The Blues Doctors drove more than 5500 miles between July 8 and August 1, and that was with one full week off in between the westward and eastern portions of our touring schedule. It's been a great, wild ride. We made every single gig. The hardest leg was the one that had us going to bed at 12:30 after a gig in Phoenix and rising at 4:30, on the road by 4:50, and arriving 12 hours and 725 miles later in Midland, TX, losing two time zones in the process (well, one time zone + regaining Daylight Savings time), where we had to set up and play a gig 90 minutes later. But we survived, made some money and new fans, and learned quite a few things--about each other (good stuff there), about our equipment (Alan's amp crapped out early in the first part of the tour and he had to borrow an amp the next four nights), and about America (Subway sandwiches are THE fast food for musicians on the road even slightly concerned with maintaining health over the long haul).
Our final gig of the tour, and summer (until August 31), was the International Blues Music Day festival at Groove in NYC. This video, the opening song of our 25 minute set, gives a pretty good sense of where we are right now.
I miked the Kay 703 with one of two Sennheiser e906 mics that I bring along. The sound guy was on the case! This is exactly the sound I've got in my head, so I was glad to hear it in the video taken by a fan/friend sitting up front.
I have another video from the club and a long video documenting our time in the subways.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 04, 2015 6:28 PM
Adam, It sounds like you had a fun tour. Your tone and sound are great on the video. Is your playing style creeping ever so gently towards jazz? I like it!
I've always liked the sound of harp over chords that flirt with jazz tonality--13ths and 9ths--and that's mostly because I'm a failed jazz guitarist: a guy who could play those chords but never could think, in melodic terms, like a jazz man. So the answer is really no. I'm really just a blues player with a lot of sax and guitar riffs banging around in my head, somebody who takes pleasure in a driving groove. The closest analogy might be: I'm trying to play Hank Crawford stuff on the harp, but with none of his ability to play straight-ahead jazz.
The other sax player whose playing I deliberately modeled my own on was Houston Person. Here's a track I used to play along with a lot. Notice the reverb. That's why I use a delay!
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 05, 2015 12:54 PM
Good stuff. Looks like you're doing all the heavy lifting. Alan is just sorta layin' back strummin' and chillin'. ---------- Tom Halchak www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
Adam, many harp players, even traditionally oriented players tend to think at times somewhat along those lines as well. It sounds like the way you're using delay is more of an attempt to simultate the sounds of a plate reverb, which the reverb sound most often used in studio recordings, and that sounds totally different than the way spring reverbs react. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Any video from the Phoenix show that I sadly had to miss? From the clip above, it seems like you guys were in great form!!! Sorry I was away! ----------
