May I ask the Modern Blues harmonica community to help me with some input?
I’m working on a book project and I’ll include a list of must-hear harmonica recordings (individual tunes, not albums or CDs), with key of tune and harmonica, and position.
Each tune should be:
-- representative of the artist's best and most characteristic work
-- potentially inspiring and motivating to a new or potential harmonica player
-- and exemplary of something important about blues harmonica.
In several cases, I’m asking individual artists to give me their personal best, and several have responded. But in some cases either the artist has left the building, or I’d just like to get a broader sampling. So I’m asking for input on the following artists:
William Clarke
James Cotton
Paul deLay
Rick Estrin
Jerry McCain (I know, he’s been discussed here before in this light)
Rod Piazza
Jerry Portnoy
Junior Wells
Kim Wilson
if you feel that someone important isn’t on the list, go ahead and give me your ideas. But please be aware that the list above is not my full list, just the part of the list where I’m asking for help.
Thanks.
Winslow
---------- VOTE Winslow Yerxa for SPAH president, with L J Atkison for vice president Winslow for SPAH President (Facebook) Winslow4prez (Youtube) Chair, SPAH entertainment committee Chair, SPAH awards committee Member, SPAH convention planning committee Staff, SPAH Convention event operation
I'd pick 'Blues in a dream for Jerry Portnoy. It's a signature tune, so representative. As for inspirational / motivating - I think it is. It sounds relatively do-able, though it's very tough and loaded with technique. But for someone new to the harp it sounds like a tune they could at least approximate. And in terms of exemplifying something about the harp, I think it's a great example of a slow blues and a great example of bending for expression - the slow-release bends are a pretty central feature of the track. Live version:
Kim Wilson, "Floyd's Blues", A harp in 2nd from Barrelhouse Chuck's GOT MY EYES ON YOU--Classic Wilson style. Rick Estrin, "Headin' Out", C harp 2nd from his ON THE HARP SIDE-captures Estrin's essence. Add Gary Primich to your list for sure. ---------- Ricky B http://bushdogblues.blogspot.com RIVER BOTTOM BLUES--crime novel for blues fans at Amazon, Barking Rain Press & the blog
OK, which Primich cuts would you include? ---------- VOTE Winslow Yerxa for SPAH president, with L J Atkison for vice president Winslow for SPAH President (Facebook) Winslow4prez (Youtube) Chair, SPAH entertainment committee Chair, SPAH awards committee Member, SPAH convention planning committee Staff, SPAH Convention event operation
Can't put my hands on "Dry County" or "Varmint" to recall the harp keys, but I do love what Gary Primich does with "Triple Trouble" in A, 2nd position from TRAVELIN' MOOD. ---------- Ricky B http://bushdogblues.blogspot.com RIVER BOTTOM BLUES--crime novel for blues fans at Amazon, Barking Rain Press & the blog
Cotton The Creeper, Blues in my Sleep and How Long Can a Fool Go Wrong Clarke Lollipop Mama, Blowing the Family Jewels, Work Song McCain My Next Door Neighbor (In Library on Congress or something similar) She's Tuff, Steady
Last Edited by on Mar 01, 2012 8:45 PM
For Primich I love the intensity of the 3rd position solo on "Dummy on Your Knee". I also like his take on "Caravan", but it's a little atypical and not being a chromatic player I'm probably not the best judge of its merits. "Ain't You Trouble" has nice Soul Jazz touches. "What's It Gonna Be?" also has an intensity over a one-chord vamp that I can't imagine another player quite replicating. And "House Rockin Party" has a perfectly developed solo over a Bo Diddley beat.
I second Michael on Clarke songs , "Lollipop Mama" 2nd position key of G ,or "It must be jelly "key of D intro and second solo 2nd position , first solo 3rd position.
I vote for "Cash Money" William Clarke - it teaches the wisdom of the less is more concept and how intelligent playing of the harmonica has the ability to make the groove seem even more powerful then it already is.
disclaimer...Listening to the song on you tube does the song very little justice...
I know he,s not on your list but would you maybe consider Charlie Musselwhites,Christo Redemptor?I also think that some of Charlies work on the Continental Drifter cd where he,s playing some of the Brazilian ghetto blues .I always thought that it was awesome to hear him playing to a totally different style of blues from South America.
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2012 4:46 AM
William Clarke- "Blowin the family jewels" on the album Groove Time. Key of "A" Third pos played on a G diatonic harp
Rod Piazza- "Sinister Woman" on the Live at BB King's album. Key of D Played second pos on a G diatonic
Kim Wilson- "Down at Antones" on the Tuff Enuff album Key of E played second on an A diatonic
Rick Estrin- " Go on if you're going" on the Thats Big album. Key of D played third pos on a C 64 chromatic ---------- The Pentatonics Reverbnation Youtube
"Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out".
