atty1chgo
1048 posts
Aug 05, 2014
5:43 AM
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From their classic album - "Full House" -
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atty1chgo
1049 posts
Aug 05, 2014
5:45 AM
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ridge
538 posts
Aug 05, 2014
5:46 AM
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I just performed these live this past Saturday with Danny Klein's Full House band. It was my first time playing Whammer Jammer for an audience and it was a hell of a rush!
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Ridge's YouTube
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The Iceman
1893 posts
Aug 05, 2014
6:04 AM
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Used to do these two songs just like this in my 80's top 40 band. It killed at the clubs.
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The Iceman
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12gagedan
306 posts
Aug 05, 2014
9:20 PM
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Now that I know WJ, I'm playing till it breaks.
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12gagedan's YouTube Channel
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blingty
39 posts
Aug 07, 2014
6:14 AM
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It's great stuff (of course). I can't be sure, but sounds like it's played through a PA/mic instead of the amp'd up configuration or at least the gain is low.... just to add weight to the "you can play clean and sound great" discussion.
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SmokeJS
281 posts
Aug 07, 2014
7:38 AM
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The only J. Geils music I've owned in 40 years is Full House so the live version of Whammer Jammer. Sitting here this morning to the studio version and it doesn't have the same impact. The studio version of Serves You Right To Suffer really works for me. There's a Magic Dick / J Geils Cd called Bluestime that has some great playing but the vocals aren't strong enough.
Does anyone have some good Magic Dick song recommendations?
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Ted Burke
100 posts
Aug 07, 2014
3:19 PM
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It's time to put "Whammer Jammer" to rest. Let it join "Room to Move" in the dustbin of history.
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1847
2035 posts
Aug 07, 2014
3:31 PM
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not a chance ted.
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica
"but i play it anyway"
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1847
2040 posts
Aug 07, 2014
5:01 PM
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J.Geils Band "Whammer Jammer"1971 Live in... by John_Dug
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica
"but i play it anyway"
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NiteCrawler .
304 posts
Aug 07, 2014
6:23 PM
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@Ted,Dust Bin? Ditto on not a chance?
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atty1chgo
1054 posts
Aug 07, 2014
7:29 PM
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Ted - why put it to rest? Please explain fully, as I know you can do, when you have time. Are you secretly hoping that we do the same to "Juke"? Whammer Jammer is one of those types of songs. It is never played the same way twice, and harp players look to it as a standard of excellence. Sort of like the song below:
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Ted Burke
101 posts
Aug 08, 2014
6:59 AM
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The most admirable thing about Magic Dick is that he's a player who clearly reached a point where he forgot everything he worked so hard to learn on blues harp and became his own man, someone who had personalized the harmony legacies that interested him and became one of those folks who are one of a kind, a unique musician,a distinct voice, an orginal. "Whammer Jammer" is a time piece in that it's like one of those Mad scientist mash ups from Dexter Laboratory when he's building huge , killer robots out of air conditioning parts, borrowed , dented, a little rusty, now all gleeming and shiny and flashy in ways no one expected. It's a perfect set piece, a history of his inspirations, a statement of the road he wants to take. Gutsy, fresh, quick, tricky, simple in constituent parts but difficult to imagine into being and not-so-easy to perform correctly, it is the definitive blues harp show piece for the last four decades. It is, ironically, a piece that is a bit of stumbling block for a lot of players who never really get past "Whammer Jammer" ; they prefer to keep on trying to perfect it, listen to it over the course of the decades gone by, discuss it until all is dust when they gather with other harmonica players. I was never all that enamored of the piece beyond giving MD the respect and credit for his superlative musicianship, but WJ , once the revolutionary assemblage of riffs that showed a new generation how it should be done, has become cliched, a set piece like Orange Blossom Special that , though impressive, is too familiar. It seems pointless to be to listen to a generation of young players coming up trade passable versions of the exact same licks Magic Dick came up in the 70s. It doesn't really matter that the song is never played the same way twice--in live situations , no song ever is, really. What I am saying is that the excitement has been bled from the tune .
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The Iceman
1909 posts
Aug 08, 2014
7:07 AM
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I view Whammer Jammer as a valuable piece of work, to be enjoyed (I never get tired of listening to it) and used as a valuable reference to learn all or bits and pieces (after all, it really is a piece composed of bits and pieces of other ideas - many from James Cotton).
We understand that you find the excitement has been bled out and wish it to be put in mothballs, but your opinion may not be shared by most others in the harmonica world.
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The Iceman
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Ted Burke
103 posts
Aug 08, 2014
7:23 AM
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I smell mothballs when other musicians perform it, with the exception of the version by Pat Ramsey. He had the guts to insert his own chops into the format and , I think , transformed WJ. That is exactly the point of creating art, to conceive of something new, even in the interpretation of the work of other musicians. The point is that Ramsey took ownership of this tune when played it and successfully, in my view, reimagined it. That merits a listen or two, or three, or more. Really, many of us are obsessed with recreating Magic Dick's licks from the original recording and I think more of us should what MD did with James Cotton, which is use the licks as a spring board to something new. After 40 years of listening to renditions of WJ done with widely varying results, I don't think enough of us have taken the kind of chance Ramsey did with the song. We are are too concerned to "get it right" rather than play the song, the emphasis on play, explore, experiment.
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blingty
40 posts
Aug 08, 2014
7:26 AM
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I kind of have similar thoughts and feelings about Juke, Ted. It's a masterpiece, of course, a statement of where Little Walter was in 1952 (lemme see, 2014 - 1952 = 62 years ago). For me, it was something to be studied in detail, picked apart, played, thought about etc when starting out and learning the basics and craft of blues harp, to be enjoyed still today... and then to be forgotten about and move on as we find our own voices.
Last Edited by blingty on Aug 08, 2014 7:30 AM
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The Iceman
1910 posts
Aug 08, 2014
7:36 AM
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Who knows how many good players today spent time with Whammer Jammer in order to digest the ideas and then rolled them into their own sound.
After all, Whammer Jammer doesn't sound like Rocket '88 even though it was here that the seeds were planted (IMO).
It's fun to play live, whether good or bad, as it really connects with the crowd, and isn't this part of what performing is really about?
Also, there are those that have posted their version here in order to receive constructive criticism.
Why not consider it a valuable learning tool?
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The Iceman
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blingty
41 posts
Aug 08, 2014
7:40 AM
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You make some good points there, Iceman. I hadn't realised people were posting their own versions here - these pieces definitely are learning tools.
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JustFuya
384 posts
Aug 08, 2014
8:06 AM
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I can't do it but I don't scoff. The best WJ cover I've heard on this site (by Hakan):
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ridge
539 posts
Aug 08, 2014
11:33 AM
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I've been trying to play this song since I first started on harmonica over 15 years ago. Personally, I find a lot of joy in trying to copy this piece. On the flip side, I've spent little to no time trying to copy or analyze Juke.
I'd go as far to say that WJ is one of the most recognized harmonica oriented pieces. To Iceman's point, the crowd ate it up. They were waiting for it.
As far as taking the idea forward, Jason's "Goenopheny" pretty much has that covered. Not really sure how to go further than that goes.
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Ridge's YouTube
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