I like this one, not for Bruce's playing, nor Baker's. Just for the glance Clapton cast on Bruce at 4:30. This redeems all the glances cast by a generation of harp players on guitarists!
Yer pushin my buttons again gents. I'll shoot him a look allright. Sorry - but 40 years of playing harmonica -and he still sounds like this ??? An insult to to our humble little tin sandwich is what it is.
Of course he probably hasn't actually picked up the harp since the last time Cream did Train Time. He's only playing to a pricey ticket, sold out Albert Hall . "Hey but it's ony a harmonica - and I'm a ROCK GOD - Who's gonna care if I'm chuggin away like I did three weeks after I picked it up for the first time?
The pity of it is - this is what most of those people will think the harmonica is capable of .
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 9:01 AM
Bonedog: 'The pity of it is - this is what most of those people will think the harmonica is capable of . '
Sadly this is what the harmonica is capable of in the hands of most and it's generally considered acceptable. If someone walked up on that stage and played drums, guitar of bass with the same level of skill, they'd get a beer bottle over their heads.
Oh, you've gone and pushed my buttons now. Ha!
We need to start The Harmonica Anti Defamation Society. We can name and shame all of 'em!
i played with Ginger Baker after a polo match at the Mokuleia Polo Field on the north shore of Oahu.
We were the band entertainment that afternoon. i remember Ginger smiling and toasting us repeatedly. Then he walked over all dusty and still wearing his riding boots to assume the drum chair.
the man can play with a subdued power and unerring aplomb. i felt like we had a tricked out Le Mans engine powering us.
ah, the good old days. i have a Stewart Copeland story that is similar for it occurred at the same polo field.
Jack Bruce is a Bassist, Singer, Songwriter, and Harp player. I'm sure he also plays Guitar and i think Piano too. oh, he tours too.
i think he is great. if his harp is lesser than his other achievements i understand. i remember a time when i was fronting a band singing,harping diatonic and chromatic, playing alto sax, writing horn charts,and playing flute. Of course i did all the booking and banking and taxes. During the day i fixed brass,woodwind, and reed instruments for schools and the local symphony and jazz players. Alto sax suffered. i couldn't find the time to improve. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 12:29 PM
Well...if I could play bass guitar like Bruce, I'd probably play harp like him or wouldn't play it at all. If Clapton blows a harp, maybe we'll smile!
We have often, first of all, to put things in perspective. We can do it, because we are the best and we try to play the most demanding instrument on the earth, this being said with a sharp sense of moderation.
Edit to agree with MP.
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 1:00 PM
Jack Bruce is not the stuff that harmonica heros are made of, but his playing on "Train Time" from the Wheels of Fire album live sides was a big motivator for me to pick up the harmonica . That, along with seeing the original Butterfield Blues Band in a no age limit Detroit folk club called the Chessmate in the same period, the late Sixties. Bruce, while lacking chops as we currently define them, had tone, energy, drive and soul. What he was doing with the harmonica was a mystery to me then, a mystery I had to solve. I am still playing harmonica 46 years later. I am still trying to solve that mystery. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.co,
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 1:47 PM
You're a great diplomat and very gracious and that I applaud. I understand people can do many things don't always have the time to excel at one thing. I'm one of 'em. I play guitar keys and harp, but I don't ignore or neglect any of my skills if I'm going to present them to a paying audience. I practice my arse off.
The thing that annoys me is that it's considered acceptable to play badly just as long as you're playing a harmonica. I listen to the great players here and in times past and know that it requires more skill than thumping a bunch of key or strangling a bunch of strings to achieve the feats that harp players perform. It's the easiest instrument to play, but playing it well? It's without doubt the hardest.
Perhaps we need to set up a 'Harp players need love too' site. Heh.
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 1:11 PM
It goes back to my bedrock philosophy and why I quit playing trombone. People like the way a guitar sounds, and they like the way a harp sounds, though they can take a seemingly unlimited amount of guitar. If you're the best trombonist in the world and you go to a party and play, people will think it sounds "okay." If you have a guitar and you know three chords, you're the hit of the party and will probably get laid. If you can play harp and "fit in" with what the guitar is doing, people think it sounds good, although the bar, of course, is low in that venue. Mr. Bruce makes a pedestrian harp performance work because of who he is, who he's playing with and the fact that the harp is only a component of the total performance, albeit a painfully lengthy component. I found myself waiting for the "real" solo to commence, but it was like waiting for the check that's in the mail.
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 3:42 PM
if any harp player isn`t bending or overblowing a harp most of the people here talk $hit about them...how many could play like bob dylan ,few i`m sure. and i bet dylan means every note he hits...and jack bruce too...
