Years ago, my friend Jonathan Metts told me he had proof that Dylan was a great harp player. He was preaching to the choir, but he showed me a bunch of recordings showing Dylan knew a bunch more about harp than it seemed.
Yesterday, I got in yet another facebook argument about whether Dylan could play. So I im'ed Metts who made a Spotify list of good Dylan harp songs.
Dylan is one of those innovators who belong in their own catagories, a genius at synthesizing the music styles that moved him and creating something new. Technically, he has never been a virtuoso as a harmonica player, but for the music he adapted for his purposes, his playing was perfectly effective. As with his singing, no one would say he was bel canto, but no one could deny that could dramatize a lyric. The same applies for his harmonica work; effectively, powerful, on the money. ---------- Ted Burke __________________ ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.com
Couple years ago we saw him in St. Louis at Peabody. Aside from the great show over all, toward the end he did "Blind Willie McTell" and kept it going for about 10-12 minutes between singing and blowing harp. To Jo and me it was a highlight of a great show!
We just scored tickets for his upcoming Memphis show on April 30 at Orpheum. Totally looking forward!
Bob's playing intrigued me early on, in the 70's. I could not believe that playing like that could be taken seriously. As a beginner though I tried to ape what he was doing and while I sounded terrible at the time, I found there was much more to what he was doing. A few decades later, I really studied it more in depth, and realized that he has always made the harp do exactly what he WANTED it to do for his own purpose.
We do several of his songs in our shows, a couple of which I do harp work on. Not much like what he did or does but it fits pretty well if I say so.
Mr. Dylan is a hero of ours here for several reasons, his guitar work, harp work, unique singing style, and most important to us, his phenomenal catalog of incredible songs. I think if it were not for him Jolene would never have picked up a harmonica at all. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Michael, for the record I wasn't arguing with you. Dylan, Neal Young, and Bruce Springsteen have more musical talent in their toenail clippings than I do in my entire body. And Dylan can play good harp, but most of the harp he plays that people are familiar with isn't that good. Its appropriate to the music for sure, and Sugar Blue type licks definitely don't belong in a Dylan song. I just find it frustrating that the general public thinks Dylan and Neal Young are the pinnacle of harmonica playing. They remember the guy out in front playing a guitar and a harp in a rack. They never say "Oh, you play harp, you must like Stevie Wonder!" Or Sugar Blue. Or Norton Buffalo. I don't expect the general public to know Sugar or Norton, but it would be nice if they held up Miss You, Runaway, or Long Train Running as an example of harp playing they like. (And lets not get started on John Popper.)
Its kind of like drummers cringing when people assume they love Neil Peart of Rush.
Dylan's well controlled use of 4th position to play minor on ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER is an indication that this guy had more than passable command of the instrument.
Last Edited by hvyj on Mar 01, 2015 9:20 AM
I heard Dylan as a sideman once on an album that I can't remember the name but it showed that he could play. It was nothing like how he plays on his own stuff. ----------
Diggs, if you have that album, is there any chance you could post a song. I found it for sale on Amazon but only as a rare vinyl at a pretty high price. As you say, Dylan is listed the harp player on several tracks. Thanks.
Last Edited by Rgsccr on Mar 01, 2015 12:10 PM
Dylan only played on one cut of the midnight special lp and also on the Williams album. I'm not sure that anybody really knows what was the first album because his album the Williams album and the Bellafonte album were all released in March of 1962
Before he was signed to Columbia records, Dylan played harmonica on the second album by Carolyn Hester, an influential folk singer he became friends with after he moved to NYC. ---------- Ted Burke __________________ ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.com
Dylan has done enough sideman work, much of it on harmonica, to fill a four-CD bootleg named "Alias: The Complete Sideman Story".
