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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
In Toronto with Jerome Godboo Band
In Toronto with Jerome Godboo Band
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Brendan Power
431 posts
May 02, 2014
8:08 AM
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I'm in Toronto and environs for a few days, guesting with local harp star Jerome Godboo and his excellent band. We only met in person for the first time yesterday, but have been in touch for a while online. Jerome is a big enthusiast for my PowerBender tuning and is doing great stuff with it - as I heard up-close at our first gig last night at Monarch's Bar in downtown Toronto. Really cool to hear it played so well!
Jerome also loves extra-reed harps. He plays X-Reed SUB30s alongside Hohner XB40s on stage, one of the few I know of so far who is using them regularly for Blues. To my ear he's one of the best guys to listen to for players who are looking for a new take on the Blues using alternate harmonica tunings and layouts, as he's a hard-gigging dynamic Blues performer of long experience.
Jerome is a great frontman/singer in addition to his harp playing. Here's a recent clip with him using the X-Reed SUB30:
It was a blast playing with his band last night, and I'm looking forward to more! These are our gigs:
MAY
2nd Bay City Music Hall, Hamilton, ON
3rd Kingston Folk Club, Kingston, ON
4th Impresario Artisan Market, Coburg, ON (my Solo Show)
5th Hugh's Room, Toronto
Tomorrow at Kingston I'm doing a 2 hour harmonica workshop before the show, 4-6pm. If any of you can make it along to the shows, please come along and say hello :-)
Last Edited by Brendan Power on May 02, 2014 8:11 AM
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arzajac
1357 posts
May 02, 2014
8:23 AM
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I'm looking forward to both the workshop and the show!
BRENDAN POWER
Backed by JEROME GOODBOO BAND with ERIC SHENKMAN
The Standeasy @ the RCHA Club – 193 Ontario Street
Saturday May 3rd 8:30pm
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
Last Edited by arzajac on May 02, 2014 9:41 AM
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WinslowYerxa
575 posts
May 02, 2014
4:31 PM
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I see you'll be in Montréal for la Grande Rencontre as well.
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Winslow
Find out about the 2014 Spring Harmonica Collective!
SPONSORED BY
Lone Wolf Blues Company
Rockin’ Ron’s Music For Less
BlowsMeAway Productions
Slim’s Custom Cases
HarpGear
Seydel & Soehne
X-Reed Harmonicas
MasterHarp tuning tables
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Brendan Power
432 posts
May 03, 2014
12:04 AM
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Well spotted Winslow. la Grande Recontre is the reason I'm in Canada, and I'm really looking forward to it. As I was coming over anyway, Jerome kindly offered to get some shows in the Toronto area as well.
Will you be in Montreal for the festival? Hope so! I know you are well up on Quebec harp players - who should I look out for?
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arzajac
1358 posts
May 04, 2014
6:55 AM
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Thank you so much Brendan for stopping by!
Here is a clip from the workshop:
One of the many topics he covered led to this piece and this harmonica.
This is from his album New Chinese Harmonica.
It's fascinating that the soulful bends here are all draw bends. There are no blow notes on this harp! The blow reeds are only used to contribute to the draw bends on this harmonica.
Later on, the show was amazing. Brendan opened each set and did some solo pieces as well as a few songs with individual members of the band. My absolute favourite was when he and the drummer played a number together (unrehearsed, I believe) - two top pros creating an incredible groove!
Aubrey Dayle is incredible. He has been part of the John Popper Band. The videos on his site don't capture his unassuming, mischievous demeanour. He's a powerhouse, a real pleasure to watch.
Eric Schenkman played guitar. He's the guitarist for the Spin Doctors. He too was unassuming and on top of his game. He laid down one mother of a groove.
Just to give you an example of the stage dynamics, Brendan asked him to take a solo - "Play loud!". He basically upped his volume by about 10 per cent. Brendan immediately asked him to follow it up with another solo "Really loud!" this time. He obliged this time with a significant increase and it brought the house down. Another real pleasure to watch!
Jerome Godboo is an animal on stage. He chose an excellent mix of blues, funk, pop and original songs. He's a high-octane front-man.
He's a full-time user of PowerBender and X-Reed (MB30) harps. He continuously raves about how he plays each song differently now that he has adopted Brendan's harps.
My wife also loved the show. We stayed out way past our kids' bedtime. And that's never happened before....
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Custom overblow harps. Harmonica service and repair.
Last Edited by arzajac on May 04, 2014 6:56 AM
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