Papa Lightfoot is a player I've been more or less ignorant about until Saturday, when Seth Holtzman very generously showed up at the festival in East Petersburg PA with a CD for me: Papa Lightfoot and Sammy Myers (aka Sam Myers).
Whew! He said "You need to hear Papa Lightfoot." He was right. This guy was right up there with the Walters. He does the down home one-man-bandy thing like Dr. Ross, but he's also clearly been listening to jump horn players, as in this cut:
This stuff reminds me of the feel of the beer-stoked Sunday afternoon jams at Dan Lynch in NYC. He does some hip, subtle little moves on the lower three holes. They're not cliched; they show him stealing from horns--guys like Illinois Jacquet; anticipating Big Jay McNeely--in a slightly different way than Little Walter did. Great swing, great tone. I almost feel like Papa Lightfoot is the third member of the Walter triumvirate, along with Big and Little.
Here's Illinois Jacquet. Skip ahead to 1:25 to hear the sort of playing that Lightfoot was trying to get:
I've always liked Papa, but I've always wanted a little more than he actually delivered. He has these really nice moments that always whet my appetite.
To me he has a certain Louisiana sound that LW also had. A certain way of floating a phrase over rhythm that's hard to define and is distinct from what swing horn guys were doing, even though LW obviously drank from that well, too.
Have a listen to Papas version of "when the Saints" if you get the chance. Hes doing the vocals through his harp mic',sounds like a tin of rusty nails and the Harp is smokin'
I love Papa Lightfoot and have tons of recordings by him as both front person and as sideman to Champion Jack Dupree. His Louis Armstrong influence is fairly obvious. He did 2 versions of Mean Old Train, one on Savoy playing acoustic harp and the best known version is of him playing heavily amplified harp and doing exactly what you did back in the 50's, and that's also SING thru the amp you blew harp into as well (that WAS your PA in the 50's). His version of When The Saints Going Marchin In is freaking awesome!!! I've known about him since the 70's. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
This here is a perfect example of just how important websites like this are. I agree with Adam. The missing member of the super trio of harmonica players has been found. I've just ordered everything available by this genius.
Here is the link to saints go marching on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJi_1th36TA
@Kudzurunner --- The site is going to be down for awhile and I'm considering a new site setup, host, and possibly a new domain name. If you need to email me, you can also email me at barbequebobmaglinte@facebook.com, which allows you to get emails from anyone who is not on Facebook. I'll try to email you my private email address for you. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
@Kudzurunner --- The site is going to be down for awhile and I'm considering a new site setup, host, and possibly a new domain name. If you need to email me, you can also email me at barbequebobmaglinte@facebook.com, which allows you to get emails from anyone who is not on Facebook. I'll try to email you my private email address for you. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
