Frank
5059 posts
Aug 06, 2014
3:34 PM
|
I was listening On my headphones to The double CD "Essential Little Walter" and
There is NOT ONE Player that "compares" as far as sounding or playing like Little Walter!
It is literally a DISGRACE to LW Artistry to say someone sounds like him -
Cause there is no one who does, PERIOD!
Put on some decent Ear Phones, put on your Little Walter records and name ONE Player who sounds like that?
There is No SUCH THING as [Little Walter Clone]
because there is not ONE PLAYER that has ever come close to Little Walters "True" "Sound"
OR the way that he "ACTUALLY PLAYS"
The PROOF is in his recordings!!!!!
Listen and
WEEP :)
Last Edited by Frank on Aug 06, 2014 3:37 PM
|
John95683
180 posts
Aug 06, 2014
4:34 PM
|
What's with all the caps?
|
Frank
5060 posts
Aug 06, 2014
4:37 PM
|
NOT EVERYONE CAN SEE AS GOOD AS YOU :)
|
Hakan
421 posts
Aug 06, 2014
4:58 PM
|
Noone sounds exactly like you either. Or me. Probably Little Walter or Walter Horton couldn't sound like Adam Gussow?
It's good to have his recordings to study. Rocker is the only Little Walter song I analyzed and it was a great experience. Honestly I think most harp players are too lazy to work with his material (including myself). It's not impossible, but there is no easy way out.
Last Edited by Hakan on Aug 06, 2014 5:03 PM
|
MJ
732 posts
Aug 06, 2014
8:28 PM
|
I don't necessarily think most harp players that do not aspire to sound like Little Walter are lazy. That is a generalization at best. While Little Walter was a fantastic player, I for my part take pride in sounding like myself. When someone comes up and tells you that they heard me playing from a great distance and knew it was me by my distinctive sound..well that makes me happier than sounding like someone else. Jus
T my opinion. Every one is free to do what pleases them.
Last Edited by MJ on Aug 06, 2014 8:41 PM
|
Ted Burke
99 posts
Aug 06, 2014
8:32 PM
|
I am , sorry to say, more than a little tired of hearing about Little Walter. I admit that very few of us would be here aggressively agreeing with one another if LW hadn't put his harp on the mic and cranked up his amp in those Southside Club, but there seems to be a cult around his name and a fetishising of his technique that goes beyond a sane appreciation for his artistry; the conversations seem to go along the lines that all great harp playing had already been done and that there hasn't been innovations and stylistic breakthroughs since he and other greats have gone to meet their maker. With me, it's like LW is used as a trump card, which is to say that one mentions his name in a heated disagreement about harmonica styles and the debate is ended. I was defending Butterfield's solo on "One More Heartache" against a younger man than me back in the seventies and after I played him Butter's sortie, this pup, a born again old schooler who'd taken it upon himself to defend black music from being appropriated by white musicians , just replied that "Little Walter wouldn't have played it like that." Then he gave me a gotcha stare and started to turn away. I grabbed him ever so lightly and said that LW never recorded the tune so what he said was just F-bombing dumb, downright idiotic in fact, even racist. It was all F-bombed, you bet it was/
|
jnorem
500 posts
Aug 06, 2014
8:33 PM
|
Who is Noone?
----------
Call me J
|
slaphappy
27 posts
Aug 06, 2014
8:35 PM
|
I play Little Walter's mistakes ;)
|
robbert
336 posts
Aug 06, 2014
8:55 PM
|
I am not a Little Walter fanatic, but I have to agree, the man possessed an incredible amount of finesse in a style he helped to pioneer.
This is not to take away anything from other players...but LW is more nuanced, in his style, with the amplified harp than a great many players.
How else could he have become such an inspiration?
He inspires the hell out of me.
But when I'm in a Howard Levy listening space...he is the greatest, or Toots Theleimans, or Sonny Terry, Brendan Power, Dennis Gruenling... the guy in my neighborhood who blows country harp... if they do what they do well...it's inspiring.
|
1847
2029 posts
Aug 06, 2014
10:14 PM
|
Who is Noone?
----------
i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica
"but i play it anyway"
|
garryfernand
1 post
Aug 06, 2014
10:26 PM
|
I agree that Little Walter is one of the greatest harmonica player and his revolutionary approach to harmonica has gained comparison to Charlie Parker and Jim Hendrix.
But I still believe as the world of music is changing,so all new born musicians have scope and capability to achieve great heights not as Little Walter but some where close to him and for all upcoming talents he is powerhouse inspiration.
|
SuperBee
2147 posts
Aug 07, 2014
3:20 AM
|
I enjoy studying his work and trying to replicate it. There's a logic to it which is undeniable...I mean...it's not like he set out to make it difficult for himself...that's what I love, finding the way to make playing it easy...sometimes I find it and it's kind of a blast when that happens...
