This week, Lynwood Slim toured the area. I went to three of the five shows. If family commitments had allowed, I could have easily seen to all five. All of the shows that i saw were great. They never got old or boring.
The man is a breathtaking singer. He is an awesome harp player with beautiful tone and technique. He is a fabulous band leader. He played with Charlie Musselwhite's rhythm section of Mike Phillips and June Core. Johnny Cat from the Terry Hanck Band played guitar. They were super tight sounding.
I learned a bunch of stuff in three nights. One big item of note: despite having access to some great harp amps, he didn't use them at all. He played through the house PA and sounded wonderful. His tone was rich and full. Very deep.
Here is the odd thing that I noticed. There were very few harp players in attendance. At two of the three shows, the only other harp player that I saw was Aki Kumar. He made it to four of the five shows.
I found it really strange that an area where there were enough harp players to lay down some serious dough to attend a one day harmonica seminar earlier in the month could miss a week long tour by one of the finest players around.
Getting out and listening to great players is a tried and true method of learning. If you get the chance to see someone of the caliber of Lynwood Slim, jump on it. Don't miss it. If you are receptive, you will learn a great deal.
Yes indeedy! There is no substitute for seeing great players live...these clips shot in Australia give *some* insight into what you are missing if you are not lucky enough to catch Lynwood Slim...
I often say that I would never do anyone the disservice of callng them my mentor, but I saw Lynwood Slim perform more than anyone else from 1998-2000., hung out with him and learned a lot.
It is a shame that he isn't better known and appreciated by harp players. It seems to me a lot of blues harp players today are interested in more interested in harmonica than Blues. They want histrionics instead of soul.
There is no doubt he is one of the best Blues musicians of his generation. His smooth vocals and low down Walter Horton influenced harp make for an amazing contrast. He is a tremdendous flautist as well.
If you don't know his stuff you should!
Last Edited by on Oct 01, 2012 7:40 AM
Holy Moly. Alex Schultz! Fantastic guitarist. First saw him w/Rod Piazza in the 90's along with Jimmy Bott on drums. Talk about a creative drum/guitar section.
Ran into Alex in Europe in the late 90's. He was backing up Johnny "Yard Dog" Jones (harp/vocals), who I used to back up on keys in Detroit. In chatting w/Alex, he told me he left Rod's band when Rod got into choreographing all the songs and the shows - in other words, everything was done exactly the same night after night. Alex couldn't take the restrictions, so left.
I remember Alex very rarely playing full chords, but accompanied by playing interesting guitar lines and ideas - maybe chording on 2 or 3 of the strings, which gave the ensemble a cleaner and more crystaline sound. ---------- The Iceman
Iceman: Indeed I saw Alex with Rod in NYC years ago, replaced by another Olympian: Rick Holmstom. In that way Rod's band resembled another guitar school: Roomful of Blues where Duke Robillard was superseded by Ronnie Earl, etc.. ---And walterharp: It's funny Alex's guitar playing reminded me a little of DeLay's harp playing: "Cool" with these really great percussive hits: his own musical syntax.......No digressive offense intended! ------- Facebook
I have mentioned Lynwood a while back in ref to playing on a few tunes on RL Burnsides recordings.He plays harp on two songs on I Wish I Was In Heaven Sitten Down,the tunes being I,m a Nothin Man and also Chain Of Fools.I believe he also plays on the cd Come On In.I know a guy here in N.J. who throws partys at his warehouse on different occasions and one Christmas party back when he had Lynwood Slim,Kid Ramos and Jr.Watson.When they took a break Anson Funderburgh,Sam Myers,Lou Ann Barton and Mike Morgan took the stage.All I can say is What A Christmas present that was.I hope that Lynwoods health issues are past him,he,s a hell of of guy.
He sounded fantastic and looked good. I spoke with him. He said he was tired after three gigs in a row. The last one was about four hours.
I'm still surprised by the lack of harp players in attendance. I fear Ryan may be right. Some people are more interested in histrionics than soulful playing. I think playing soulfully and in the pocket is much harder. I find those type of players to be more interesting to listen to.
