Playing whit low volume is an incredible experience. To many time loudnes kill dynamics and you end up whit something different than you want.
Video description: --------------------------------- Recorded 10/24/04 in Vista, CA. this is a glimpse into a rare and impromptu home recording we did in the late hours directly following a late afternoon gig. This session features Johnny Dyer - vocals, Mark Bukich – harp, Mark Mumea – guitar. This is the type of blues J.D. loved to do most, and to my knowledge is the only, or at least one of the very few sessions that captures J.D. in an “Acoustic” and stripped down arrangement. J.D. was 100% Muddy, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, Rice Miller etc. at heart. He often spoke about how the blues is to be “spoken”, not screamed or yelled. J.D. was never fond of the later string bending guitar styles, he referred to (as many of his generation did) “choking” the strings or “stinging guitar”. He also talked frequently about playing simple and not “cancelling yourself out” by playing too many notes and failing to leave space. When we finished this recording using a simple 4 track cassette recorder (used only 2 channels), a very cheap old plastic mic for vocals, 1 small amp shared for vocals and harp, and a small amp for guitar; we listened back to this single recording for probably 5 hrs straight. J.D. would not let me turn the machine off…”One More Time”, he would say over and over as the song came to a close. I believe it was about 4-5am before we finally shut it down and at least 100 times through the recording. J.D. kept saying this is the best recording he ever did. Probably a gross over-statement, led by some drinking and no sleep, but the fact that Johnny could relax and not have to compete with a loud and pumped up band was something I believe Johnny would like to have seen a lot more of in his career, and thus was clinging on to the moment. Many a nights after doing shows with Johnny, he and I would sit in the cab of my truck listening to guys like Muddy, Walter, Brim, Nighthawk, Sonny Boy, John Lee Williamson etc. We would sit there for hours as he would demonstrate the phrasing of all these different vocal styles and many more. He could nail them all! He would do things at such a low volume that were NEVER captured on recordings… so effortless and natural. I’d grab my guitar, still in the cab of the truck, he would go into a Jimmy Rogers tune or Muddy etc…he would blow some harp, sing and point out different things to me in each tune. These memories are invaluable to me. J.D. was incredible person, a true master of blues and always a great friend. This recording of Sad Sad Day will always be what I remember him by most. R.I.P. J.D. -----------------------------
---------- Sorry for any misspell, english is not my first language.
Yeah, great recording and agree about all that stuff about low volume, I know a lot of folk think that this is ''retro'' but hey, so what I think this is class!
This is a classic cover of an early 50's Muddy Waters tune. It's amazing how players have an extremely difficult time playing grooves like this. Everyone is playing FAR behind the beat, NO overplaying and lots of space and everything GROOVES. Not having to deal with volume problems you find in many jam sessions all the time make it so much easier not just for playing harp, but also other instruments, but more importantly, for a vocalist. Mark Mumea plays a nice blend of both non slide Muddy and Jimmy Rogers and it's a far cry from the tons of run of the mill jam hack guitarists doing nothing except botched SRV everything. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
jonny dyer and rick holstrom used to play happy hour down the road from here great stuff.
if you play on the quieter side people can sit right up front it makes the audience a part of the performance. the recording will sound much better also. we are having a little jam on saturday and it will be loud! i have my earplugs handy. i have been using two smaller amps lately. and having some luck getting the band to turn down. but not saturday.... we will be louder than humble pie.
It reminds me of the many number of times I saw Muddy Waters during the 70's and he ALWAYS had the volume of his bands so slow that you could damned near drive an unmiked acoustic guitar thru the mix without a problem. If you got even the slightest bit too loud, you could see a huge death stare coming at you in a NY minute. He demanded the volume to be so so low that he also had the sound people turn off the monitors as well and that's not an exaggeration at all. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I believe you man! You see it with bands in the UK like Paul Lamb & The Kingsnakes where the volume is low and no place to hide you hear everyone's chops, really dynamic stuff!
Thxs for that info barbequebob, I was almost shure that the MW band played at low volumes, now is a fact. ---------- Sorry for any misspell, english is not my first language.
