kudzurunner
4979 posts
Sep 21, 2014
4:56 PM
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Here's a pretty definitive grab of "Off the Wall" for our time, from Rick Estrin and the Nightcats. There's really no other contemporary player who swings with the same quirky dynamism that Rick does. This video makes that clear. Can the crowd-sourcing wisdom of this forum find a better version than this?
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Frank
5347 posts
Sep 21, 2014
6:32 PM
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Dear sweet hey zeus...makes ya proud to be a blues harp player. 100 bucks no one finds a better version now, or for the next hundred years - sorry, just ain't gunna happen in our life time :)):
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1847
2205 posts
Sep 21, 2014
8:42 PM
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i'll see your hundred, and raise you a a hundred
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money as debt
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groyster1
2673 posts
Sep 22, 2014
6:42 AM
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still prefer butterfields version
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Ted Burke
218 posts
Sep 22, 2014
7:03 AM
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Estrin's take on this tune is tops in my book. He wears this tune like a loose fitting suit and approaches the changes like someone greeting a long time pal on the corner. His playing has that conversational rhythm, pause, on the beat, behind it, in front of it, a solo responsive to mood. His emphasis is unusual, which makes me stop and rewind the video. Not a lot of harp players make me do that. Nice stuff. For comparision sake, here is the Paul Butterfield version:
---------- Butterfield , you know, is my man. But again, here is Little Walter, which is cause to reconsider everything.
Little Walter's version is peerless simply because he is pretty much the inventor of the modern blues harmonica style; what he was playing, in my view, was being invented on the spot. These were things that had not been done before with this concentration of genius, which means that all after him who bothered to put harp to mike were in his shadow, trying to master his moves and then build on the foundation he constructed. What I find admirable about Butterfield, who I believe is as important an influence on blues harmonica as LW, is that he pays homage to the teacher but eschews cloning the licks, instead creating his own spaces, pauses, accelerations and contours within LW's glorious structure. He had no interest in being a mechanical reproduction of another great man's art. He had his own thing to express, and the world is a better place for him having done so.
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ted-burke.com
tburke4@san.rr.com
Last Edited by Ted Burke on Sep 22, 2014 10:55 AM
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kudzurunner
4980 posts
Sep 22, 2014
8:18 AM
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What I should have said about Rick's--one of its most notable qualities--is that it is NOT a straight re-do. Although it generally tracks LW's choruses, there's a lot of his own in-the-style-of-LW interspersed throughout. I like that. That's the way to keep the song alive. (If I were to do the song, I'd hope to do something like that, but tonally I'd want to make sure that there was a constructive tension between LW's tone and AG's tone, so that my voice would shine through in some way.)
Flavio's version is much closer to the original, and it strikes me as equally definitive in its own way.
The original has a surprising amount of NOT playing: LW leaves a lot of space. And his attack is very light most of the time, almost feathery, which helps foreground those moments when he hits it very hard. In order to pull off a song like that, you need a very supple and responsive rhythm section, more jazz than blues, rather than a straight-up churning-along blues trio.
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DoubleJ
88 posts
Sep 22, 2014
8:34 AM
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LW's dynamics and multiple toned sound are unmatched. His phrasing swings hard in the choruses and lays back in the verses.
Jazz-oriented rhythm sections help to emphasize the dynamism. It's amazing how many additional discoveries come from listening to him.
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Martin
685 posts
Sep 22, 2014
9:10 AM
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LW:s best instrumental (yeah, "Juke" included). Ted´s right; I don´t know how many takes it required, but if anything these later versions show how outstanding he was when he was great. Those fast passages really swing and there´s a great dynamic in his use of emphasis.
That´s not to diminish these other guys -- although perhaps Butterfield would have been able to produce a better version later in his career, he´s a bit stiff, also he skips the tougher parts.
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The Iceman
2113 posts
Sep 23, 2014
6:20 AM
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Love Rick's playing, but find the band playing too hard behind him. One reason that LW's version is so compelling is that quiet subtle groove from his band.
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The Iceman
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FBInsMan
1 post
Sep 23, 2014
6:54 AM
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I would imagine that LW could have done it in one take based on some of the only live video of him playing.
