kudzurunner
4991 posts
Sep 26, 2014
12:43 PM
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I've been thinking for some time that this website should dedicate some space--not just in the forum, but on the site--to the very best blues harmonica performance videos. A kind of Greatest Hits wall of what we're all seeking to do, and what we all appreciate: throw down, blow down, take-me-back-home stuff. Big, brash and loud. Awesome tone. Or technically amazing. Or truly soulful. Slow or fast; funky or shuffle-footed. Or just something like quiet perfection. I'm talking about performance videos, not teaching videos. Whatever excellence is for you. Something that makes you want to shout. Or cry.
I'd like some help in figuring out what should go on that wall.
So that this doesn't get absolutely out of control, I will ask that each individual forum member initially limit his/her suggestions to THREE videos. There's only one criterion: in your view, the video or videos you suggest are some of the absolute best blues harmonica performance videos currently available on YouTube. Not just good. They should be, at worst, truly excellent. At best, they should be your Desert Island Three.
I have one other request: no negativity. No questioning somebody else's judgment. It's not about their judgment. It's about YOUR judgment. (If you like a video that somebody else suggests, you are obviously encouraged to second their judgment. I heartily encourage that, in fact.) I will be the final arbiter of what actually gets put up, but I know that crowdsourcing is the way to go on this particular research assignment.
One possible complication: YouTube has lots of "videos" that are actually just studio recordings that somebody has set to a series of still photos. We're all familiar with this category of "video." Ken Burns effect and all. I've made several of these. Although I MAY consider these, they're not really what I'm looking for. Please start by suggesting actual performance videos, music videos, and the like. (Music videos, as long as they actually feature a harmonica player doing his thing on screen, such as the recent Magic Dick / Shun Ng video, are fine.)
I already know what one of my three is going to be; it's the first video featured on the page entitled "Why blues harmonica?"
Have at it! I'll save my other two suggestions for now.
Edited to add: please select the normal/smallish default embed size on YT: 420 x 315. This thread is going to accumulate a lot of videos, and unless we do that, it will load very slowly.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 26, 2014 12:56 PM
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The Iceman
2147 posts
Sep 26, 2014
12:51 PM
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something like this .. as long as there is a way to shorten it, I guess...
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The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Oct 05, 2014 12:10 PM
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kudzurunner
4992 posts
Sep 26, 2014
12:55 PM
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Let's try to select the default YT embed size, 420 x 315, please. Other wise this thread will never load once the videos start accumulating.
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Milsson
170 posts
Sep 26, 2014
12:59 PM
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I cant embedd... I'm on my phone. I think that butterfield doing drifting blues at montrey 67 is the most emotional live performance on the whole YT. It just HAVE to be there!
http://youtu.be/e3LEhfbKCSc
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Todd Parrott
1243 posts
Sep 26, 2014
1:13 PM
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I don't know if this will make the cut, but I sure love it around the :43 mark!
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Harp2swing
160 posts
Sep 26, 2014
4:29 PM
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Big, brash, loud, Awesome tone, technically amazing and truly soulful. Ticks all the boxes for me. This one is definitely on my desert island list.
(performance starts @ 18secs)
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the_happy_honker
189 posts
Sep 27, 2014
6:35 AM
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Great tune, great tone, Charlie at his best
Can't touch Deford Bailey for country blues:
Last Edited by the_happy_honker on Sep 27, 2014 1:14 PM
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pharpo
745 posts
Sep 27, 2014
7:54 AM
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My first "real" blues album after hearing John Mayall's "Room to Move".....I was hooked.
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Procrastinator Emeritus
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pharpo
746 posts
Sep 27, 2014
8:03 AM
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Some of you might remember this one...........
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Procrastinator Emeritus
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nacoran
8029 posts
Sep 27, 2014
10:56 AM
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Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
First Post- May 8, 2009
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rogonzab
599 posts
Sep 27, 2014
1:58 PM
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atty1chgo
1151 posts
Sep 27, 2014
4:14 PM
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Billy Branch.
Carey Bell.
Curtis Salgado.
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kudzurunner
4993 posts
Sep 27, 2014
5:01 PM
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I'd like to invite contributions from three forum members with whom I have, over the months and years, occasionally sparred (to phrase it with gentlemanly understatement): tmf, jnorem, and kingley. Please suggest videos. You have strong opinions and often don't see things the way I do. That's why we've tangled. What performances excite you?
Tmf: You've very frequently posted videos by Dennis Gruenling as answers to what I or others have said. So what video by Dennis would YOU choose as his best--or one of his very best? Or three of his very best? I'm all ears.
Kingley: You and I tangled a few years back, for a while, when we litigated the traditional vs. modernist thing on this forum. Please flag a video or two that would show up on your desert island list.
jnorem: I don't actually have any idea what sort of harp playing you love. Please post one or two and enlighten me.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 27, 2014 5:03 PM
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sonny3
215 posts
Sep 27, 2014
6:01 PM
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Mighty Slim
18 posts
Sep 27, 2014
6:12 PM
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This tune is what got me started on harp. Thank you MD.
