I do not think Bruce's playing has improved since I first heard him 15 years ago. He has the finances to take a few lessons from some monster harp players and apparently has not. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion. I also feel that Steve Guyger is one of the most under rated harp players in recent time. Well, I'll crawl back under my rock now.
Bruce Willis plays okay. If he were jamming at your local saloon and wasn't BRuCE WILLIS nobody would say "this guys SUCKS." But putting him on the bandstand with BB King? In that context he sounds pretty weak. And so would I.
Love the tune. The original Lowell Fulson recording is really something. I've been trying to get the boss to work this one into our rotation but he doesn't think he has the voice to pull it off.
Last Edited by PropMan on May 17, 2015 9:07 PM
Bruce Willis has a command of blues harp fundamentals , but he is not the guy I would call if I were putting together a band for BB King and Billy Preston. Kim Wilson would have been a better fit, or Sugar Blue. I've seen Willis on the tube perform capably, but on slower tunes his tone becomes brackish, not rounded, and he goes flat. He sounds like he's playing a harp someone ran over with a car. H ---------- Ted Burke __________________ ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.com
I agree with pretty much everything that's been said so far. I like Willis as an actor; he's got an undeniable cool--compared with, for example, Mel Gibson, who plays Hot/intemperate very well. But Willis on harp: neither a very bad player nor a very good one. He's standing on this particular stage because he's a famous actor who plays passable blues harp. Yes, can you imagine Guyger up there? THAT would be a jam.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on May 18, 2015 7:02 AM
Indeed it would. Meanwhile, I've been playing this video a over and over to listen to what BB is doing through out the tune; his phrases are sublime, sweet and sly and beautifully timed, especially his fills and short runs during Billy Preston's vocal. It was , to my ears, a good example of call and response between guitar and singer, with BB King's mastery of a vocal style of playing making it very easy to forget Willis' training wheel exposition. Thanks for posting. ---------- Ted Burke __________________ ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.com
All true, although I will add this, IMHO, he seemed to keep his solo within his skills, he played sparingly, stayed out of the others solos, did nothing (like,dancing, mugging, pointing) to distract from the others, went over to each at the end. He seemed to get that it wasn't, or at least shouldn't be, about him. ---------- Phil Pennington
