I've hammered on this point for years: Little Walter took a lot of his stuff from the jazz (and R&B) bands and horn players of his time. But little did I know! Paul Oscher just brought this to our attention on Facebook: the big band original of "Off the Wall":
Here's what he did with it:
Is it possible that LW developed his warbling style as a way of copying horn-warbles of the sort found here?
Is it possible that some of LW's more unusual and original phrasings, especially on the bottom three holes, were simply what happened when he attempted to render horn lines verbatim?
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Nov 07, 2016 12:34 PM
Actually, check that! Paul is saying that Walter's version came FIRST and Jerry Gray's version is the cover.
I see that Walter takes composer's credit, but that doesn't mean much. What matters is how Gray credits the song. Obviously if he credits it to LW, that means something.
I've got a bootleg cassette of this done by the Buddy Morrow Band and is a note for note copy of this. Little Walter did come out with it first and for years, I thought the Buddy Morrow version came out first and Paul Oscher and I have the same source for this tune, Pierre Beauregard. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
This is Excellent! I saw Paul Oschers post earlier and this has been running through my mind all day. Basically the same things you ve just said adam.
No to go of topic, but if someone tried to do this today ... I could hear just hear all the folks shouting "Its a Harmonica Not a Horn!" "Little Walter didn't do that ....." oh wait, yes he did.
Either way this perticular song is credited, i think the point is still valid. His songs are Very horn like. And he most likely did draw from the jazz horns. Hense Robert Lockwood s accompaniment jazz guitar style.
Im dying to hear more about the topic. Hopefully something comes up. ----------
The Jerry Gray version is identical to the supposed Buddy Morrow version that was given to me by Scott Dirks some years ago. Here they are played simultaneously with the Gray version in the left channel and the Morrow version in the right: Off the Wall big band recordings played simultaneously
No, Little Walter did not copy the Jerry Gray/Buddy Morrow version. He developed "Off The Wall" over several months as documented in a whole series of recordings, some named "Off the Wall" and some under other titles. The final released take is the one that Jerry Gray (who was also the chief arranger for the Glenn Miller Band) recorded in a big band arrangement.
By the way, Buddy Morrow also did a big band cover of Little Walter's "Quarter to Twelve." As with the arrangement of "Off the Wall," it's both cool to hear it orchestrated but also a little stiff feeling.
Little Walter was probably incapable of doing a note-for-note copy of a complete recording. He couldn't even play the same line consistently through the original Muddy Waters version of "Got My Mojo Working" (before Cotton Standardized the part). He's constantly changing the lick and experimenting - he was too inventive to do a slavish copy job. And there's plenty of internal evidence in the Gray recording that they're trying with only middling success to imitate things that come naturally to a harmonica, such as the sax warbles.
By the way, as to Walter's development of warbling (and he probably wasn't the first to do it):
He referred to it as a "quiver" and his discovery is documented on Page 83 of Blues with a Feeling, apparently sometime in 1952 from the context (same year as he used a warble on Juke), though I'm not sure the technique doesn't show up earlier in his recordings.
Rapid, sustained alternation of two notes is old as the hills, and Walter certainly would have heard boogie piano players do it as well as wind players. =========== Winslow
Little Water recorded several takes of "Fast Boogie," his first draft of "Off The Wall" in January 1953. In March of that year he recorded another draft, "Don't Have to Hunt No More" along with two takes titled "Off the Wall," one of which became the release take. (Blues With A Feeling, Page 288)
Jerry Gray recorded his big band arrangement on April 4 of that year ( http://honkingduck.com/discography/artist/jerry_gray_and_his_orchestra ) =========== Winslow
The Morrow and Gray versions were after Walter's version of "Off The Wall". However, Walter did borrow heavily from Big Band stuff.
Les Brown's "Leap Frog" has been hypothesized by Scott Dirks and others as the primary influence on "Juke" That might be true but I've always felt the Juke riff lays out in 2nd so nicely that if you gave a monkey harmonica he would eventually play it.
Also Walter borrowed "Let Me Off Uptown" for "Fast Large One" which features some brilliant Fred Below drumming.
