Andy Santana gets a remarkable sound cupping a big mic with one hand. Powerful:
Aki Kumar on the second harp.
About two-thirds the way through the clip, when pushed by Kumar, Santana switches from Little Walter style to Kim Wilson style. Those are his two strongest influences, and he's awfully good at playing in that vein. Kumar is reaching at moments for something more original, as I hear it. This is terrific stuff.
Last Edited by on Mar 11, 2012 8:29 AM
The whole first half is actually Andy miming to Aki's playing from a remote location, hence the water trick, the 2/3 bent trill through the nose and the great one handed tone. At 2:05 he takes the harp out of his mouth and Aki is still playing.
Regardless, both are great players with great tone and obviously like to have fun.
I agree both Aki and Andy are great players. Also that's Kid Andersen (with the beard) from Rick Estrin and the Nightcats on guitar. There is a lot of really great talent out on the West Coast among the blues players. Here's some great Tom foolery from Kid Andersen playing with John Nemeth. It's at about the 1.06 mark on the video.
Aki and Andy have been doing a Harp Duel show for the past year with Aki's band, Tip Of The Top. Its a fantastic show.
Andy is a fantastic guiter player, who is heavily influenced by Pee Wee Crayton and Lowell Fulson. His harp playing is as good as anyone and his tone is fantastic!
This video was shot at Aki's Thursday night blues jam at the Grand Dell Saloon in Campbell, CA. Its probably the best free blues jam around. He has a multitude of great players dropping in to play.
About twice a month, he has a special featured guest artist that include the best blues artists in the Bay Area.
Last month, Aki was unable to make it to the jam and asked me to sub for him. I was blown away by the talent that showed up. We had a killer group of people stopping by including a former American Idol semi-finalist, IBC semi-finalists and a host of other great local talent. We also had about a half dozen really good harp players show up.
Hahahahahahaha....I put this clip up little bit before Adam did...I titled mine "Pros Play "Rocker", I'm glad he put this version up because I could not tell what was going on from the other clip being it was shot from far away and I was thinkin the same thing - how the F*&^$ is he doin that and gettin tone for miles... Anyhoo, that's hilarious - those guys are a lot of fun to watch and listen to!
WOW utter brilliance on display here, these guys are top notch players and entertainers. One day maybe with a hell of a lot more work i might get within a mile of this, but probably not!
"One day maybe with a hell of a lot more work i might get within a mile of this, but probably not!"
If you keep thinking that way, you never will.
I met Aki less than ten years ago. He had just started taking lessons from David Barrett. I don't believe he was singing. He wasn't leading a band. I think he had just joined a band. He was a pretty good harp player, but he was no where near as good as he is now.
Now, he is a solid vocalist. He's a fantastic player with excellent tone. He's played a couple of Hummel's Harp Blowouts. He's a good band leader and has learned how to communicate with other musicians. Last year, he was in a band that went to the IBC. They beat some really good bands in the area to earn that IBC slot. His band's most recent CD received a really nice write up in Living Blues.
He's done that in less than ten years. How has he done it?
In my opinion, he is one of David's best students. He has a solid work ethic. He works hard on learning the instrument. He listens to a ton of music. He digs deep. Two of the guys in his band are musically deep. If he isn't gigging, he's out on the scene sitting in with someone. He learns something from darn near everyone that he comes into contact with.
Pretty much everything he has accomplished is due to his desire to learn, practice and excel. He works his ass off.
Players of his caliber and the caliber of others in the video don't just happen. They work at it. If you put it the work, there is no reason why it couldn't happen for you.
there was never any intention to scold. Learning this stuff isn't super hard. It just requires discipline any a desire to really do it. Aki is living proof. He comes from about as non traditional blues background as you can get.
He is a very intelligent person. He is also dedicated. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a plan written down, too.
Finally, if we met in person and you made that comment. My reaction and response would probably have been completely different.
I would have told you that you're probably right and walked away.
I was better than Aki, once. But only because he started after I did. I was taking lessons with Dave for several years - and Aki and I overlapped for about the last year of my study. Once I moved 100 miles further north it just because impossible. Aki has come WAY farther than me. And as Joe says, it isn't a miracle - it is because he has practiced, listened, studied, practiced, practiced and practiced. He has a full time job as a software engineer, by the way. I am one of his biggest fans. I am in awe of his work ethic. He is also a very nice guy and funny as hell. ---------- /Greg
It's so awesome to have harp players such as Andy living minutes away from me. Northern California is loaded with Harp legends and up and comers. ---------- Bend it like Ricci - Me
Aki has got something major going on he is a total inspiration. He has tone for days and is really reaching for a modern original approach. I hope to someday reach his current level of skill in a different vein.
You guys in California have got some major talent gathered up. So much talent that skates under the radar.
Locally in Maine we have some good players that are under represented. Dave Gill and tommy Oconnell really play some great harp. If anyone ever is up this way Tommy's show is always worth it and they gig all the time.
I told Jeff Silverman yesterday that we should think about James Harman for HCH 2013, but Aki would be cheaper and although his name wouldn't be as big of a draw, obviously, I like the idea of giving exposure to gifted artists who fly just under the radar outside their prime gigging areas. Aki strikes me as a good example of that phenomenon. (I'm sure he was known to a fair number of folks here, but this place is....unusual in that respect. God bless the forum.)
One of my models in the creation of HCH, as it evolves, is Tom Cullen of the Bucks County Blues Society. He always tried to balance different sorts of acts (Chicago with New Orleans; West Coast with rootsy), and his favorite thing was giving wider exposure to troopers who'd earned the right to that. I saw many fine touring harp guys--including Harman, William Clarke, and Sugar Ray--for the first time at the BCBS annual Rhythm & Blues Picnic in mid-July. Man was that fun! We'd drive two hours down from NYC. The first act hit at 11 AM. All the beer you could drink came with the price of admission; just bring a pitcher and fill 'er up. By about 11:30, when that first act--often a harp act--was full-on, things always felt just great.
FYI: This year's picnic takes place on 7/21. From the website:
The event of the summer season: 30th Annual R&B Picnic, Sat. 7/21, Snipes Farm in Morrisville, PA, featuring Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, Toronzo Cannon & the Cannonball Express, Biscuit Miller & the Mix, James Day & Fish Fry, Slippery Sneakers (zydeco), April Mae & the June Bugs, and the Rev. Flamin' Harry (in a rare solo appearance). More info to follow in near future.
Last Edited by on Mar 27, 2012 9:16 AM
