This one-hour-plus clip of Carey Bell live must have been posted here at some point, but I'll risk posting it again. Great shuffle drumming (& shuffle bass playing), and masterful use of tone and space and wildness by Mr. Bell. Yes, that this quality is "wildness." Please don't ask me to define. Just watch this video. An expressive genius.
Thanks Adam,just have been getting into Carey's playing again,man this was a treat,great backing band.Just bought a 64chromonica 280 at a pawn shop,and been digging CB's version of I'm Ready,damn near can come close.
He does covers of the chicago greats LW-BW with his own style,which is the mark of a master.There is a wild flair to his playing,but controls a song with style.I never tire of hearing this old bluesman.
His first album, "Carey Bell's Blues Harp" produced by Bob Koester/ Delmark records in 1969, has been one of my favorite blues records for 40 years and is still my favorite Carey Bell recordings. Every tune on it is great, Eddie Taylor, Royal Johnson, Jimmy Dawkins, and Pinetop Perkins are all on it. I forget who the rhythm section is, but it's real old school Chicago style, excellent guitars, Pinetop's piano,and a rhythm section that knows how to relax and work a groove. If you are a fan of Carey Bell and haven't heard this album, you really should.
Last Edited by on Nov 16, 2012 1:09 AM
Carey Bell is my harp hero (along with Billy Branch, who mentored under Bell). I just think he was the greatest blues harp player ever. Carey Bell could play all styles, was a superb and deep blues vocalist, and was a great chromatic player as well. His sense of spacing and timing is what I marvel at the most. I know that it is a big statement to say that someone was the best, given all of the great names throughout history. For some it may be blasphemy not to mention the biggest names as the best. But for me, Carey Bell is the player I always return to.
Last Edited by on Nov 16, 2012 5:41 AM
The last time he played Seattle he was playing through a SF Twin in a road case, it looked like the one on the stage over by the guitarists amp. But who knows.
Last Edited by on Nov 16, 2012 2:43 PM
Cary Bell was one of the central hamonica influences when I was first taking this thing seriously; I saw him with his band on a PBS program back in the early seventies and he was the first one I had listened to after discovering Butterfield and Musselwhite who had his own thing going on the harp. He has one best tones I have ever come across , period, full and blasting one moment, softer, more plaintive at others. He had an uncanny sense of timing and consistently built amazingly constructed solos. Not a note of anything I've ever heard him play sounded rote, automatic, or hackneyed; his is the talent to sound spontaneous , in the moment while also being mindful that he is, in fact, creating something unique. There is also the matter of the vocal quality of his ideas--his warbles, shakes, chords, spaces between phrases have a vocal cadence that compliments the emotion of the song. Bell is a master to whom I take my hat off to. Thank you for posting this wonderful harmonica music. ---------- TED BURKE http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu
I agree with Kudzurunner, Carey has a wildness about him.
Let this old man tell a story about Carey. The year was 1975. Willie Dixon and his band came to town for a three day gig at the Commodore Ballroom-- Friday, Saturday and Monday. (No drinking on the Lord's day). I was playing in a local blues band at the time. Everybody in our band went to the Commodore Ballroom that weekend to see Willie and his "Chicago Blues Allstars".
What a band! Willie on stand-up bass and vocals, his son Freddie on electric bass, Buster Benton on guitar and vocals, Clifton James on drums, and Carey Bell on harp. It's one of the top five bands I've ever heard.
Buster stood out for his soulful vocals and stinging guitar. Clifton stood out because he pounded, I mean pounded, his drums. He drove the band, and made me concentrate on the drummer, for the first time ever, over any other player.
Carey stood out, to my mind at least, because of his excellent, tight, chromatic harp playing. I'll always remember him draining the chromatic of his spit once in a while. He'd tilt it upright; you could see the spit pouring out. He played a lot of chromatic the nights I saw him.
But, that's not my story. On Saturday afternoon, a little club, "Rohans", in the hippie neighbourhood of Vancouver held a blues jam for anybody that cared to come. Our band did. Carey Bell and Buster Benton did.
I ended up on stage with Buster Benton, playing a slow blues, followed by Little Walter's "Off the Wall". Like a million other harp players, I had memorized it, and played it more or less note for note.
Carey Bell was in the audience. When I got off the stage, he came up to me and said, without preamble, "I got a whole buncha tricks you ain't even seen yet". It was not a friendly conversation. There was no kindness shining out of his eyes.
I was taken by surprise. I didn't know what to say, so said nothing. I thought about it later. Could he have been jealous because I'd gone to the trouble of nailing a Little Walter song? I concluded that's all it was. If I had figured it out on the spot, I would have said to Carey, "Hey, my little trick is nothing compared to the beautiful sound you make with your harp, your inventiveness and your soul. And you can sing. Let's be friends and talk about harp".
