This thread is to place songs of players who's styles are not immediately recognizable, and to see if their identity can be figured out who the artist is? You will want to "TAG" the song with a different name - or that will be an easy way to cheat- if the original name of the tune is known. For example I left the original name to this tune as a part of the mp3 - so know it can possibly be easily traced on the internet to find who played it.
Are we allowed to comment on the quality, or lack of quality of the cut? I'll assume yes.
The track above is mediocre. The player doesn't have a particularly good underlying sense of rhythm and doesn't manifest much of a melodic imagination, at least in the first thirty seconds, which is all I could bear to listen to. It's noodling to a jam track, as far as I can tell.
Funny thing is, I think I know who it is. But I'll keep my counsel until others have guessed--and you may be sure that I will honestly tell you whom I believe the player to be.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Apr 09, 2013 7:29 PM
I don't know who the harp player in the second track Frank posted, but the playing is a few steps better than "mediocre": the execution is good, the notes clear and articulate, and the tone is soaring. The soloist is building a solo and his note choices are solid. He knows how to land confidently on the tone centers and how to maneuver from them. What drags this player down is that he is too eager to impress--he overplays , he is repetitive , he runs out of steam when he should be adding texture. There is something in this performance that makes me think that he's hitting the notes as if he's not entirely sure they'll be there when he needs them.
It is a bit out of character for you to say anything harsh about the playing of others, Adam, so I venture a guess that the mystery harmonica man is yourself on an early recording. Of course I may be wrong. ---------- Ted Burke http://www.youtube.com/user/TheoBurke?feature=mhee
http://ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.co,
Last Edited by TheoBurke on Apr 09, 2013 8:06 PM
I speak candidly on occasion, when I have particular reasons for doing so.
I'll note, just to cover myself, that I'm speaking about the first 30 seconds of the recording. I haven't listened to the whole thing.
When I say mediocre, I mean that I don't think the player is of the highest professional caliber. The first cut, on the other hand, immediately struck me as very interesting, and I was pleased to know that it was a player I've celebrated in an earlier thread here.
One more mystery: not only do I think I know who Player #2 is, but I'm fairly sure that other, better things by him have been posted on this forum. In fact, I believe that Frank may even have posted several such clips by this particular player at some point in the past 18 months.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Apr 09, 2013 7:55 PM
Well, then, I am curious who you think this is. My guess of you being the musician had more to do with what I took to be your personality, not your style of playing. I assumed that you'd be more comfortable poking fun at your older recordings than enumerating the faults in someone else's playing. On the matter of playing, I should say that I don't think this harpist sounds anything like you; this fellow is going for a combination of Butterfield / Mark Ford fluidity. Your style is funkier, your tone confident, your improvisations sure and nicely evolving as they progress. ---------- Ted Burke http://www.youtube.com/user/TheoBurke?feature=mhee
i feel stupid. yesterday was such a blast. i really enjoyed the ronnie shellist track was kinda blown away to be honest. after all who sounds like william clarke? thought it was an absolute beautiful tribute. now i think i really do not have a clue just another imitator big deal.
i have been playing the robben ford mark ford tracks for several days. i never listened to him because he sounds like paul butterfield i was never that big of a paul butterfield fan like everyone else not until much later.. i went to buy mark ford's album yesterday and it did not have the work song on it, so i decided not to. now i am thinking why bother.. just another mediocre imitator why bother.
if you want to hear mediocre playing, listen to me play! people tell me all the time they like my playing. but the truth is.. drum roll.. it is mediocre! nothing special, but one thing for sure i have a blast!
the track that frank posted was awesome listen to the tone, and the intonation far far from mediocre i am really lucky, i play well enough to enjoy hearing other people play, but not so well to miss out on some fine fine playing. ---------- tipjar
1847 you are dam near as humble as me,the more I hear makes me try harder for my own style,which seems edgy hard core,and then surprise them with some melodic mood resembling falling in love,and trying to stay away from hate.Then you start to rock and rhumba,and throw that big band swing in for kicks.
Keep on a chuggling the crowd loves it baby.Frank got a good ear for some fine harping.
Oh damn, I aspire to be a mediocre player then. I'd be happy with that. For the time being anyways. ---------- Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy. -Dan Castellaneta
These entry's will be so hard to nail who the player is, because the playing, though excellent- it is not stamped with a unique style that is instantly recognizable...
Hints for the 2nd entry...He is a Floridian and he went by a moniker.
Ahhh, I'm wrong about the second player, given what Frank has just revealed.
Note to 1847 and ReedSqueal: I'm just being a diva. Player #2 obviously does many things right. I'm just being honest about the things that don't work for me. I talk about my own mediocre playing--when it's mediocre--exactly the same way. Listening to a playback in the studio, for example. "That sucks" is a typical self-criticism.
