I know kudzurunner first posted this a couple years back, but it is worth posting again for new members.
The first three minutes of this video are just awesome.
We are talking a high "F" diatonic harp here, in 2nd postiion, using all 10 holes, and playing chromatically with overblows and overdraws.
His phrasing and note selection are so good. I love the way he plays the first position blues scale on the IV chord 20 seconds in.
He plays three breaks that build as they go. The band is terrific.
Watch Walter shake his head at 1:09.
If anyone else has examples of someone playing blues all over a high harp, please post.
I've watched this thing probably 300 times and tried to pick apart certain licks and phrase. No, I can't do it the way he does, but I have learned so much in the process.
Please comment , like or not. I know this is not old style blues like the Chess stuff, but it brings the chill bumps up on my arm.
This is the kind of playing that, when I listen to it, the little voice in my head says: "Put the harp down, just put it down...try something else..maybe the spoons......maybe stamp collecting".
Chickenthief..It really is stunning. Like I said, I've watched the thing over 300 times and learned something each time. Some awesome phrasing IMHO.....remember the recent thread about soul?
I also remember another recent thread about how setting harps up for overbends limits how powerful you can play. Wrong.
One of my DVDs I bought as a beginner states to try and stay in the same octave during a break. Then I saw this.
I know which of those two I'd rather listen to Both I'm sure are very good technically, but one just doesn't seem to be playing with the band to my mind.
I just wanted to add a thought to this about what some people hear as not being with the band. I don't want to come off sounding elitist, but as a professionally schooled musician, I hear a lot of details when I listen to music. What sounds like sometimes not being with the band is exactly that. Jason is playing with the rhythm, phasing it in and out, pushing and pulling it to create intricate phrases. It's something you'll hear many players do, except in this case it's being done at a much more complex level. The musical term for this is called Rubato. It's something that can be heard in a lot of music from the romantic period, although typically the accompanying musicians follow the soloist's rubato. One reason I find it so interesting to listen to what is being done here is that The Band keeps the groove rock solid, and Jason stretches it like a rubber band. Musically ingenious, in my opinion. ----------
Last Edited by on Sep 27, 2011 1:09 PM
Someone named "WILLY" posted the following on Jason's Facebook page:
Hello everyone..I am currently working on personal issues as well as a few legal matters.Thanks for all the support and well wishes as i work these things out.I plan on being more readily accessable in a short time.Again, thanks for caring. Jason Ricci
@sammy That's Ok, if you like that sort of thing. To the uneducated [me] It sounds like he's playing a solo performance over the top of a band who happen to be playing on stage at the same time.
Its like the difference between a rock guitarist and a jazz guitarist. one plays three chords to hundred of people, the other player hundreds of chords to three people. :^)
"...sounds like he's playing a solo performance over the top of a band..."
@ lumpy I don't know man, In my lifetime I've heard about the same kind of thing said about Jimi Hendrix, Mcoy Tyner and a few other firebrands all of who I will still listen to and enjoy.
I admit I didn't like J. Ricci when I fiirst started hearing a few of his recordings. If someone would have asked me, I would have said that I thought his pyrotechnics were fascinating but he just didn't seem to get down and deep enough into the blue feeling for me.
That video above though, for my tastes, shows a musician in top form. He's wild and he's fast but he doesn't ever fly off the handle, run away from the music, or sound irrelevent, and his licks are rich and savory. I really enjoy a good amount of the thngs that I've seen him do on youtube now.
I really enjoyed the juxtaposition - him and Walter Trout.
Last Edited by on Sep 27, 2011 1:09 PM