Carey Bell (November 14th, 1936 - ) Lefty Dizz – Ain’t It Nice To Be Loved (JSP Records, 1995) 1. Cloudy Weather – A, No Harp 2. That's Alright In The Dark – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 3. I Feel Like Jumping – E, No Harp 4. Bad Avenue – G, No Harp 5. Ain't It Nice To Be Loved – G, No Harp 6. Look On Yonders Wall – D, C Chromatic (3rd Position) 7. Too Late – G, C Harp (2nd Position) 8. Sadie – E, No Harp 9. Where The Hell Where You When I got Home? – E, No Harp *Carey Bell on Harmonica
Big Walter Horton With Carey Bell (Alligator, 1989) 1. Have A Good Time – G, C Harp (2nd Position) 2. Christine - G, C Harp (2nd Position) 3. Lovin' My Baby (w/ Bell) – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 4. Little Boy Blue (w/ Bell) – F, Bb Harp (2nd Position) 5. Can't Hold Out Much Longer - E, A Harp (2nd Position) 6. Under The Sun - G, low C Harp (2nd Position) 7. Tell Me Baby - E, A Harp (2nd Position) 8. Have Mercy (w/ Bell) – D, Chromatic 9. That Ain't It - E, A Harp (2nd Position) 10. Temptation (w/ Bell) - E, A Harp (2nd Position) 11. Trouble In Mind – A, A Harp (1st Position)
Carey Bell’s Blues Harp (Delmark, 1995) 1. I'm Ready – Bb, Eb Harp (2nd Position) 2. I Got To Find Somebody – A, A Harp (1st) 3. I Wanna Will My Love To You – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 4. Blue Monday At Kansas City Red's [Inst.] – Eb, C Chromatic w/ lever depressed (3rd Position) 5. I'm Gonna Buy Me A Train Ticket – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 6. Come On Over Here - Eb, C Chromatic w/ lever depressed (3rd Position) 7. I Cry So Much – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 8. Sad Dreams [Inst.] - Eb, C Chromatic w/ lever depressed (3rd Position) 9. Everything's Up Tight – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 10. You Know It Ain't Right - Bb, Eb Harp (2nd Position) 11. Last Night – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 12. Rocking With A Chromatic [Inst.] - Eb, C Chromatic w/ lever depressed (3rd Position) 13. I'm Gonna Buy Me A Train Ticket (alt.) – A, Harp (2nd Position) 14. Walking In The Park – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 15. Carey Bell's Blues Harp [Inst.] – A, Verse 1 – 2: A Harp (1st Position) Verse 3 - 4: D Harp (2nd Position) Verse 5: A Harp (1st Position) Verse 6 – 9: G Harp (3rd Position) Verse 10 - 11: D Harp (2nd Position)
Deep Down (Alligator 1995) 1. I Got to Go – B, A Harp (3rd Position) 2. Let Me Stir in Your Pot – G, C Harp (2nd Position) 3. When I Get Drunk – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 4. Low Down Dirty Shame – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 5. Borrow Your Love – E, A harp (2nd Position) 6. Lonesome Stranger – Am, D Harp (2nd Position) 7. After You – A, Intro & Outro A Harp (1st Position), Solo A Harp (1st Position) & D Harp (2nd Position) 8. I Got a Rich Man's Woman – G, C Harp (2nd Position) 9. Jawbreaker – D, C Chromatic in 3rd 10. Must I Holler – Dm, C Chromatic in 3rd 11. Tired of Giving You My Love – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 12. Easy – E, A Harp (2nd Position)
Dynasty (JSP, 1996) 1. Brought Up The Hard Way – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 2. What My Mama Told Me, (I Shoulda Did) – G, C Harp (2nd Position) 3. The Gladys Shuffle [Inst.] – Eb, C Chromatic w/ lever depressed (3rd Position) 4. I'll Be Your 44 – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 5. New Harp In Town [Inst.] – G, C Harp (2nd Position) 6. I Need You So Bad – A, D Harp (2nd Position) 7. I Don't Need No Woman – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 8. As The Years Go Passing By - D, G Harp (2nd Position) 9. Sail On – A, D Harp (2nd Position)
Good Luck Man (Alligator, 1997) 1. My Love Strikes Like Lightning – F, Bb Harp (2nd Position) 2. Love Her, Don't Shove Her – A, Intro, Outro & 1st Solo: Low D Harp (2nd Position), 2nd Solo: G Harp (3rd Position) 3. Sleeping With The Devil – A, Intro & Solo: Low D Harp (2nd Position), Outro: G Harp (3rd Position) 4. Harding Working Woman – D, Chromatic 5. Bell Hop [Inst.] – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 6. Bad Habits – F, Bb Harp (2nd Position) 7. Good Luck Man – E, A Harp (2nd Position) 8. Hard Hearted Woman – A, A Harp (1st Position) 9. Going Back to Mississippi – D, Intro & 1st part of solo: C Chrom
