Nice. Wolf is funny. Cus he really isn't a "Great" harp player. But he's got that voice and he's big as a damn house so he gets away with it.
Love the Wolf man. Good video also, hadnt seen it before. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Feb 18, 2016 6:06 AM
He was pretty much a second pos player I think, and made the harp do exactly what he wanted it to do. It does sound simple but my best efforts have been a pale reflection of what he did. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
IT`S the total package,KILLA Hertz says the Wolf isn't a great harp player.you can`t look at just his harp with out his guitar and voice...his blues performence did blow all the hot harp players away.I saw him 3 times and met him and Hubert sumlin. I still haven`t seen any body come near his aura of blues....
We get too hung up on technique and forget about musicality.Wolf made great music-'nuff said.
I'm currently reading a Wolf biography"Moanin' At Midnight". Wolf was an astute businessman,who managed his money well. He even deducted Social Security taxes from his band's wages.
I agree that he was good. Good and GREAT are two different things. And he was much more than a harp player. His voice was great. SBW2 is a FAR better example of less is more. He is the one who is tough to replicate. I didn't say that wolf was bad. Just that his harp playing wasnt THAT great. I love wolf, but lets be real.
Infact i ment it more of a compliment than anything. But whatever. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
If you're comparing Wolf to SBWII (who actually was his teacher) or a Little Walter or Big Walter, he's not in that category, but the single thing about him that makes his playing great is his tone, which was so huge that amplification really wasn't necessary and when I saw him, he always played thru the PA and that big, slow vibrato is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to duplicate, let a lone master (it take me 4-6 months of busting my butt everyday to get it right) and just slowing down the speed of the vibrato to match his is a challenge in itself.
His stage presence was something else and once he hit the stage, you KNEW who was THE BOSS!!!! Many musicians stayed in his band longer because he paid them better than many of his contemporaries did.
Those one chord modal vamps he did many musicians often have a difficult time dealing with, especially if as a musician, you're not groove oriented.
He has recorded some stuff in 1st position. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Bob .... that's awesome that you saw him live. I wasnt trying to take anything away from him. As i said i ment it as more of a compliment than anything. He wasn't a technical player, but he had a great huge tone. Add on top of that his boomin voice and the heart he put into it, n you get great music. He was The Boss. I'm sure your right about the vabrato. I've never tried to replicate it. But i will now that its been brought up. Never seemed that hard to me, but ill take your word for it. I guess i never thought SBW2s sound was that hard to replicate until i tried it. Why do you say he s not in that catagory? ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
sonny boy taught his one time bro in law to play....the wolf took it and ran with it....his throat vibrato.....best ever.....only butterfield could approachIMHO
The keyboard player is Billy Preston. There's some trivia worth learning! Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'.
As for Wolf: there oughta be a special category for blues performers who work magic with a harp in their hand. Wolf owns that award. This isn't the same as saying he's a virtuoso harmonic player. But it is saying that he was a harmonica player who Ruled. The stuff around the 4:30 point is surreal. He played "simple" stuff, but Jesus.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Feb 17, 2016 7:47 PM
"...but lets be real." I know the licks are basic but so is blues. The point is to be as real and authentic as possible. Of course that is Wolf and it pours out in his tone. That's the hardest technique to master.
He was many things to many people but in the day of philandering band leaders taking advantage of their band members, Chester Arthur Burnett was a Prince Among Men. He always paid on time, and actually gave his band mates benefits! When other musicians were out getting drunk and in fights, Chester was at home raising his two daughters with his one wife.
Many people don't know that for his last few performing years he lived with the ball and chain of renal dialysis, hopping from one dialysis machine to another from city to city to keep his schedule. You can see the white bandages on his arm in several videos of the day. He eventually died of the disease as did many other African American musicians of the day. Diabetes is common among African Americans and most musicians had no health care to speak of back then.
In terms of his harmonica playing, no one has has mentioned Wolf's GROOVE. He could create and maintain an infectious beat and groove like nobody else with just a few simple notes. Listen to how he creates a "cyclic" sort of groove in "Moanin' At Midnight." He has a way of making the last note set up the first in the simple riff that grabs me by the pit of my stomach. I just love it and have never heard anyone else pull off anything like it except Joe Filisko.
If you're interested in Howlin' Wolf, I can highly recommend his excellent biography, not coincidentally named, "Moanin' At Midnight -- The Life And Times of Howlin' Wolf." It's a terrific read with lots of delicious little details. One odd fact, the Big Bad Wolf was discharged from the Army for some sort of "nervous condition." I was fortunate to have just read it when I did an unscheduled half hour interview with his seminal guitar playing protege, Hubert Sumlin' back when I was a blues radio show DJ. We made an instant rapport even over the phone when Hubie found out I knew a lot about his boss. For those who don't know him, Hubert Sumlin was the favorite guitar player of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
That's well said Philosofy. Like i said I love Wolf. Ive been listening to him longer than anyone else. Meaning that alot of the blues harmonica I listen to now I discovered after I started playing, but Ive anyways listened to Wolf. So maybe I ve took him for granted a bit. This thread has got me going back n diggin in his deep cuts. Been listening to him all morning.
---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
@Killa Hertz -- When learning the Wolf vibrato, which is also similar to the Cotton vibrato, the single most difficult thing to learn is to slow the speed of the vibrato WAY down and have it totally under control. For the many months I busted my butt to learn it, I can tell you it's a lot more difficult than you think. If you get the Wolf one down, the Cotton one falls right into place and part of learning it is kinda like learning a vocalist's breathing exercise where you absolutely HAVE to have a very open throat and you have to be 100% fully relaxed physically or it just ain't gonna be happening and the last part of it is what allows you to get quite a bit of volume and deepness to the tone while using the LEAST amount of breath force necessary to pull it off. After you nail the Wolf and Cotton vibratos, the next one is the Junior Wells vibrato and his is almost as slow, but the tone isn't as deep and dark as Wolf's or Cotton's. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Hmm. Listening all these years and had no idea. Makes more sense when you compare it to Cottons. Cottons is somethin else. I really did dissect wolf today. I think the speed may not be the hard part, but maybe the speed with the umph together. Playing a slow soft vibrato is one thing, but keeping the power in it is another.
Learn somethin new everyday.
Speaking of keeping everything open and relaxed. I find it hard to bend while doin that. I tend to want to use my throat to bend and it ruins the tone. A bit of topic i know, but. I asked Winslow about it and he basically told me that a good way to seperate the two is trying to learn a clean vibrato while bending. It's not as easy as it sounds either. Amazingly deceptive instrument we ve chosen. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