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Adam Pritchard
37 posts
Sep 28, 2014
2:20 AM
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Here's one of my favourites. Some really great playing by Dennis.
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Adam Pritchard
38 posts
Sep 28, 2014
2:31 AM
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And this one from the best harp player in the UK (in my humble opinion):
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Kingley
3705 posts
Sep 28, 2014
4:15 AM
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I wasn't going to make any suggestions on this thread as my choices would vary depending on whom I was listening to at any given time. It's the same with any kind of list I could make regarding players. Since you asked me specifically though Adam, here are three of my favourite ones.
The first is Carlos Del Junco. Simply because he's such a technically amazing player. Carlos for me defines modern blues harmonica and his tone is simply beautiful. He is one of a small handful of overblow players who's music really excites me.
The second is Dennis Gruenling. I chose this clip because the energy Dennis creates here is superb and I love the fact that he's playing a jazz standard with the sensibilities of a New Orleans horn player.
The third and final one is not really a performance video per se. Walter Horton though is the bench mark of Chicago style harmonica in my opinion and in this clip he demonstrates some of the things that made him so great. The percussiveness of Walters playing is astonishing. His use of dynamics, his phrasing and of course his tone are all superb. A person could learn a lot about how to play harmonica just from studying this one clip.
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kudzurunner
4998 posts
Sep 29, 2014
11:14 AM
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Here's my second personal favorite. It took a while to find. Those who were there, at HCH in 2010, will remember this absolutely insane chromatic solo by Johnny Sansone. It builds and builds over a period of two-and-a-half minutes. I think he was smashed on Bill and Annie's corn likker. But the effect, which culminates just before the 6:00 point, remains riveting, at least to me. There are great chromatic players--Estrin, Dennis, and Rod, certainly--and then there are the true conjurors, who use the instrument and the notes to get at something beyond music. There aren't many performances in that category. (I'd put Jason's famous F-harp slow blues in that category.) But this one does it for me. It takes Johnny a while to nail you; give him the time. (He finished the song with another crazy minute.)
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 29, 2014 11:20 AM
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A440
212 posts
Sep 29, 2014
11:51 AM
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Nice idea Adam. It would be really nice if the videos were embedded in the home page, and would not take the viewer onto the YouTube url. (I try to use YouTube as little as possible).
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sean
10 posts
Sep 29, 2014
2:20 PM
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Adam Prichard
You say west West Weston is the best player in the UK..well for my money he is one of the best players in the world...what a sound that guy has got..
Sean
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The Iceman
2163 posts
Sep 29, 2014
2:45 PM
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side note...
on the Carlos clip above, that is the amazing Kevin Breit on guitar (although not the best representation of his creativity).
Kevin toured with Holly Cole, recorded with Cassandra Wilson and latest gig is backing up Hugh Laurie's blues act.
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The Iceman
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kudzurunner
5017 posts
Oct 05, 2014
10:55 AM
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Thanks to everybody for suggestions. I used quite a few of them and added some others--including the one non-US player here, Taro Senga, in that "Monster" clip.
Please feel free to suggest other clips.
http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/best-harmonica-videos.html
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JustFuya
574 posts
Oct 05, 2014
12:02 PM
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I have a special bookmark sub-folder for special performance videos. These are just 3 of the 30 that are strictly blue
All around favorite. Love the upside down correction & sheepish smile at the start:
Performance points:
Innovative & unique. He will always be special to me. I met him & sat with his proud Mom in a near empty house at Harrah's in Reno. Great regular people:
Last Edited by JustFuya on Oct 05, 2014 12:05 PM
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ReedSqueal
490 posts
Oct 05, 2014
12:06 PM
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How about Charlie Musslewhite's version of LW's 'Just a Feeling'
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"You hear that cat...On the Harmonica?....That's the Canned Heat!"
-John Lee Hooker, Boogie Chillen'
Last Edited by ReedSqueal on Oct 05, 2014 12:08 PM
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jpmcbride
74 posts
Oct 05, 2014
2:07 PM
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The SBW2 Nine Below Zero clip from The Real Folk Blues DVD collection that someone else already posted. I remember when I first started playing I was really into Sonny Boy but I had no idea there were videos of him playing. When I first saw this video I must have watched it 10 times in a row. His persona, his cool demeanor, the way he communicates with the band, his interaction with the audience, the way he holds the harp, the simple riffs he plays but with so much feeling. Something there for everyone to learn.
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Jim McBride
www.bottleoblues.com
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BluesBrother
9 posts
Oct 10, 2014
12:42 AM
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al
103 posts
Oct 10, 2014
1:41 AM
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http://youtu.be/ULWRYfw-UYI
This has got tae be one of the coolest harp vids out there for my money. Lee is a killer player. Solo around 2.45.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/alprice
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BluesBrother
13 posts
Oct 11, 2014
3:21 PM
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