be heard. It isn't new or different, it's you. We are each inherently innovative because we're the only one of us. No licks or tricks, have something to say and SAY it.
@littoral: The heart of the blues tradition is the attempt on the part of each musician to find an original voice in the space that lies between tradition (the full range of great music that has already been played) and innovation (whatever music speaks to NOW). You can't just invent great blues from scratch; in order to invent deep, valuable stuff, you need to school yourself in the greatest blues music that has already been played. It's that schooling that gives any innovation weight and significance. Conversely, you can't find an original voice, or speak to NOW, if you bury yourself in the greatest blues music that has already been played and think that in so doing you've done enough. That particular exercise only takes you halfway. But so does radical innovation without sufficient schooling and mentoring in past and current traditions.
Last Edited by on Nov 28, 2010 8:55 AM
Adam, we agree. I accept that I come from tradition and perceive an over emphasis on innovation. That said, I study Ricci a lot and am working on your Crossroads. Thanks, it's a challenge and well represents tradition and innovation.
you can find lots of players doing 'their thing'. doing it a little differently, and sometimes it may even sound like something you actually might want to listen to. that's cool. after you do your homework then go for it.
innovaters are much harder to find. they are a fraction of a percentage point when it comes to numbers. they are jewels. we learn from them.
one mistake some players make is that they confuse being different with innovation.
you definately should experiment. perhaps you'll find your own voice.
but music is supposed to be enjoyable. i enjoy Bharath. now what was the question again...? -@ kudzu, right, i didn't explore the record company angle. but 'little'george smith' did get mileage out of the LW thing, with and without record company help.--------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
Last Edited by on Nov 28, 2010 10:52 AM
