Billy Branch leads an all-star blues band in the song "Help Me" at the Billy Branch Pro Jam, LRBC # 17 - Pacific on October 27, 2011.
Billy Branch - harp and vocals; Elvin Bishop - guitar; Tommy Castro - guitar; Roy Gaines - guitar; Lionel Young - violin; L.A. Smith - congas; Randy Oxford - trombone; Ron Hendee - trumpet; Ellen Miller - harp; Ariyo - keyboards; Big Llou Johnson - vocals.
First of all I,d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year,and hopefully a prosperous one to all.2)Before this post gets lost in the archives I,d like to Thank atty for posting this.It is to me a least, a perfect example of what an off the cuff jam session is or can be all about.With some of the more known names in the Blues world today a well known standard tune can have its flaws.Not that I,m knocking the performance, it is what it is for a 18 minute plus jam but, sound levels, equal times on solos,and a little bit of mis communication and tightness, it did,nt really do it for me.I understand that its an unrehearsed jam,but for a tune thats such a standard I was expecting more, especially from the caliber of players.I would have like to have heard more from some than others,but it is what it is.I would have to think that the gal on harp was Sh,n in high cotton to have been called up to play with such notable players,although no offense but.Please don,t get me wrong on my opinion,but you all know what they say about opinions.Just my two and a half cents.What would you think that the players in this video would think?
It's tough to judge things like this without more information. It very well could of been and end of cruise impromptu get together for all we know. The video becomes out of context.
Maybe they had played throughout the cruise separately or maybe some together but not others and then for one last song everyone got on stage. "So what should we do?" "How about help me and we can all solo?"
The video becomes nothing more than a soundbite of a whole cruise and can end up looking bad. I enjoyed it for the fun it displayed. ---------- Tommy
It was fun to watch. I am not a professional videographer, it is what it is. It was not an "end of cruise impromptu" jam. The way the pro jams work on the cruise is that the major players all host one, usually about 5 of them on a 7 day cruise. I thought that the jams were generally very good. The woman who was on stage (Ellen Miller)is a friend of Billy's (and mine) asked to play, and was given the opportunity. She has often played with Buckwheat Zydeco and other pros, so it wasn't her first time on stage. If you go on a cruise, maybe you will get lucky too. I thought that most of the players jammed well, especially Roy Gaines and Tommy Castro and Billy Branch. It wasn't intended to be a harp jam. Elvin Bishop has some equipment problems, I guess you would have to ask him what happened.