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groyster1
2676 posts
Sep 23, 2014
9:01 AM
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thanks for posting the 2 versions ted...they are the best 2.....they are both gone but rick is alive&well....and plays a great off the wall or anything else he does
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boris_plotnikov
1007 posts
Sep 23, 2014
10:43 AM
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Little Walter's version is tripple more interesting than all covers in all aspects: swing, groove, sax-like tone, dynamics, space, articulation. With all respect to another players.
I think cover have to add something really different to be good.
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Excuse my bad English.
My videos.
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WinslowYerxa
707 posts
Sep 23, 2014
2:10 PM
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Actually LW recorded several versions of OTW, under a variety of titles, over several months. And they mostly bear a strong mutual resemblance, unlike the two surviving takes of Juke. LW often made things up on the spot, but OTW was carefully developed.
===========
Winslow
SPAH connects the world of harmonica
Deepen your playing at the Harmonica Collective
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JInx
899 posts
Sep 24, 2014
12:18 AM
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the more i watch video of rick, the more i think he is a cartoon! lol sorry
:)(
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The Iceman
2128 posts
Sep 24, 2014
6:01 AM
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Don't apologize, Jinx.
I always thought of him the same way - a real life cartoon character. However, he is totally sincere and remains in character, so it is pretty real.
I love that guy.
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The Iceman
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eharp
2229 posts
Sep 24, 2014
9:29 AM
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Is this a thinly disguised "Top 10 Versions of Off The Wall"?
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groyster1
2677 posts
Sep 24, 2014
12:04 PM
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the chess brothers were perfectionists so LW has many different versions of most all his recordings..."ok lets make a record...if you come in here and get one youre a lucky MF"quoting LW
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SmokeJS
299 posts
Sep 24, 2014
2:11 PM
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My thought is that Leonard Chess was a mastermind who made the arguably greatest blues harp player, Little Walter, sound fantastic. Big Walter is by no means far off but I don't think he often sounds as good as Little Walter. As for Rick Estrin, there is no current world class harp player I enjoy more, especially live.
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5F6H
1836 posts
Oct 03, 2014
10:57 AM
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Anyone fancy a guess as to who this is?
https://soundcloud.com/mwjb/off-the-wall
Off the wall
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www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by 5F6H on Oct 03, 2014 11:34 AM
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Harpaholic
554 posts
Oct 03, 2014
11:52 AM
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I think it's you Mark? Good job, nailed the LW tone!
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5F6H
1837 posts
Oct 03, 2014
11:57 AM
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Ha! Thanks, but much as I would like to take credit, it's not me. Glad you liked it though.
I think it's definitely got the feel as regards the dynamics?
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www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by 5F6H on Oct 03, 2014 12:00 PM
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arnenym
306 posts
Oct 04, 2014
1:08 AM
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Hi Mark. Could it be Wes Weston?
I use to prefer Butters versions of songs. But i think he have done better than this.
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5F6H
1839 posts
Oct 04, 2014
3:04 AM
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Hi Arne,
No it's not West, it's Pete G & The Magnitones, from his CD Slow Down Baby. Engineered & mixed by Pete & Bill Crittenden at Pete's home studio (sadly now defunct).
I thought there'd be a few more guesses...what is it with guessing games...I don't know why they're not more popular, just a bit of fun, just guess...I mean what harm can it do? :-)
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www.myspace.com/markburness
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Kingley
3709 posts
Oct 04, 2014
9:24 AM
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Ah Pete G. I was going to hazard a guess Mark at it being Tim Corbett. Knew it wasn't Steve, as his tone is different, plus he'd put in all the rhythm support on the harp as well. Pete's done a pretty good job on it I think.
PS: Whatever happened to Catherine Tate? She seems to have vanished from the TV these days.
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5F6H
1840 posts
Oct 04, 2014
12:46 PM
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Indeed Paul, Tim's an excellent player too, really it was Pete's gigging & jams that he ran round this area that were instrumental in putting a lot of us in touch with each other & spurring us on.
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www.myspace.com/markburness
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