In the interview with Billy Branch just published by Jeff Silverman on the Harmonica411 website, Billy mentions Omar Coleman as a Chicago player who deserves more attention. I'd never heard the name, so I went hunting on YouTube and came up with the following. Coleman is a fine singer; the harp is somewhat buried in the mix, but if you stick with the cut until the solo, about 2/3 of the way through, you might be intrigued. He's playing a low harp--a G, I'm guessing--and I suspect that he's playing straight through the PA. The sound, considered purely as a sound, is not ideal. What he's actually playing, though--his UNDERLYING "natural" sound, apart from what the PA is doing to it--is strong and fluid. In short, what I'm hearing here strikes me as a classic case of a guy being ill-served by the equipment he's playing through. (He needs a small tube amp with some high-midrange crunch, miked through the PA.) Most people, I think, would hear this solo and be unimpressed. That's too bad. I hear it and want to hear more. Can anybody find another, better clip by this guy, or testify from having seen him first-hand?
I'd agree the recording doesn't show the harp in the best light, but the voice is showcased well...which is always the most important thing overall.
Doubt it's the PA though - because the voice is up there, I'd also expect the harp to be picked up well in terms of detail & fidelity (whether a scooped mid tone or not) as they'll both be coming out of the same cabs....strikes me more of a mic positioning issue, the recording mic not being in a optimal place to pick up the harp, which seems to me to be emanating from a different source to the vocals.
Gtr & drums seem to be well off the recording mic's axis too.
Difficult to get tenor tuned harps to cut naturally, without skewing the amp EQ to focus on the higher harmonics & cut, often sacrificing the fundamental note.
Why a small tube amp? Why not a regular sized tube amp like most gigging players use? Smaller amps can struggle to reproduce low notes, unless set up carefully & mic'd.
Adam, you can hear his playing on "Chicago Blues Harmonica Project-Diamonds In The Rough" in booklet you also can find some information about him. Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone - the song he made on this album is good and funky. IMHO, he is playing in manner like Junior Wells in 70s, but I think he don't has such charisma in his playing like Junior Wells has. ---------- http://www.youtube.com/user/wheelharp
Last Edited by on Jul 09, 2010 7:09 AM
Smaller amps, with 8" speakers, do a better job of adding high midrange crunch to low notes--or at least that's been my experience. I've used everything from 15" speakers down to 6" speakers. Of course I'm talking about miking the amp through the PA; that should go without saying. The sound I'm hearing here is congruent with somebody blowing a low-key harp through a PA, with the trim setting fairly low. The PA is adding absolutely nothing to his sound. The highs and high mids are suppressed.
I'm all in favor of suppressing the fundamental note! If you go for that note, you often end up fighting other instruments on stage that are working that frequency range: specifically, the upper strings/notes on the bass, and the low strings on the guitar. Those two instruments will win every time. There's nothing quite as detrimental to good harp sound as a guitar player who is putting off a lot of acoustical energy on the low E and A strings. I've experienced acoustical coupling more than once under that scenario: the guitar's low notes reach around behind my harp amp and grab the speakers, distorting the sound. When you let go of the fundamental to some extent and displace the harp energy upward into the even harmonics, you cut through better AND you deliver a full sound. Or at least that's been my experience.
Last Edited by on Jul 09, 2010 8:19 AM
@Kudzurunner "The sound I'm hearing here is congruent with somebody blowing a low-key harp through a PA, with the trim setting fairly low."...the harp still sounds too "off axis" to me (whereas the pick up on the vocals, through the PA, sounds like better proximity to the recording mic). I really wouldn't assume it's a PA (even if you can get that kind of sound from a PA). Could be an amp with a less middy character & smoother sounding mic.
It's just a "scooped mid" sound, sure PAs do it well, but it's available from plenty of amps too.
If you overdo, skewing the EQ, to push the higher harmonics of a note, you can sometimes end up with a nasal, hollow sounding note & a monotonic amp...might not be anything to dislike per se, as long as you're getting the colour you need and agreed it certainly can help keep you up in the mix, but it kind of negates the point of pulling out low key harps.
