I just got a nice email from a player I've remained ignorant of until now: Jim Fitting. I'm sure he's familiar to some here, but I'm equally sure that others won't immediately recognize the name.
A little research on YouTube and the web helped me find several mid-80s's record-clips of his work with Treat Her Right--it's heavily amped harp in a bluesy, urban/downtown rock context--and this wonderful clip in an entirely different bag, with Session Americana. He blows some first-position high note stuff halfway through:
Session Americana is touring these days; you can find a complete gig list on BassHarp's International Gig List.
That is some foot tappin music. ---------- Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. - Charlie Parker
I loved his vocals on that vid. I'm a big fan of Treat Her Right. In that group, Jim Fitting had his own unique thing going on harp.I always thought he stood out from the crowd as a harp player. Their albums are worth seeking out. They had this bit of quirkiness that I liked.
Jim's a friend of mine and he's been more of a drummer than harp player in the last few years. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Jim came over last week to try out a number of my microphone offerings. He brought along a little vintage Supro and bigger Montgomery Ward amp. He pulled out this beaten, electrical taped, archaic-looking JT-30 and plugged it in.
The tone that came out of his setup was simply awe-inspiring. I sat back and immediately said, "You don't need another mic!" He was looking for a backup anyway, so we switched from one to another, each sounding slightly different from the rest, but really not much better than his old standby.
I'd have to say that I was embarrassed to blow a few notes myself through his amps, just to try them out. Nervous as a schoolgirl, my playing sucked, and I rapidly put down my harp so I could listen to more of his incredible playing. A real inspiration. ---------- For questions mail james@simplemics.com Stickman from walkthatwalk.com
I hear & see a lotta good strings. I hear a lot of excellent vocals. I hear very little harp but it's perfect. Is this modern blues? I see a future in the past.
saw Session Americana a couple of months ago, and Jim played harp the entire gig. Besides the music being top notch, the guys really look like they are having fun, which I'd guess is why it works so well.
Note that in the 90s, after THR broke up, Jim played with The The.
Hey y'all I just wanted to tip my hat and say thanks for the mention. I'm just trying to get out there play some harmonica, whether it's blues or whatever. This video was shot at Session Americana show a couple of weeks ago:
Last Edited by harmonicajo on Apr 10, 2016 8:10 AM
Glad this thread got revived, or I'd probably never have heard of Jim Fitting or Session Americana.
Great music, and I especially liked the message behind "Water never flows uphill". So much so that I just shared it on FB, since it fits wonderfully into the current Panama Papers saga ;)
He's also a pretty damned good drummer as well. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I was really happy to see Jim Fitting getting some appreciation here.
I’ve been a fan of Jim’s (and of Treat Her Right) since about 1985. Jim was my “Little Walter”… the guy whose playing made me want to learn to play harmonica. While many of my harp-playing friends were dissecting ‘Juke’ and ‘Key To The Highway’, I was trying to learn Jim’s solos on ‘I Think She Likes Me’ and the lead riffs on ‘You Don’t Need Money’, ‘An Honest Job’, and ‘Everglades’. Jim has the best amplified sound I’ve ever heard, and his searing lead harp tone holds its own against the best any other harp player has ever put out there.
I still think no one has ever blended blues and rock like Treat Her Right, and Jim was a *huge* part of their sound. They were the only non-blues band of the era where the harmonica was truly a lead instrument on just about every song. Between Mark Sandman’s “dark” creepy vocals and his low guitar (a regular guitar run through a processor, this was before he was playing all the weird basses he would go on to use with Morphine), the minimalist cocktail drums (forget the guy’s name at the moment, maybe Billy Conway?) the killer slide guitar and angry vocals from Dave Champagne, and Jim’s killer-toned amplified harp and occasional vocals, Treat Her Right was like no other band in the 1980’s. THR’s albums have been in semi-constant rotation in my car (used to be on cassettes, then on CDs, now on mp3s) for thirty-plus years. They kicked ass then and their tunes still kick ass now.
Then I found out, through Harp-L, that Jim was playing in a new band called Session Americana.