@colman.....certainly any harp player who cannot bend would be very limited in the Blues and/or Rock genre and could not be thought of as accomplished. One can play a whole lot of Blues and Rock without overblowing. If one's goal is to "fit in" and not hit any "sour" notes, that's fine. If one strives to run an eleven-minute mile, that's fine for him/her, but he/she would not be a thought of as a "miler." If your goal is to play like Dylan, have at it. By the way, if you listen, Bruce does indeed incorporate some bends in this video.
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 3:43 PM
roger that Ginger Baker sentiment. He is like a train...best part about this clip for me.
He was the drummer for 1 CD release of a band called Masters of Reality. This is one of my favorite CD's of all time, the ol' desert island cd pick. ---------- The Iceman
I have that reunion DVD and was actually in wales at the time this concert was taking place...a welshman told me tickets were going for a thousand pounds...I loved cream in the late 60s but nobody is that good....
The Cream reunion was a significant disappointment; in the day they were hungry and ambitious and arrogant enough to think that they were the best on their respective instruments. This certainly fueled the long jams they embarked on. There was energy and an interplay that is still palbable in their live recordings from ther period. Clapton was certainly a much ore aggressive guitarist than he is now. The reunion was weak tea compared with the old days. Although everyone played well, generally, the performances were lifeless and make work. No one seemed into the performances. This is a world away from jazz musicians who, as they get older, generally remained determined to play near the top of their game, that each performance of something from their repitoire was a unique and original artistic experience. This marks the difference between genuine improvisation and merely competent riffing . ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.co,
If Jack Bruce saw a bass player equal to his harp playing skills - comandeer a major stage for a self indulgent 5 minute solo - I'm pretty sure he'd wince, and with good reason. Wether the wanker was sincerely feeling every note he played or not.
If you love blues then I believe you owe it some respect. If you respect your audience - you owe them something you know is of a certain quality.
You can argue that sincerity is more important than chops, and I agree, to a point. What one man hears as sincerity, anothers hears as self indulgence I guess. - I'm definetly not sold on this performance - but if you are, -don't let me stop you.
re. Dylan - apples to oranges. Dylan has never played blues harp or tried to. He plays in a first positon folk style inspired by Woody Guthrie and he is true to that. Nothing whatsover to do with blues inspired rock stars who wank away on the harmonica, and who , if they've actually listened to the greats who supposedly inspired them, know or ought to know that they aint got it. If they cared, and want to play this simple instrument - then they ought to put some time in the woodshed and get their shit together IMO. (What do I know - I'm a wanna be - and they actually had a career playing musc.)
@theoburke - On the other recent Cream thread , someone wrote of Cream being like a 'gateway drug' - to better blues.. If he inspired you to play - then that's a positive thing. Nonetheless, - we owe it to ourselve to take off the rose-colored ear-muffs as we age , and listen to the music of our youth with some degree of objectivity. You gotta say in hindsight - that Jack Bruce is no Paul Butterfield when it comes to the harp.
Hey - my asshole , and opinion, are as valid as the next guys. If you love this music, screw me and my opinions and enjoy it. It's better to enjoy than to criticize anyway. ----------
Last Edited by on Oct 24, 2012 11:36 PM
@Bonedog: I agree with the first part of your post: that's why I considered this topic "OT", though there's harp playing. Clapton's glance summerizes it all: it means: "you're showing off" or "you drag it out" or "you hog focus". Sure those minutes were for showing, BUT the audience seems to appreciate BECAUSE folks there are not harp-experts. Cream lived 2 years I think: two years of relentless fights between Baker and Bruce, that made Clapton very tired... For good reasons or not, those 2 years still were a milestone in the Blues history. [Maybe Bruce is a basically bad tempered guy, he was part of the band "West, Bruce and Laing" that was less then transient.]
@laurent - I wasn't really sure what EC meant with that brief glance, - or exactly what you where gettting at citing it. I'm a little slow, - thanks. ----------
@bonedog"jack bruce is no paul butterfield"...he certainly is not,he is first and foremost,a great bass player and vocalist but I enjoyed their train time at the reunion and it appeared the royal albert crowd did too...they are 3 great musicians whose egos got in the way as did blind faiths brief time together...Im glad they did the reunion tour...3 aging men giving it their all...
Ted, that's incredible you found something on them. I heard that chop when I was a young jerk!!! From then on, I've evolved: now I'm an old jerk. Thanks for your seeking.
@Bonedog: not a big deal, this discussion anyway's enjoying!
