After seeing him last night at Mark Hummel's Blowout, I am now of the opinion that Curtis Salgado may be the best singer/harp player on the planet. Thoughts?
Last Edited by John95683 on Jan 28, 2016 10:27 PM
I concur John. Is it just me or does Curtis have a touch of Paul DeLay in his approach? Mighty player. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/alprice
i agree --great singer -great harp player-My friend and myself asked him on a cruise "why don't u play more harp, your so good on it? " he said "Its my secret weapon" Like
Gonna try n learn some of ascending descending stuff--Thanks for posting this--He's soulful and bluesfull, akk in one
Most Pacific Northwest Harp players have been influenced by Paul DeLay.
Curtis has always wanted to be known more for his singing than harmonica playing, so uses harmonica just enough to whet one's appetite. I've heard him do a rare all set of blues w/harmonica and it was very potent.
I think that Kim Wilson and Mitch Kashmar would give him a run for his money. I've been Mitch's partisan for a long time, but they played a live KW track from Bluesville circa 2002-3 yesterday and it changed my view of how good he is. The video below gets some of that, but not all of it, because he doesn't quite hit a couple of descending vocal lines. Live sound is a bitch. But on Bluesville he totally had it. The chromatic playing here, in any case, is frightening.
And of course there is John Nemeth, who DOES hit all the notes, and beautifully.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 29, 2016 4:41 PM
Iceman, wrong. Most in the Northwest who have followed blues at all, think of Salgado first. He was Robert Crays frontman. When together they were unstoppable. Crazy good. Delay is gone, and Salgado has never been as good. If you have the chance, check him out with Alan Hagar. Its all blues, all him singing, and harp on almost every song. John, I'm with you, I think he's the best
Here's the list I posted in another older thread of excellent singing harmonica players:
Junior Parker John Nemeth Paul Butterfield Sugar Blue Billy Branch Sugar Ray Norcia James Harman Curgis Salgado Sam Myers Darrell Nulisch Tad Robinson Howlin' Wolf Mitch Kashmar
Pluto - I disagree. However, this is based on my time spent with both Curtis and Paul back in the mid to late 1990's. At that time, Paul was the biggest influence in the area. This was even from Curtis' lips to my ears.
From the days of Brown Sugar until his death, Paul was considered a totally original voice and had wide influence over other harmonica players in that area.
Steve Marriner is another guy who should be on a list of great singers and harmonica players. What sets him apart is that he plays 5 or more instruments with prowess. Here's a clip of him playing harp with Harry Manx where they break into "Help Me" about half way through and he starts singing to much applause.
Agreed. Salgado is great. Although... full disclosure: I'd never heard of him until only about a month ago when I stumbled upon his take on this classic:
---------- Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars.
Last Edited by TBird on Feb 02, 2016 4:39 PM
Putting Curtis into a "blues box" in regards to his singing/harmonica playing will limit one's understanding of what a versatile and strong singer/player he is.
Perhaps he should be exempt from the blues list as he is much more than that.
At SPAH 1998, with so much of the audience in attendance comprised of the surrounding Detroit area there to see a concert (show was opened up to the public for a ticket fee), Curtis played a set that featured his massive gospel singing as well as the requisite blues stuff. Three older African American women were so moved by him that they came back to the convention the next day hoping to buy Curtis' gospel recordings (of which he hadn't recorded any). They truly thought he was a well known gospel performer.
A listen to Curtis' recorded output will give one an understanding as to his many styles - he's very influenced by that smooth funk/soul sound of Bill Withers - both in singing and musical arrangements. As a matter of fact, there are not a lot of straight ahead blues songs on his albums.
I personally dig the hell out of Curtis' playing, but his greatest strength is in his vocals and most white vocalists aren't particularly good at doing the BB King vocal stuff but Curtis is THE MAN when it comes to that. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
The harp playing in that 1998 clip was so engaging and musical. I really think his tone and clarity and note selection is wondrous. ---------- Facebook
GamblersHand - of course, that clip was from the SPAH show. Are you lucky enough to have bought the recording from SPAH (was a 2 VCR set full of amazing performances)?
I've got mine and want to send it to one of those companies that transfer it to digital!
kinda fun fact - the videos created that year came from two or three individual cameras recording - not a professional hired video recorder. I spent HOURS/DAYS in a basement with one of the old SPAH members who had a makeshift very large dubbing/audio visual set up in his basement (no, it was not Richard Harris - sorry, but can't remember this guy's name). We had the three tapes going on three screens and made edit decisions to create the final version. A lot of syncing was done through visual cues, etc. It was really a lot of fun. Remember, this was during the analog days - no digital short cuts.
I have both VHS tapes digitized to DVD with an external Sony DVDirect box and a Panasonic Stereo VCR- Worked very well.
Last Edited by tmf714 on Feb 04, 2016 2:59 PM
