Albums in my regular rotation are things like "Little Walter -His Best" "SBW - His Best", "Fine Cuts", etc.
Got me wondering what is considered to be the *worst* of the greats; tracks where these guys just completely missed the mark.
I also got me wondering if there is anything to learn when a giant stumbles (besides to watch out below).
Anyone have a contribution for a list of "The Worst of the Greats"?
(I think to make things polite, the list should not feature tracks from currently active musicians unless that musician is known to have a particularly thick skin. As they say, no one likes unsolicited criticism, especially when it comes from friends, family, or people you don't know)
Little Walter's worst has to be on a CD I have called Chicago Blues Festival. Walter's act is 4 live songs that has been issued on several fly-by-night labels under various titles such as Live in the Windy City and Otis Rush and Little Walter Live in Chicago. Walter was obviously drunk and short of breath at that show. On Goin' Down Slow, Walter forgets lyrics and You're So Fine is done so badly it's unrecognizable. In the Little Walter Story book, Norman Dayron, who recorded the concert is quoted as saying, "I've never released these tapes and never will." The tapes got released anyway somehow.
Sleeping cat: Beware now, because you know we are all supposed to say nothing but good things about any harmonica player. Thou shalt love them all or hold your silence. Statements pointing to shortcomings in a certain artist -- esp. if he´s successfull -- will result in threads being locked down and general agrement among the forum participants that you are an obnoxious, evil, frustrated SOB.
Still, I post this. BWH from a rather crappy record, "Live at El Mocambo". It shows the value of having good equipment (also when recording) and I think BHW just blows into a vocal mic here. Not his finest hour -- even if we´re far from that LW album that DanP mentions -- and I can still remember my disappointment when I bought it many years ago.
Also if you check on Youtube for "Jr Wells teaches Mississippi saxophone" you will encounter an opening tune on that tape of supposedly "hot licks" that´s just laughably bad. But if I post a link to that one I´m going to get disbarred ("It´s Jr Wells!!") so I let it rest.
I not sure this is a good way to view an artist. Babe Ruth hit a lot of home runs,but he also struck out a lot.There is quite a bit of "bad" LW simply because they decided to issue every take of a recording including the ones that should have remained on the cutting room floor.The recording studio can be a tough place what with time constraints and the pressure to get it perfect. None of the harp greats were gods. Just human like the rest of us.
Harmonica and music fans sometimes focus on specific recorded pinnacles of achievement of talented working musicians and forget that no matter how talented, there are days when players are at their best, days when the whole band comes together "in the zone," and other days when the musician or band just plays and the result is not at the same level.
Even the most talented musician has off days, though at higher levels of talent and skill an off day may surpass others' best efforts... or occasionally, may not.
Even at my level of playing there are days when it really works for me and for the band and it all comes together, and some days not so much. Sometimes I am very satisfied with recordings of myself and the band, and other days the flaws stand out and dominate my perspective. I have approved YouTube publishing of some of my playing that were not my best efforts, but were accurate representations of my playing at that gig. I accept the good and the less than optimal as a reality.
We all want to play the best, and we all want to hear the best when we are in the audience listening. In the real world (not on recordings in which takes are repeated until the cut sounds flawless) 50% of the time the performance will be below average for that player/band. The really good bands have a very high and consistent level of performance and thus a high average level, so with really good bands even an off night may sound pretty good.
Little Walter played Juke differently on different occasions. People discuss whether there is a timing error in the iconic version or not. But that version has become legendary and the other versions have faded from awareness. LW apparently liked to improvise, and that means sometimes it was outstanding, and other times his approach may not have gained so much appreciation. Actually, this is pretty damned good, but it is not the version that everyone holds up as the ultimate:
It is all just people making music. I love when it is done well, and accept that sometimes it will be less than the best. And sometimes good playing goes unappreciated. ----------
Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Feb 09, 2018 8:32 AM
@ Tuckster and dougharps, I too would rather focus on Little Walter's many, many great recordings. Listening to the poor recordings I mentioned above in no way changes my opinion that Little Walter was the greatest, most innovative blues harmonica player of all time. It seems like it's getting to where one has to tread very lightly on this forum with any sort of criticism. Please people, don't over react.
Last Edited by DanP on Feb 09, 2018 12:54 PM
This is a great subject for a thread. It's crucially important that we understand 1) that even the best musicians were merely human and sometimes waxed sub-par stuff; 2) that even the best musicians had career arcs and were not always fully developed (early on) and at the best of their game (later). I think it's extremely useful to hear and think about LW's worst recordings--not to sneer at them so much as to ask the obvious question: What happened here? Were his talents gone? Had he just drunk too much? Did he INTENTIONALLY play badly because he was angry at the promoter--a white man, invariably--and didn't want to give his best? Was he pissed off at his fellow musicians, perhaps because he'd been given a backing band by a promoter rather than being able to choose his own band members?
