I had an 8-hour drive to Tulsa yesterday and that gave me a chance to listen to a lot of harmonica music. Ron Sorin recently sent me his CD and I like it a lot; at least one of the chromatic cuts is fantastic. But the CD that jumped out--one that I had listened to with great interest when he sent it to me a couple of years ago and that more than merited a front-to-back rehearing--was Lyndon Anderson's GROOVE-O-MATIC SOUNDS OF THE LYNDON ANDERSON BAND.
I've heard Wes Weston and Paul Lamb; they're both gifted pros, as is Giles King. And of course our friend Brendan Power is in a category by himself: one of the greatest living harmonica players, period. No argument there. I'm sure there are UK blues harp players whom I haven't heard and to whom my thread title is, in your opinion, doing a grave injustice. I encourage my UK friends on this forum to name, defend, and enthuse about them here.
But Lydon's playing on this particular disc--in fact, the entire disc, including his vocals and the range of grooves--had me consistently shaking my head and smiling in the way that creative new work always does, and that contemporary harmonica playing only rarely does. He's one of the few blues players out there who makes me want to copy his licks. (Dennis in third position is one of the others.)
He's audibly in the Jason Ricci school--not just because he uses overblows, but because his amplified tone is a lot like Jason's. But he has his own set of licks, second and third position, and his solos are consistently inventive, "new," exploratory, unpredictable. His chromatic playing is brilliant. It's more like Rick Estrin's than Dennis's, I'd say. But it's his diatonic playing that I find extremely compelling.
He's a brilliant soul singer, too. The only word that comes to mind for his vocals on this album is "heavy," as in serious, deadly-serious, not playing around. Deep. He's a deep soul singer.
Here's a link for the album at Amazon UK. Y'all know that I can be a critical SOB. You sometimes must wonder what I actually LIKE. I like this album. I love this album, in fact. I want to listen to it again.
This is the kind of music that truly keeps the blues alive.
I'll be in the UK next Wednesday and Thursday, and if you've got CDs you think I need to hear, please burn some music onto disc and give it to me. I'll be delighted to remedy my ignorance. In the meantime, I'm delighted to offer this unsolicited endorsement of Lyndon Anderson. If you're not familiar with his music, I encourage you to buy this disc.
Last Edited by on Feb 25, 2012 1:29 AM
Lyndon is one of the many good players in the UK. He's based up in Newcastle upon Tyne. I've spoken with him many times over the years. One of his biggest influences on the harp is Paul Delay.
PS: At some point I'll have to write something about Al Price's album, too. It's heavy in a whole other way--a kind of epic minimalism in the first four cuts--and certainly deserves mention in a thread about excellent recent harmonica blues from the UK.
He is a class act. Great vocals, great harp. Here is a a youtube video of a live performance which is interspersed with a few words about harp playing.
I remember coming across this fine player on you tube years ago and loving the way he tracks his ideals and is able to thoughtfully create slick slammin solos...
Hey Adam thanks for this, Lyndon is from my neck of the woods and was playing at my local blues pub last night. He is an amazing talent with a voice to match his Harp playing and a real talent as a song writer. He doesn't know it yet but he is going to give me some lessons at some point in the future, i just have'nt reached the point where i feel worthy! my mates in the UK harp scene will be delighted to know that you have endorsed Lyndon and his band so thanks. P.S. just to make you admire the man even more he also plays keyboards and guitar and that very hot bass player is his wife!, ohh yeah and he is a qualified chief, what a talented Twat!
Last Edited by on Feb 26, 2012 3:08 AM
Yes excellent playing and a wide range of grooves on the CD.
On Amazon they're asking £32 for the disk! On his website he's only wanting £10
Also on CD Baby you can hear the tracks http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lyndonandersonband
And not to be argumentative here, but does Brendan Power qualify as a UK harpist? Maybe on residency grounds, but us kiwis continue to claim him as our own.
First time I heard these guys except for Al Price. Very nice all of it but, Man, that Lyndon Anderson can deliver soul! Very nice close-ups for dynamics study too :).
