Below is a cut from a session that I did with a now defunct Boston area band called Two Bones And A Pick, which was essentially a guitar led trio that didn't do the SRV thing too many of them do, but instead, quite a variety, including tons on jump and swing stuff. This tune, Mama Rosin, was an old Mexican folk song done in an arrangement similar to what The FAbulous Thunderbirds did with an old 50's Perez Prado instrumental hit Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White.
For the gear heads, I'm using a key of A Marine Band in first position tuned to 7LJI, an Astatic JT30 with a crystal (older crystal) into a 1995 Pro Junior (that had the same stock speaker used on the original Bassman RI's and the tweed Blues DeVilles), and a studio supplied old all tube Echoplex. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Nice Bob. Love those old warm echoplex. Mexican and Latin music has lots of room for harmonica. I can remember playing La paloma and Besame Mucho many times on gigs. ----------
I don't play much in 1st position other than melodies. For my education, on a tune like that, why did you choose 1st position? Was it for the feel (different positions "feel" different due to note layout. Or was it for a particular note choice? Or some other reason?
For many Mexican folk tunes, 1st position is the single most natural position because most of those tunes have just two basic changes, the I and the V chord, and the chording from that position fits perfectly in sync, plus the phrases like you'd hear BW play on La Cucaracha that starts with blow 7, draw 7, draw 6, works much more smoothly in this position than any other, even if you're playing a CT tuned harp in 2nd position. 1st position isn't just for melodty playing for all and too many players who get too used to other positions often times are gonna stumble on 1st badly.
Thanks everybody, and Kingobad, many New Orleans tunes have tons of Latin/Mexican influences in them, and a perfect example is some of the stuff Professor Longhair played.
Just remember, a rhumba groove in blues is very much a Latin/Mexican influenced groove and another common blues groove, sometimes referred to as a Tramp groove, comes from a 50's Latin dance groove called the bugaloo. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