All of those are possibilities. And yes: all kinds of stuff get recorded in the studio and on bandstands, and not all of it is fit to be released. But the more famous and brilliant you are, the more pressure there is to release every last tidbit, if only to fill in parts of the story that haven't yet been filled in.
The same thing holds true for writers. Some writers are determined NOT to leave behind stuff that they don't want published after they go.
Surely this forum is robust enough to allow a thread on this subject.
I've always thought that LW's version of "Watermelon Man" was particularly lame. Listening back to it now for the first time in years, I'm thinking that half of it was his fellow musicians. Maybe somebody here can put it in context.
In case I wasn't clear in stating my point of view in this thread or the locked thread, I am fine with criticisms of performances and of specific artists, though I prefer that the criticisms should be reasonable and acknowledge any strengths as well as weaknesses.
I am not a fan of the deification of artists for great performances, nor the vilification of artists for the sin of musical mediocrity.
As I said above, "It is all just people making music. I love when it is done well, and accept that sometimes it will be less than the best. "
I like Adam's point on considering, "What happened here?" ----------
Adam did a fine job of clarifying the intent of my original question.
I do not want to vilify anyone for the sin of musical mediocrity, or even make light of an off-evening for a talented guy or gal.
I believe there is something, perhaps a lot, to be learned from pieces that miss the mark. Sort of like when a magician slips up a bit and you can see what's up his sleeve...
When Adam asks "was he pissed off at his fellow musicians?", it makes me think of the videos where LW was playing in Europe and being backed by Hounddog Taylor on guitar. HoundDog's guitar style didn't fit well with LW's, dare I say, more advanced musical understanding. Apparently LW was not happy about it and the recording is not one of his best.
From Butterfields brilliant- in my opinion-Thank You Mr. Poobah to the resurrection of his career by a bunch of investment bankers who financed The Legendary PB rides again made me sad. Even having Blondie Chaplin in the impressive line-up couldn't save it. In other words. I agree. Also LWs Water Melon Man was particularly painful.
I will say the vocal trade off between PB and Chaplin on the song Don't You Hang Me Up is great. Aside from guitar, Blondie is quite a vocalist too. ---------- Reasonably priced Reed Replacement and tech support on Hand Made Series Hohner Diatonic Harmonicas.
'Making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time. Click MP for more info. Aloha Mark .
Last Edited by MP on Feb 11, 2018 5:02 PM
Guitarist recently sent me a link to watermelon man, to my relief he just wanted me to tell him who played the guitar. I don’t think anyone really knows but i saw a couple comments where people speculated it is Sammy Lawhorn so i told him that. I was worried he was gonna tell me he liked the harp, which would have implications for how i feel when he praises my playing
Regarding the Ricci videos above. Years ago I had a lot of harmonica students. It actually paid my rent w/out fail. There are different types of learners and obviously J.R. is learning by the method of what works and what doesn't by playing all over the map and damn the torpedos. A lot of people do this when starting off and I was one of them if I remember correctly. Sometimes this method is effective. I've often told people I mistaked my way into learning the harp. Like basketball the more often you try to make a basket and miss and try again you can't help but hit the backboard and score if you just keep at it. As evidenced by how he plays at present these early experiments served him well. Of course advice from experts, listening to recordings, and whatnot helped too. One must remember that this is a jazz band and very daunting if you are just starting out. It's obvious he is undaunted. Whether he knew at the time if it sounded good or bad is pointless speculation though there are players and gussers out there who stop the learning process at this point and believe they sound great or good enough. We won't even go there. Now J.R. has awards, fans, imitators, is touring, is at S.P.A.H., Adams Harmonica retreats, and even a limited edition Jason Ricci model harmonica by Blue Moon. I think Lone Wolf appears in this mix too. Now that my friends, is dedication, love of the instrument, willpower, and a lot of other stuff. Keep on harpin' :-) ---------- Reasonably priced Reed Replacement and tech support on Hand Made Series Hohner Diatonic Harmonicas.
'Making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time. Click MP for more info. Aloha Mark .
My "sources" have told me that John Popper started similar to what MP comments regarding early JR...
Very early on, Popper used to show up at those NYC blues jams, push his way on stage (being a big guy) and just play every note he could as fast as he could. Apparently, it was pretty awful at first, but he kept at it until he developed his unique rapid pattern playing style that we all know and (uh, well, some of you) love. ---------- The Iceman
Howzit Larry- I think I read about some N.Y.C. jam and Popper in particular was mentioned in a blues magazine column Adam Gussow wrote some years ago. I think the column was called Journeyman's Road? I think Adam said Popper used his own band rather than the house band. Gussow mentioned lots of notes. ---------- Reasonably priced Reed Replacement and tech support on Hand Made Series Hohner Diatonic Harmonicas.
'Making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time. Click MP for more info. Aloha Mark .
