Greg Heumann
2893 posts
Dec 04, 2014
2:45 PM
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Last night's jam...
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
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Greg Heumann
2894 posts
Dec 04, 2014
3:12 PM
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And neither has Andy Just.... (Andy is playing through A Sonny Jr Avenger with my "The Heumann Element"-equipped BlowsMeAway wood mic.
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
Bluestate on iTunes
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kudzurunner
5167 posts
Dec 04, 2014
4:50 PM
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You're right re: the thread title. Good call on the short video: cut to the chase. Very nice stuff. If I were next on stage at that jam, I'd be scared.
Interestingly, when Andy Just does his thing, it's powerful, with not-quite-right intonation on the blues pitches, but it suddenly makes me think that these two guys form a school of post-Butterfield blues-rock harp. Definitely NOT in the Kim Wilson school. Two different worlds of contemporary blues harmonica there. This is the rock school.
Still, if I was coming on stage next, I'd be a little scared. The general public likes flash, and there's a lot of flash here--and a lot of testosterone, of a certain kind. (I think there are two West Coast sounds. Rick Estrin and William Clarke are one; this is the other. No Butterfield in the first two; quite a lot in these guys. Maybe it's just a TB vs. LP thing......)
Thanks for posting this, Greg.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 04, 2014 4:56 PM
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Greg Heumann
2895 posts
Dec 04, 2014
5:06 PM
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Both players were definitely influenced by Butterfield. Andy was influenced a lot by Mark - who was playing since age 11 or something like that. The "Charles Ford Blues Band" (named after their father) with brothers Robben and Pat was active in the 60's - the original harp player in the band was Gary Smith. Mark was 16 when he took over the harp duties and was already very good!
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
Bluestate on iTunes
Last Edited by Greg Heumann on Dec 04, 2014 5:06 PM
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Greg Heumann
2898 posts
Dec 04, 2014
5:26 PM
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This is another vid from the same show, more about Garth Webber's outstanding guitar work - but as you can tell it was a smokin' night.
Mark used some effects for part of his solo - pretty mystical stuff.
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
Bluestate on iTunes
Last Edited by Greg Heumann on Dec 04, 2014 5:30 PM
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hvyj
2605 posts
Dec 04, 2014
7:14 PM
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Great stuff! Mark's playing sounds more linear than Andy's. Nice to hear such modern sounding innovative harp playing.
@ Greg: You run a very hot jam. These guys are elite players.
@kudzu: You know, a harp player can't play regularly with Robbin Ford sounding like LW or SBII all the time. So, I suspect RF's guitar playing may have had a stylistic influence on these guys. RF uses more complex chord voicings than traditional blues guitarists. One cannot build chords on a harmonica--we are stuck with the primitive chords and chord fragments the instrument gives us. So, to effectively accompany a guitar player like RF, a harp player has to use mostly non chordal licks.
Last Edited by hvyj on Dec 04, 2014 7:26 PM
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Little roger
40 posts
Dec 04, 2014
8:03 PM
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@kudzu about being scared to take the stage after MF or AJ.
There is a guy in my area that is on the same style page as Mark Ford and Andy Just. He is extremely good - right up there. And I love going on after him! Yes, the audience loves flash but in my experience they generally have a short attention span for "busy" harmonica. After four or five songs, a little breathing space and a less in-your-face approach goes down very well. As long as you have something to say, of course, and don't fall into that trap of showing 'what you can do.' Personally I find it harder to follow someone who plays in the same vein as me but is just BETTER in everything a la Kim Wilson,
Having said that, Mark Ford is a truly exceptional player that has the full arsenal AND knows how to use it. His version of Summertime is breathtaking from so many perspectives.
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Greg Heumann
2901 posts
Dec 06, 2014
3:38 PM
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@Little Roger - I am in 100% agreement with all your points. I DID go on after Mark - and people liked it just fine. The woman singing in the video is Andy's wife! If you're impatient the harp solo starts about 2 minutes in.
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
Bluestate on iTunes
Last Edited by Greg Heumann on Dec 06, 2014 3:49 PM
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MN
355 posts
Dec 07, 2014
12:50 PM
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kudzurunner wrote: "(I think there are two West Coast sounds. Rick Estrin and William Clarke are one; this is the other. No Butterfield in the first two; quite a lot in these guys. Maybe it's just a TB vs. LP thing......)"
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I can't speak for Andy Just, but I met Mark Ford several years back and interviewed him and Robben for a newspaper article. He told me he's a 100-percent tongue blocker. Incidentally, Sugar Blue told me the same.
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Greg Heumann
2902 posts
Dec 08, 2014
9:45 AM
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Not only is Mark a tongue blocker, he is one of the rare (like Norton Buffalo) U-Blockers. Mark has a very distinct attack on high note riffs and I think this is why.
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***************************************************
/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
Bluestate on iTunes
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kudzurunner
5172 posts
Dec 08, 2014
9:57 AM
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Sugar Blue told us all at HCH 2011 that he's a full-time tongue-blocker, yes.
Thanks for the clarification re: Mark Ford. I think I mistakenly assumed he was a LP because his approach is, as I noted, so radically at odds with what most people think of as a West Coast sound, exemplified by Estrin, Gary Smith, Bill Clarke, Rod Piazza, Aki Kumar, etc. Two different worlds of playing.
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walterharp
1565 posts
Dec 08, 2014
7:26 PM
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do you all think that u blocking allows for an even stronger tone without cupping strongly?
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Greg Heumann
2906 posts
Dec 08, 2014
7:36 PM
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@Walter - I don't think it is about tone per se. But I do think it change the nature of the attack, and probably the nature of what you end up playing so it changes the "texture"
It would be interesting to listen to U Blockers en masse and see if any conclusions could be drawn. The only ones I know of for sure are Mark and Norton Buffalo - and they certainly do NOT sound alike, though both are distinctive and recognizable.
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/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
Bluestate on iTunes
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atty1chgo
1206 posts
Dec 08, 2014
11:53 PM
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Very good playing, drummer painfully late.
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wheel
326 posts
Dec 09, 2014
1:58 AM
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thank you for sharing this! Mark Ford is one of my favorite harp player! As for u-blockers: John Nemeth and Dennis Moriarty are u-blokers also. I'm u-blocker too here is how it sounds
P.S. Sorry if it is offtopic.
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Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine)
my music
Last Edited by wheel on Dec 09, 2014 2:01 AM
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