Truth is, after listening to the whole thing, I have to revise my criticism. I like the big, brash, shining amplified tone. I like the sustained notes. The entire clip is a little repetitive, to my ears, and most people won't be too bothered by the way the harp lines float with reference to the underlying beat. Some float is a good thing--it's also known as "swing" and we like swing--but it's only swing if we're quite sure that the player knows exactly where the underlying beat IS. And this player isn't always locked in. I can hear that because I have the same problem on slower blues. So I model my own playing on people like Jason, who always know exactly where the beat is.
But mediocre was indeed an overstatement, a snap judgment. Good lesson there. Always listen to the entire track.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Apr 10, 2013 4:51 AM
One person's trash is another person's treasure. Someone's opinion of another's playing should not be the cause of self-doubt. No matter how much you value that person's opinion (if at all!).
Correct, the late great Rock bottom was the secret player :) Here is a player that to me has something unique to his style and may be more recognizable to you too then the others...Who is it?
Yes, the moment you offered us those two clues, Frank, I was 99% sure it was Rock Bottom.
Now, I'll reveal who I initially thought mystery player #2 was: You! I thought that you were trying to play a sort-of trick on us. Since I really liked your recent "Juke unplugged" video and made that clear, I wasn't worried about you taking TOO much offense. And since the mystery player was just that--a mystery, not a self-identified member of this forum--and since I was 99% sure that the player wasn't somebody on my honorable mention list (and 100% sure the player wasn't on the top-20 lists), I figured I'd put you in a double bind by criticizing the mystery player a little more harshly that I might ordinarily have done.
You stung me. Frank, 1; AG, 0. I'll get you next time.
First guess on player #3: Mark Hummel. Great technique but leaves no breathing space for the duration of the track. It's obviously not Estrin, Kim, Dennis, Jason. 5% chance it's Rod--the particular overdrive tone used by this player overlaps with Rod's, and it swings hard, as Rod does--but the refusal to leave any space, to allow the solo to breathe, makes me think it's Mark rather than Rod. Prodigious technique and sustained intensity, for sure, and for that reason a track that all of us can learn from.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Apr 10, 2013 7:42 AM
A.G...I could see how you could maybe think for a second that is me: I kind of recognize that is what I would aspire to play to that groove, BUT the disclaimer being I can't yet muster up the PRO disciplined TONAL quality Rock Bottom exhibits in that tune.
I have a members tune I will showcase - it should be a mystery to darn near most of the folk on their thread.
The dead give away clue for #3 is he is associated with certain car of long ago?
Can't fool the postman, that's the ticket Tom...Seems Studebaker John is in the burgh twice a month :) If someone else could put one up, that would great!
listen to the volume swells at .45 seconds sounds like roy bucannon! whoever it is... he is older, he plays guitar has at least one telecaster, most likely two of them. that would dismiss both of my last two choices. who is the guy from hot tuna? ---------- tipjar
1847, The clue for this recording is that it was made in 1975 by someone who was connected to magic! Also in one interview Dennis Gruenling called this player a genius :) ---------- my music
Last Edited by wheel on Apr 10, 2013 11:40 PM
Thanks Mr.Squeal - Yes 'Out of Control' sorry, I must remember to give the title of the tune once the cat is outta the bag. The Rock Bottom song is titled "My Blues". My guess for Wheels mystery song is Pierre Beauregard :)
Last Edited by Frank on Apr 11, 2013 3:42 AM
As promised here is a forum members music- can you figure out who is playing this haunting tune...If you have heard this before and know who it is, please don't show your hand and lets see what the others guess :)
Frank, kudzurunner, yes it's Pierre Beauregard :) Frank, Hm ... chromatic harmonica... may be diggsblues or Brendan Power in his early days :)) ---------- my music
Last Edited by wheel on Apr 11, 2013 5:03 AM
I needed a revealing clue to figure that player out, so that was a good thing :) Revealing clues are probably needed for a lot of these players to be figured out :)
You are correct Sir...I believe he wrote that instrumental as an exercise to show case a certain mode/scale to use on the chromatic harmonica. To me it is a very unique composition, unlike anything i have aver heard, I love it :)
Here is a tune that sounds like it could be 1 of 10 different players, Who do you think this is?
I don't think that's Dennis. I like it, though. Great piece of soloing. It has a bit of Butterfield influence, but it's definitely its own thing. A very organic piece of playing--each little melodic idea flows effortlessly out of what comes before.
Pierre Beauregard? Richard "King Biscuit Boy" Newell?
Last Edited by kudzurunner on May 02, 2013 2:13 PM