From http://www.allmusic.com/album/alias-the-complete-sideman-story-mw0001444654
The remarkable four-disc pirate release Alias: The Complete Sideman Story chronologically assembles Bob Dylan's myriad guest appearances on other folks' records, compiling close to 100 tracks that span from the wonderfully perverse honky tonk of Kinky Friedman's "Don't Leave Home With Your Hard On" to the all-star charity blockbuster "We Are the World." Its historical value notwithstanding, the first volume (which charts the period from 1961 to 1972) is also an intriguing sampler of the folk revival era, spotlighting friends, rivals, and influences more heard about than heard -- with a handful of exceptions, most notably Ramblin' Jack Elliott's "Acne" and Pete Seeger's "Ye Playboys and Playgirls," Dylan cedes the spotlight to fellow folkies Carolyn Hester ("I'll Fly Away"), Richard Farina & Eric Von Schmidt ("Cocaine"), and Steve Goodman ("Election Year Rag"), limiting his contributions to backing vocals, acoustic guitar, and harmonica. Volume two covers 1972 to 1976, a particularly prolific period encompassing collaborations both logical (contributing harmonica to folkie David Blue's "Who Love") and utterly bizarre (a duet with Bette Midler on her cover of Dylan's own "Buckets of Rain"). The first five tracks originate from the superbly soulful Atlantic LP Doug Sahm and Band, most notably the classic "Is Anybody Going to San Antone?" Dylan's contributions are often difficult to pinpoint, however, and he proves similarly elusive on Leonard Cohen's "Death of a Ladies' Man." Dylan nevertheless surfaces with vividly etched harmonica solos on Roger McGuinn's "I'm So Restless" and Booker T. and Priscilla Jones' "The Crippled Cow," and shares vocal and guitar duties with Eric Clapton on "Sign Language." Best of all is the rarely heard "Hazel," a reunion with the Band recorded during their legendary farewell concert, The Last Waltz. Volume three spans the 1980s, and despite how much the quality of Dylan's own music dipped during the decade, with the benefit of hindsight one realizes what a relatively high media profile he nevertheless maintained. He rapped, badly (on Kurtis Blow's "Street Rock"), he contributed forgettable soundtrack work (the title theme of 1986's Band of the Hand), and he teamed with fellow rock royalty to make off-the-cuff country-rock (as the Traveling Wilburys, represented here via the compilation track "Nobody's Child"). Dylan also played harmonica on Warren Zevon's comeback hit "Sentimental Hygiene," jammed with U2 on the Rattle and Hum outtake "Love Rescue Me," and backed Nanci Griffith on her cover of his "Boots of Spanish Leather." If it all seems maddening and nonsensical, consider it representative of Dylan's decade in a microcosm. Volume four compiles leftovers from Dylan's 1969 Nashville sessions to his 1991 recording of the nursery rhyme "This Old Man," cut for the pediatric AIDS benefit For Our Children. The bulk of the disc comprises his legendary recording date with Johnny Cash, a remarkable collaboration still awaiting official release. These two master storytellers mesh perfectly. Four songs date from a never-completed 1971 session spearheaded by poet Allen Ginsberg and his longtime partner, Peter Orlovsky. Although Dylan's musical contributions are difficult to pinpoint, his influence upon Ginsberg's croaking vocals is profound. While each disc is available separately, the box also includes a T-shirt and a 64-page booklet detailing the session history of the material and where it officially surfaced. An essential package for all Dylan fans.
Last Edited by timeistight on Mar 01, 2015 4:32 PM
Dylan gave an interview to Scott Emmerman, Director Of Marketing and Sales for Hohner USA when Hohner released the Bob Dylan signature harmonica:
When did you get started playing harp? "When I was in high school"
That would be in the late fifties. Dylan graduated Hibbing High School in 1959.
Which came first for you, the guitar or the harp? "The guitar"
Probably piano before either.
Having played both wood & plastic comb harmonicas, which do you prefer & why? "I like the more natural feel of the wood"
Who are some of your main musical influences on harmonica? "Wayne Raney, Little Walter, & Jimmy Reed"
Dylan became friends with Tony Glover in Minnesota in 1959 or 1960. They must have traded harmonica lore.