William Clarke - Blowin' Like Hell is probably my favorite tune. It captures that George Smith sound and defines the modern West Coast style of harp playing. Cash Money is a close second. It's very reminiscent of Louis Myers' fine playing on Top Of The Harp.
James Cotton - The Creeper is his signature tune, but my favorite tune of Cotton's is Blues In My Sleep on Verve. One of my favorite Cotton tunes is Everything's Gonna Be Alright from the Antone's release Mighty Long Time. It captures Cotton in fine form both vocally and harp playing.
Rick Estrin - Headin' Out from On The Harp Side. Fine instrumental in the Little Walter traditional.
Jerry McCain - Steady. It falls into the category of sonic perfection.
Rod Piazza - I'll leave Rod to the others. I'm not that familiar with his body of work.
Jerry Portnoy - Snakeskin Strut off the Legendary Blues Band's Life of Ease recording. I think this capture Portnoy's sound quite nicely and the band backing him up is top notch.
Junior Wells - Eagle Rock on the Blues Hit Big Town album. To me, It's My Life, Baby captures the essence of Junior's sound. Vocally and harp playing. Yonder Wall on Hoodoo Man Blues is another similar tune that defines Junior's abilities.
Kim Wilson - Floyd's Blues on Barrelhouse Chuck's CD, Got My Eyes On You may some of Wilson's finest playing. The whole damn CD is great.
Primich: "The girl that radiates that charm". A take from Finland, that may or may not be live -- I guess it would take a Finnish audience (or a Swedish) not to erupt after he stands bleeding from that really devastating solo. (Eb harp, 3 post IIRC.) A hair raiser in my book. It´s a bit of a "Frank Sinatra moment" in that it transmits this intense prescence, he just keeps on and on and you´re truly THERE when he´s digging in to the heart of that tune. Cheers, Martin (in Sweden, where "cool" isn´t cool but a national and meterological affliction.)
@tmf714 - surely the slow bends are more prominent here than the vibrato (which, on this live version at least, sounds more like tremelo to me). In any case, the slow bends are what Jerry picks out as the main feature in a video on his site.
I am not into Piazza either, however I do own 10 or so CDs and have seen him over 30 times. Why? Because he can really play both diatonic and chromatic and puts on a great show. He has been putting out albums as long as Musselwhite. He had a band with George Smith. He has made a living as a harp player singer for 50 years. At what point to you give it to a guy?
Well, instead of "legendary" I could say "respected, adulated, and emulated by thousands of harp players worldwide over several decades." I think that applies to everyone on my list. ---------- VOTE Winslow Yerxa for SPAH president, with L J Atkison for vice president Winslow for SPAH President (Facebook) Winslow4prez (Youtube) Chair, SPAH entertainment committee Chair, SPAH awards committee Member, SPAH convention planning committee Staff, SPAH Convention event operation
Not picking a fight here but just asking: any particular reason Butterfield isn´t included? I´d say he´d meet the criterion "respected, adulated, and emulated by thousands of harp players worldwide over several decades." Of course you gotta draw a line somewhere and I´m biased since he, so to say, awoke me from my dogmatic blues harp slumber.
Martin, Winslow said in his original post there is another list that he has already made decisions about their important songs. I am sure Butter is there.
William Clarke - My favourite track by him is "Drinking all by Myself" from the "Blowin' like Hell" album. The whole song drips with feeling and when Clarke starts playing harp at the end of it, you can really feel the emotion pouring from it. Just purely for harp though it would probably be "Blowin' The Hell". Although I do prefer "Moten Swing" more.
James Cotton - It has to be "The Creeper". It just personifies James Cotton's harp playing to me.
Paul Delay - I don't know enough about his material to have a favourite.
Rick Estrin - "Headin Out" is a superb Little Walter style track. Although it's hard to beat stuff like "Sure Seems Strange" or My Next Ex-Wife though.
Jerry McCain - It has to be "Steady" as it's a benchmark track. It has one of the best /most sought after amped tones of all time.
Rod Piazza - "The Upsetter" from the "Harpburn" album.
Jerry Portnoy - In my mind although he's a great harp player, he's too strongly linked as Muddy's sideman for me to choose a track.
Junior Wells and Kim Wilson - I like a lot of their stuff, it would be hard to pick out one tune in particular from each though.