Adam i did a harp blowout in Chicago last winter for the Chicago Blues Tour series of shows. With busses taking all the folks to the 9 blues clubs throughout town .. The promoter wanted me to run the show .. I brang the Deak Harp Band .. this was before i joined Kilborn Alley ... I hired Twist Turner to play drums for the gig too ... Legendary sideman ... and also the cat that recorded my CD at his studio .. Twist Turners House Of Sound ...Well we had about 6 harp players there ... One dude from the UK showed up his name dident stick in my head but i rememberd his first name ..Jiles i think He was the one that wouldent stop ... played over the vocals over my solos when we had 5 of us up there at the end .. and he played so sloppy in the vein of sugar blue .. and his Head was bigger than a Dodge Ball ...as far as Ego goes ... But when it was time for Omar to play .. He dident need me to sing like the other guys so i sat down and listend .. I was verry impressed .. and he played in the 50's vein ... old school .. and sang great too ... i even heard alot of cotton coming from his harp ...Omar is touring with John Primer now ... he is a good friend of mine .. I talked to John a few weeks ago . And john confirmed that he was in his band now ...Omar is a cat to look up .. and if John Primer is coming to yur town Omar will be playing harp with him ....Omar IMHO is a torch holding the Chicago Harp sound alive ....
Deak: I know Twist, and of his great studio. He has given me a lot of support as I have been making my way through learning how to make recordings in my home studio. You got a great combo in him. He has tons of stories about the old guys. I knew he drummed for junior wells for a spell. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Twist Turner is cool. He's played with a lot of people during his time in Chicago and Oakland.
Omar Coleman is a good player with some good tunes.
Another guy who is a good player and a fantastic singer is Reginald Cooper. He's on the second CD in that series. I haven't heard that CD, but I saw him play in Chicago.
Twist and I are the same age and have played with a lot of the same bay area guys. He told he was at a live filming/recording of Jimmy Reed. I hope that comes out someday. I hope to make it to his chicago studio soon and just soak up some learning on the recording engineer side. ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Let's have more on Omar Coleman. I just went checking on YouTube and came up with this. Some very nice Sugar-Blue inspired stuff (slowed down SB) around the 3:20-3:30 point.
I saw Omar at Rosa's lounge about 2 years ago and here are my impressions. He has a nice voice. But I felt the harp was buried in the mix. When it came time for him to do his harp solo, I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for him to really dig in, and I felt he didn't deliver. The harp solo did not have the energy and intensity that I was looking for. It did not have that "balls to the wall" attitude. It fell flat. Now, with that said, I am hopeful that he will recognize this and take some lessons from the masters (little walter, junior wells, carey bell, billy branch). I also believe he needs some advice on his harp set up, amplifier, etc. from someone in the know.
@wheel, I agree the harp lacked charisma, and was also tentative. Maybe because he is not confident about his harp playing. I don't know. I do think he can change this. But, you gotta play like it's your last song...ever..
@kudzu, when I saw him he was palying a 2X10 FENDER TWEED..i don't know the model. He had nice tone...but yes, the cut wasn't there and yes the volume was too low.
Last Edited by blueswannabe on Apr 02, 2014 10:32 AM
the cat came through town, we were in the forest, with the worst drought in years. i thought he was going to spontaneously com-bust and burn the place down.
i like the fact he has a sound that is not totally overdriven. ----------
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica "but i play it anyway"
He has very good vocals and a nice powerful voice. I just want the harp to come through just as strong. From what I can vividly remember from his show, I walked away unsatisfied with the harp performance. But, maybe I caught him on a bad day or maybe he just wasn't into it...I don't know...My take away from the expereince was that harp wasn't the showcase of his performance...and I was like dam I want to hear that friggin harp. I'm in CHicago...and I want to hear that harp..And I think he can deliver the goods. He does have great tone. He's got to talk to Billy.
Last Edited by blueswannabe on Apr 02, 2014 5:47 PM
after watching all the videos in this post, there is no doubt that he has good harp tone and lots of skill, especially in Adam's 2nd video post beginning at 3:20, where his two chorus solo begins. If he continues that type of playing, with some tweaking by the sound man to bring that sound more forward, he has the 1-2 punch of vocals and harp.
