I am reading the little walter story and there is a quote that says john lee williamson almost single handedly took the harp from being a novelty device used in jug bands or to imitate train or animal sounds and raised it to the level of a "real" instrument,fitting accompaniment for blues vocals-this man does not get enough credit for the beginning of modern blues harmonica
I'm not sure that I'd credit John Lee Williamson with being the man who took the harmonica to the status of a "real" instrument. However he was almost certainly one of the greatest innovators of the instrument and the father of "Chicago" blues harmonica. He did things stylistically that no one before him had done with his playing. His music remains as fresh as the day it was made. He is sadly often overlooked by many "modern" harmonica players whom are learning their craft.
There are many other players who are also often overlooked. Joe Lempkowski (Joe L on this forum) is a veritable minefield of knowledge on Chicago blues new and old (and not just harmonica players). Hopefully Joe will read this thread and maybe list a few recordings that should be in everybody's collection as "essential recordings".
If anyone is interested in how the blues harmonica developed I would recommend listening to the History of the Blues Harmonica Concert CD, in the CD it does say that John Lee Williamson was the first harmonica super star and influenced just about everyone that came after him.
There were a good few people who could play harmonica before John Lee he came along though.
I like to have some of the older stuff in my collection for a point of reference because I like to trace songs back to the original recordings.
Grant Dermody has a song called Rain Crow Bill on his latest cd, I discovered this song was first recorded in 1923 by Henry Whitter.
Joe Filisko plays Stove Pipe Blues on his Filisko & Noden live CD, this song is the first known recording of someone playing in 12th position and was recorded by Daddy Stovepipe in the 1920's.
Both the above songs are on Harmonica Rarities- 59 Rare Recordings From the 20's-60's 2 CD set,
There are a few other cds that anyone interested in the history of blus harmonica should add to their collection.
Harmonica Blues Great Performances of the 20's-30's,
Harmonica Masters- Classic Recordings From the 20s & 30s
Last Edited by on Mar 26, 2011 5:02 PM
I think John Lee Williamson was highly influential on Blues players of the pre- and post-war Blues period. Not only did he impact harmonica players, but his vocal style was very influential.
You can hear his influence on the players of his generation like Snooky Pryor. He influenced the next generation of harp players. You can hear his influence in e early recordings of Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Billy Boy Arnold and many more players. In fact, the guy that Louis Myers considered to be the best harp player he ever heard was a huge disciple of John Lee Williamson, Forrest City Joe.
Personally, I think that Junior Wells was more influenced by John Lee Williamson than most other players. You can really hear it in his recordings that he made in the 50's. If you dig into the roots of Blues harp playing, he is probably the guy that started it all.
People may disagree with that opinion. If I was going to be looking for Sonny Boy recordings, I would probably buy the JSP boxes. They have a lot of great matieral on them and you can really listen to the progress he made during his according career.
The recordings he made with Big Joe Williams are considered to be some of the classic Blues recordings of all time.
One of the author of that book is Scott Dirks. He is a huge Little Walter fan. He knows more about Little Walter than Walter knew. He is a huge fan of traditional Chicago Blues. He is also a fantastic harp player and record producer.
I'd agree with that. I'm a huge fan of his playing and I know of no one earlier than him that has received such recognition. Henry Whitter is NEVER spoken about, and is barely even mentioned in harmonica histories and forums, etc.
Zack, When I was talking about Henry Whitter I was going off in a bit of a tangent, I wasn't suggesting that he was as influential as John Lee Williamson.
I think John Lee Williamson does get the credit he deserves for been the first big Chicago player, but there were people before him playing real music on the harmonica and they must have infulenced him in some way.
Last Edited by on Mar 27, 2011 2:57 AM
Belfast, I was just stating in general, just because you mentioned him, I know you didn't insinuate that (well, I assumed). And yes, that is true, but of course John Lee got out there the most it seems.
Forest City Joe is an amazing player who should be better known. Tone to kill for. Here his debt to John Lee is very evident. This IS the JL Williamson sound:
Louis Myers had even thought he was a better chromatic player than LW was, even tho much of FCJ has recorded sounds like SBWI.
SBWI is so HUGELY influential on many of the older blues harp greats, ESPECIALLY Little Walter and LW's early recordings are largely a more souped up version of SBWI's playing. SBW's playing as a sideman on the records of Bog Joe Williams are much better for harp playing as a sideman than it was when he's fronting the band.
He had a bad stutter but somehow, in a weird way, it may have made him a better vocalist and he was also a very influential vocalist as well. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