What are some of your personal favorite harmonica tunes performed by other artists? "Roller Coaster" by Little Walter, "Going Down the Road" by Woody Guthrie, & "Freight Train Boogie" by the Delmore Bros. featuring Wayne Raney"
Tell us about your experiences with the harmonica "rack." When did you first start using one? "When I was performing solo in coffee houses. I got the approach from Woody Guthrie... it really gave a coffee house performer more variety to be able to keep the rhythm on guitar while playing the harp."
One-man-band musician Jesse Fuller must have also been a rack-playing influence. Dylan met Fuller in Denver in 1960 and recorded Fuller's song "You're No Good" for his first record in 1962.
How did you adapt your playing style when using it? "Well, you play a more chordal thing, as opposed to the single note style of folks like Little Walter."
Does the harmonica play a role in your songwriting process? "No"
How do you feel your harmonica playing has influenced today's players? "I'm not sure it has"
Are there any young harmonica players today that capture your attention? "Not really. But I hope one comes along soon."
What advice would you give to a beginning harp player? "Listen to Little Walter, Wayne Raney and Jimmy Reed!"
Last Edited by timeistight on Mar 03, 2015 9:29 AM
He'd already begun developing his "Bob Dylan" persona by the time he landed in New York in 1960. People found him intriguing, charming and cute (he was only 19) and that probably helped him get gigs.
Here's Daniel Epstein from "The Ballad of Bob Dylan":
His harmonica playing was interesting—peculiar, characterized by full-chord blasts on the exhale rather than the sinuous reed-bending updrafts typical of blues harp players. In this he was no match for his friends Tony Glover or young Johnny Hammond, and would never be in the same league with his models Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Little Walter Jacobs; but in a field without much competition his harmonica got his foot in the door. He had notoriously strong lungs, a sign of health lacking in the rest of his appearance. He was welcome to play behind Van Ronk, Fred Neil, and Ramblin’ Jack. His first professional recording gig was playing harmonica on the title track of Harry Belafonte’s album Midnight Special.
Last Edited by timeistight on Mar 03, 2015 11:11 AM
New singers were drifting in almost daily, and the cadre was growing, as my friend Russ Blackwell put it, “by creeps and bounders.”
It became a regular thing: a bunch of us would be sitting in the Figaro or the Kettle, and a colleague would come rushing in to tell us, “Hey, there’s a new guy over at”— he would name one of the four or five rooms already functioning. “You’ve gotta hear him, he’s really something else.” And we would all troop off to check out the new phee- nom.
This particular afternoon, the venue was the Café Wha? on the corner of MacDougal and Minetta. Manny Roth, the manager, had recently instituted a policy of daytime hootenannies, with Fred Neil presiding. When we arrived, Fred was on stage with his guitar and up there with him, playing harmonica, was the scruffiest- looking fugitive from a cornfield I do believe I had ever seen.
“Where did he pick up that style of harp blowing? Mars?” I said to my companions. But I liked it. There was a gung ho, Dada quality to it that cracked me up. Then Fred relinquished the stage and the kid did a couple of numbers on his own. As I remember, they were Woody Guthrie songs, and his singing had the same take- no- prisoners delivery as his harmonica playing. We were impressed.
After the set, Fred introduced us. Bob Dylan, spelled D- Y- L- A- N.
Last Edited by timeistight on Mar 03, 2015 11:10 AM
And, finally, here's Happy Traum, quoted by Epstein:
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. From the day he arrived in the city it was like nobody could talk about anything else. It was Bobby this and Bobby that, where was Bobby, what was he going to do next. Have you seen Bobby? No matter what he did or what he didn’t do, people were just obsessed with the guy. It wasn’t just about the music, although that got more interesting as time went on. It was this kid, and people were always talking about what he did, good, bad, funny, outrageous. No conversation could go on for more than five minutes without his name coming up.”
