I wonder if someone can suggest some blues tracks by horn players for me to listen to. I know there is some disagreement about harp players trying to sound like horns, and I don't necessarily want to do this, but I am still developing my tone and thought I could certainly learn something. Plus, I am sure there is a lot of cool music to listen to. I have found some blues by Clyde McCoy, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Who else should I check out? Also, I am interested in guys playing horns other than trumpets - sax, etc.
Here's a short list of horn players doing blues, tho much of it is jump blues and if you listen closely, you can hear how much they've influenced harp players like Little Walter:
Red Prysock Hal Singer Arnett Cobb Eddie Shaw JT Brown AC Reed Willis Gator Tail Jackson Illinois Jacquet Charlie Parker Coleman Hawkins Lester Young Junior Walker King Curtis Plas Johnson Noble Watts Louis Armstrong Roy Eldridge
Obviously, there's MANY more players you should be listening to, and NOT just for the soloing, but also comping, plus how they work together as a horn section and again, if you pay CLOSE attention, you can hear lines often being played by harp players. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Thanks Paul. One guy I knew about but had forgotten is Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson of "Kidney Stew" fame. He has lots of blues on his albums and some sweet horn sounds.
In addition to Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, also add Bullmoose Jackson, whose most famous tune, "Big Ten Inch Record," was later made more famous by Aerosmith. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
not EXACTLY blues-but Eddie Harris was a guy I've listened to a LOT- he was superb at taking simple sounding changes and constructing improvised melodies and even doing call and response with himself! He was also a pioneer in using (and inventing) electronic effects...
Another group to listen to is Roomful Of Blues,from the New England area.They have been around for quite some time have alot of music out there and actually featured Sugar Ray Norcia on at least one cd that I have from the mid 90,s called Turn It On!Turn It Up!Its a good choice for listening to some blues with horns,and Sugar blows some nice harp on it also.
Houston Person (his bluesy stuff, like "Goodness") Hank Crawford David Fathead Newman Cleanhead Vinson (somebody else had this; I'll second it) Greg Piccolo (from Roomful) Sax Gordon (from Roomful) Big Jay McNeely (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=big+jay+mcneely)
I really like a record called GIANTS OF THE BLUES TENOR SAX:
http://www.amazon.com/Giants-The-Blues-Tenor-Funk/dp/B000000ZC2
Last Edited by on Sep 11, 2012 2:10 PM
It's hard to find great blues by Houston Person on YouTube, but I dug hard and found this one with only 46 views! This is classic. This is why I love the guy. He swings hard but NEVER forces it; he slowly builds to his screams, but he takes his time getting there. He's a great example of a guy who has lots of technique but never, ever lets it dominate his sense of what the music needs in the moment.
PS: If the head sounds familiar to a few folks here, that's because I "appropriated" it into the head of the version of "Every Day I Have the Blues" on KICK AND STOMP.
Last Edited by on Sep 11, 2012 2:11 PM
You mention Johnny Almond. After the Turning Point tour, Johnny split along with Jon Mark (acoustic guitar) and formed Mark Almond. Only recorded 2 or maybe 3 albums, but the first one, titled "Mark-Almond" is pretty astounding, although a bit hard to find. Well worth the search. ---------- The Iceman
Sax Gordon is a good buddy of mine for years and he knows all that stuff and he used to tell me that Big Jay McNeely was his idol and he used to see him a lot where he was growing up in California, and having seen Jay myuself, the guy was not only the great, classic bar honker type of player you want in a real blues setting, but was also an amazing showman walking thru the crowd, playing on bended knees, arching his back so that his head was about to hit the floor behind him, etc.
Some other players to listen to are: LOUIS JORDAN (a HUGELY influential musician for not only sax, but many other blues musicians as well, ESPECIALLY Little Walter and if you hear his solo on Caledonia, you can hear the kind of stuff LW was doing just based on that solo alone). JOE HOUSTON STANLEY TURRENTINE (who appears on a number of tunes bluesman Lowell Fulson recorded for Chess in the 50's) GENE AMMONS (his best known tune is Red Top) EARL BOSTIC SYL AUSTIN SHEP SHEPARD (his solo on the Bill Doggett classic Honky Tonk Parts I 7 II, as well as Bill Butler's guitar playing on that tune are so classic and iconic, that those are often played note for note by the majority of players covering it and both are essential things EVERY harp playuer should learn to play)
David Fathead Newman appears on many recordings by Ray Charles during the 50's and that's him playing on the intro of The Night Time is The Right Time. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Last Edited by on Sep 12, 2012 9:47 AM
This is the Bill Doggett classic with both parts I & II that every harp player should know how to play. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
This is the Bill Doggett classic with both parts I & II that every harp player should know how to play. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I saw Rahassan Roland Kirk 4 times and one of the songs he always did was Honky tonk besides going to outer space he could blow some blues.also buddy bolden, sidney bechet,clark terry and sonny stitt had a command of the blues language...
Speaking of blues with horn players, Milk Cow Boogie from Levon Helm and the RCO Allstars "Live at the Palladium has Lou Marini - sax - Alan Rubin - trumpet - and Tom Malone playing trombone.
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4opUoFxZ8EY (sorry - I still don't get how to embed a video after reading the forum how to)
Last Edited by on Sep 13, 2012 12:20 PM
@iceman: yes, a friend of mine years ago had those albums, and they were great. i'll have to dig around and see if i can find them. thanks for the reminder.