I dunno about the premise of the OP, but I know I can still stand to learn a bunch more from LW
|
The Iceman
1906 posts
Aug 07, 2014
5:03 AM
|
Time period plays an important role as well.
The world was different in so many ways when LW hit the scene.
Don't we too often take a snapshot of a fluid time period and hold this two dimensional picture up as representative of the genre?
I like to factor this in when I admire an artist.
LW was one of the best at the time he was recording.
There are others that I like more - Paul deLay and Carlos, for example, but it is unfair to compare them directly w/LW because music is constantly changing/evolving.
----------
The Iceman
|
kudzurunner
4850 posts
Aug 07, 2014
5:42 AM
|
I had the same sort of aha! moment vis a vis LW the other day when I listened to his work on Jimmy Rogers "Sloppy Drunk." If you listen to the John Lee Williamson version, then the later version, you can hear that Walter had completely digested and remade SBW into something brand new. He dances in and out of Rogers's vocal lines, and amplification helps him bob and weave with great subtlety. His blue notes are exactly right. He's got a very distinctive plaintive sound that I just love. His melodies are effortlessly syncopated. He's literally all over the place, and I have no trouble understanding why the players of his time, harp and non-harp, shook their heads when talking about him.
This makes my desert-island list for great harp accompaniments:
Here's SBW's original (which is actually a remake of Memphis Minnie's song):
(You can also hear where Kim Wilson got 90% of what he plays on the live remake of this song. Not 100%. Just 90%.)
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 07, 2014 5:46 AM
|
tmf714
2676 posts
Aug 07, 2014
11:28 AM
|
I agree -but Bharath comes damn close!
|
tmf714
2677 posts
Aug 07, 2014
11:32 AM
|
Last Edited by tmf714 on Aug 07, 2014 11:35 AM
|
barbequebob
2673 posts
Aug 07, 2014
12:21 PM
|
LW's earliest recordings were essentially more of a souped up SBWI and then later on, the influences of Big Walter Horton and SBWII plus the influences of big band jazz and jump blues horns comes into play and it all lends together for a sound that was new, yet always fit in and grooved no matter what.
The difficulty with putting newer things in is the fact that they have to feel like they truly belong and fit seemlessly without feeling force fed and out of place and that's the one thing LW mastered.
If you take the time to listen to all of those influences, you can hear how it all maks sense.
----------
Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
|
Goldbrick
594 posts
Aug 07, 2014
1:06 PM
|
Thats why Icons are icons.
They blaze new trails and light it up with their brilliance
Whether there are " better "or newer or whatever- they are a milestone and a reference point in music..
Little Walter, Albert King, Jimi Hendrix, George Jones, Hank Williams, Charlie Parker , Louie Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Diz, Bob Dylan and a bunch more .
They defined an approach in their time and challenge anyone to approach it.
You know who they are and respect their contribution
to the art. You dont need to copy it but the benchmark is there
|
Frank
5081 posts
Aug 08, 2014
1:10 PM
|
We NEED "a lot more" Bharath's...he is a rare one indeed :)
Lyrics for spamnobot approval
Them dead presidents
Them dead presidents
Well I ain't broke but I'm bad bent
Everybody loves them dead presidents
A little bit of Lincoln can't park the car
Washington he can't go too far
Jefferson is good, played the track
If you think you're gonna bring some big bitch back
Them dead presidents
Them dead presidents
Well I ain't broke but I'm bad bent
Everybody loves them dead presidents
Hamilton on a ten can get you straight
But Jackson on a twenty is really great
And if you're talkin' about a poor man's friend
Grant will get you out of whatever you're in
Them dead presidents
Them dead presidents
Them dead presidents
Well I ain't broke but I'm badly bent
Everybody loves them dead presidents
A hundred dollar Franklin is really sweet
A five hundred McKinley is the one for me
If I get a Cleveland, I'm really set
A thousand dollar Cleveland is hard to get
Them dead presidents
Them dead presidents
Well I ain't broke but I'm badly bent
Everybody loves them dead presidents
|
chromaticblues
1593 posts
Aug 09, 2014
3:38 AM
|
Dead Presidents is a cool song for sure!
I love the ending lick.
That was an eye opener for me.
I love his use of the draw 3 on that ending.
I remember thinking "Wow" that's cool how he stars a phrase on draw 3 and ends with it. Using it the same way most people play the draw two in that spot.
Then I noticed there are other songs where he plays a lick on draw 4, plays something similar on draw 3 and then on draw 2.
Then sometimes he played a whaling note on draw 3 the way most people play draw 4.
That's when I realized there is so much Blues in the draw 3. It's an absolute must mastering the draw 3 to be a proficient blues harpist!
If it wasn't Dead Presidents I'm not sure I would have figured it out?
|