SA is nothing like Treat Her Right except for one thing; the chemistry in the band is equally magical. Primarily acoustic instruments, sometimes with electric bass or guitar, SA explores lots of folksy, bluesy, country-ish, rock-ish, and pop-ish territory. Basically nothing is fully off-limits to them musically, except for maybe mathcore speed metal. They have amazing covers of well-known and lesser-known songs as well as beautiful original songs.
Lots of the musicians in the band play multiple instruments, particularly Dinty Child, who played at least four different instruments when I was lucky enough to catch one of their shows in Cambridge. I think he played banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and pump organ that night, and I think he plays a lot more. Because they mostly play acoustic instruments, musicians will really appreciate the tones of everything that’s being played… the show I saw was not too loud, and the crowd was nice and quiet while the band played, and then cheered them raucously at the end of each song.
Session Americana is so much fun to see live… if you can get to one of their shows, make a point to go and do it. They mostly sit around a small round table with a couple of mics in the middle, and the musicians take turns leaning in when they want to bring their part more to the forefront. It’s a very intimate way to play, and the musicians all appear to just really enjoy playing together and enjoy the music they are making. Jim is more of an ensemble player in this setting – there are so many skilled players in SA – and he really does a great job of adding color without being obtrusive when the song calls for it, and then leaning in with an awesome lead when it’s his time to say something. Also, they tend to have lots of awesome guest musicians. One of my favorites is fiddle/violin player Laura Cortese, who has her own group (a string trio that writes awesome original music). Check out Session doing her song “Perfect Tuesdays” on YouTube, it’s really high-energy and a great listen.
I had reached out to Jim via email and he has been gracious enough to answer my THR fanboy questions and help me get a hold of some not-easily-findable albums and tracks. I was thrilled to meet him at the show in Cambridge and he could not have been a nicer guy.
Anyway, definitely check out all the Session Americana albums. The ‘Live’ one really captures the essence of one of their shows. But all the albums are great listening.
As far as Treat Her Right albums, I’d start with the self-named “Treat Her Right”, then if you love that, get “Tied To The Tracks” next. After that, I like “The Lost Album” even better than “What’s Good For You”. So I’d get ‘em in that order. Your mileage may vary, but that’s the order I’d get them in.
@ cliffy I,ve been a big fan of THR since the beginning and have mentioned them on here before.Maybe you could tell me since you,ve seen them live back in the day on what rig/amp did Jim blow through back in the day.I have always been curious.Thanks
@NiteCrawler... I actually never got to see THR live. I've seen Session live though, maybe I didn't make it that clearin my previous post. I sooooooo wish I had caught THR when they played on Long Island, though I eventually got some bootleg recordings of some gigs they did.
I always though he must have used a relatively small amp, because it always sounded like it was on the edge of exploding. I could swear the photos in the "Treat Her Right" self-titled album showed a Fender Champ or Princeton, but I'm old now and I might have just remembered it wrong.
Jim, since we know you're out there, please let us know... what were you blowing through on the THR self-titled album and Tied To The Tracks?
That Session Americana clip is great. I feel like a lot of groups have trouble with that conversational style and keeping it melodic. not these guys, though!
---------- Check out my music at http://bmeyerson11.bandcamp.com/
Hey man,that was a long time ago! I was using this blackface Fender deluxe that was hot wired to have this great overdrive sound. I am a little fuzzy on the details because it got stolen out of my van in about 1989. I also had a 50's blonde deluxe which I used a little. But I've always had the same great sounding Astatic Jt-30. And I should mention a great engineer and old friend Paul Kolderie who managed to make the harmonica sound very good on those Treat her Right recordings, and with whom I still work today. I have a Bassman 59 reissue but it only sounds good in very loud situations. So as James or 'Larrystick' mentioned above it's my little Supro or the Montgomery Ward 'Airline" for recording or live for me. (Though Session Americana performs mostly in an 'acoustic' setting.)
A friend of mine from Boston just sent me this video of the great Peter Wolf playing with Session Americana.
https://youtu.be/rpGbDNxKcfk
I had never heard of Treat Her Right or Jim Fitting before. Nor of Session Americana. All are terrific, and deserve mention in Adam’s thread about evolving what the blues sounds like.
Jim Fitting. We were at college together during the 1970s. He is the reason I play harmonica.
We're still in touch, hopefully we'll hook up again some day. I owe him some beers. ---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