Gary Primich - For me it would be "Ain't You Trouble" from the album "Company Man". It swings like hell and has the indelible Primich stamp all over it. His harp playing on that track is just beautiful. It's one of my most favourite harmonica solos ever.
Last Edited by on Mar 03, 2012 8:03 AM
Sugar Blue and Butterfield are both on my bigger list. I'm happy to hear what you feel are their best cuts. As I stated in the original post, if you feel that someone important isn’t on the list, go ahead and give me your ideas.
---------- VOTE Winslow Yerxa for SPAH president, with L J Atkison for vice president Winslow for SPAH President (Facebook) Winslow4prez (Youtube) Chair, SPAH entertainment committee Chair, SPAH awards committee Member, SPAH convention planning committee Staff, SPAH Convention event operation
Last Edited by on Mar 03, 2012 10:15 AM
james cotton doing any version of "Black night" he does stuff on this cut that is so personal that it lights of the song more than any other harp song i`ve listened too.
No doubt about it-Rod's in there-no current player swings like Rod on Chromatic-Dennis Gruenling maybe,bot other than that,Rods in a league by himself. @jodancudan-I have seen Jerry perform that tune from less than 10 feet away-his VIBRATO IS the signature-
Last Edited by on Mar 04, 2012 10:48 AM
@tmf714 I'm not saying his vibrato is or isn't signature - and I'm not saying the bends are signature. I said it was signature track and that the bends were a prominent feature. Surely that's true. As for the vibrato / tremolo thing, no doubt he uses both here, but I'm sitting less than 10 feet from my headphones and a lot of it certainly sounds like a fluctuation in volume rather than pitch to me.
In that first video he's saying tremolo is the same thing as a side-to-side flutter? Maybe we're not disagreeing at all - perhaps we're using different terms for the same effect. My understanding is that tremolo is a variation in volume and vibrato is variation in pitch. And the flutter is a different thing altogether.
The great thing about this thread is that I'm listening to many albums again that I haven't listened to in a while. I'm listening to Ludella at the moment. I'd forgotten how damned good Kim's playing is on that album.
@Winslow: Sorry, I was reading first post badly. Still, I´d find it hard to select a song for Butterfield. But the intro to "Everythings gonna be all right" on the live album. (C harp 2 pos) is a contender to Greatest Harp Intro Ever. The authority with which that harmonica opens the record, saying something that´s both comforting ("Here´s one very able and confident harmonica player stepping up on the stage") as well as raising the expectations for things to come. (Perhaps a promise not entirely fullfilled: 1st part of solo on "Driftin`", yes; then he goes into the acoustic part, and there´s not his forte.) But the intro, smashing. The sound, that ferocious vibrato, the fast (although not very difficult) octave playing and the swift phrasing -- not heard in blues harmonica playing up to that point, I say.
Thanks, great suggestion and discussion from all. Keep it coming if you have more to add on the topic.
Winslow ---------- VOTE Winslow Yerxa for SPAH president, with L J Atkison for vice president Winslow for SPAH President (Facebook) Winslow4prez (Youtube) Chair, SPAH entertainment committee Chair, SPAH awards committee Member, SPAH convention planning committee Staff, SPAH Convention event operation
There isn't a version of Messing With The Kid on Hoodoo Man Blues. The original version was recorded for the Chief label. There is no harp on that recording, but a fantastic guitar solo that sounds like Earl Hooker.
The first version with harp was recorded for Vanguard. That version also captures the essence of Junior's style.
Apart from the others have mentioned perhaps Rod Piazza's version of Low Down Dog. Also I think his take on Pretty Ting (from Keepin It Real) has very inventive phrasing over a one-chord song, but not really representative enough of his style
Is James Harman on your wider list? Admittedly not the most inventive player but to my ears few can deliver straightforward riffs so effectively. An example would be Two Sides to Every Story, where the basic hook is relatively simple, but every time he plays it he brings variations and textures. Monstrous groove too. Probably his signature harp track is Dirty Napkins
Gary Smith? I think his instrumental Minor Mambo from Blues Harp Meltdown is as definitive a harmonica rhumba blues as I have heard
If this is still open for discussion, I'll suggest a couple of my favourite tunes from Winslow's list.
Kim Wilson -- Trust My Baby (1st pos, A (IIR), Tigerman)
Junior Wells -- In the Wee Wee Hours (Third pos., don't remember the key, Hoodoo Man Blues). Actually, I like the alternate take of this cut, on the recent re-issue of Hoodoo Man Blues. ----------
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2012 6:48 AM
