We've all got our lists, but Aki keeps rising on mine. So I'll just say it in the title of my thread, and hope you-all take a moment to watch & listen to this clip. I went looking for some of his recent stuff, hoping to find something that shows his amazingly full AND crunchy tone and came across this. As far as I'm concerned, it's exemplary, both the comping and the solo. This guy scares me and impresses the s--t out of me.
A harmonica player's harmonica player, truly. I wish I could play like this.
Part of what seals the deal for me is his timing. He's just flawless--without being pre-fab. Really high energy, really creative, but he never misplaces a note. He's always in the pocket, at every moment. In this particular clip, I don't particularly like the groove that the drummer is holding down, but Aki helps make it work. It takes the song about 30 second to come together, and Aki, like any good sideman, is feeling his way in, not wanting to dominate. At a certain point he begins playing harder, making his presence felt, and that's when he starts blowing me away.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 29, 2015 6:25 AM
Aki keeps getting better and better. I am awed by his sense -he plays the right notes at the right time with the right rhythm. He deserves credit because he has been working very hard at it and working every day. That in turn gives him many opportunities to work his chops out and learn even more. And he's a smart, and he's funny. A pleasure to know him!
Aki's band will host our weekly pro jam this coming week on Wednesday Sep 2. (see http://rwcbluesjam.com/schedule) - If you're in Northern CA - come by!
I'm lucky enough to get to see him play once or twice a week and regularly attend his jams. He occasionally lets me lead the house band which always has great players, I got to play with Marty Dodson on Thursday, shuffle heaven!!
What's really neat about Aki though is how he's become like a center of gravity down here in the South Bay Blues scene. He's playing or hosting a jam almost every night of the week, I think he gives a lot back to the music and fosters a healthy community of blues musicians and harp players.
He's got a great career in front of him, go Aki go!!
---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
Last Edited by slaphappy on Aug 29, 2015 12:09 PM
What you guys have told me helps make sense of what I'm hearing, which is somebody who was very, very good when I saw him three years ago and just keeps getting better. When you're playing that much, out in public, you stay sharp, you stay on top of your game, and if you're a certain kind of person--and Aki plainly is that kind of person--you seize the chance and spend time working on your game in your spare time, knowing that you'll have the chance to keep pushing right to the edge of what you're capable of doing on those public stages. This is how masters are made.
The lesson here for the rest of us is: find a scene that gives you a chance to put yourself onstage in an ongoing way, and then work it as hard as you can. That's what it takes. You can't do it all sitting in your room, playing to a camera.
I'm a fan!
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 29, 2015 8:51 PM
As Kudzu says above it's bang on! Here is a link to a two part interview I watched a while back with Aki that's very honest and lays out his approach. It's obviously true a good/great scene is a massive help and incentive and dedicating oneself is paramount but also surrounding yourself with musicians like Gary Smith, David Barrett and Kid Anderson etc. is always going to be a good thing.
http://www.bluesharmonica.com/aki_kumar_0
click on; Aki Kumar Intro Part 1 and Aki Kumar Intro Part 2
plus there's lots more stuff on there.
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"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
Last Edited by marine1896 on Aug 30, 2015 4:25 AM
Once again Im reminded how much room for improvement I have----loved the solo-- not only does he play over the chord changes brilliantly----but has unique,perfectly timed fills===not so perfect to lose feeling --i agree he is very very good and fresh too---most importantly hes a genuinely nice guy--- which to me, goes along way in any business---especially music
Just fantastic! love his stuff! great timing and well placed lines. This is some of the best playing I've heard in a long time!
Last Edited by blueswannabe on Aug 30, 2015 10:02 AM
Yes indeed, I heard stuff of a Clarke, a Butler, a Cotton, and a Bell sort of caliber there, no doubt. It's great to see a young guy really immersed in the culture of the blues, keeping it true and busting it loose. If he'd been a gunslinger 150 years ago I'd have stayed on the farm.
Obviously he's studied a lot. Technically he nails the stuff very professionally. Coupled with excellent feel for the material and the courage to step to the edge, but with a smooth class, the result is super good.
I know that, even with my deficiencies in the 90's, when I began working with bands and duos and helping host a jam here and there, I had to up my game and I had the opportunity to do so often. That was a time of big growth for me. That same feature is obvious in Mr. Kumar's delivery. There is a certain comfort and familiarity that appears with enough hours on stage with good and great talent around you. You either rise to the occasion or you get lost. Mr. Kumar has risen. nh2aem
One of the greatest living harmonica players? That excludes millions of other good players we'll never hear. I think he's good, technically accomplished,but his approach doesn't click with me. He may well be fashioning his own licks, fills and textures, but he is doing so in a manner that hews to an older tradition that is beautiful to behold and honor, but not adding anything especially new to the instrument. He has that style that tells me who he went to school on but tells me nothing of his personality. He is good, better than many, but I don't hear the greatness. ---------- Ted Burke tburke4@san.rr.com
@Ted - "That excludes millions of other good players we'll never hear."
No, it really doesn't. It is true that there are a lot of very good amateur and semi-pro players we'll never hear. But I'd challenge you to come up with 20 who can play as well as Aki.
In my opinion Aki's playing is at a full pro level and there aren't even "hundreds" of players at his level.
@Harpoon_man - Aki left his job in the software industry to pursue his music career full time. He HAS toured but he's so busy here in Northern CA he doesn't need to tour much! He is the go-to harp player at Kid Andersen's Greaseland Studios and has recorded on a bunch of CD's lately. I'm sure that keeps him busy.
Have a look at http://www.akikumar.com/shows - he's working almost every day. ---------- *************************************************** /Greg
Greg's comments, to me, seem to merely disagree with Ted - nothing more, nothing less.
I agree that Aki sounds as good as the older pro players and miles ahead of most int/adv non pro players. (of course, I haven't heard EVERYBODY, but have listened to a lot over the years). ---------- The Iceman
"greatest" is a subjective term of course. So by it's very nature it's open to individual opinion.
Personally i think Aki is a hell of a harmonica player. he has the tone, the chops and the musical sensibility. He is of course as Greg says a pro player. I don't know if I'd call him "one the greatest", but I'd certainly agree he is among the higher ranks of the best of the Californian players in that particular area of blues music.
From what I've heard of Aki he tends to play more traditional blues styles (which I happen to prefer myself). In the same vein as his mentors (Barrett and Smith) and as many of the other West Coast players do.
That isn't taking anything away from him. He has obviously studied long and hard at his craft and continues to do so. His dedication is admirable and a great example to us all, of what can be achieved with proper focus, drive and determination.
Playing as he does with many (if not most) of the cream of the Californian blues musicians, he is ideally placed to learn that craft. I'm sure that fact, along with the tutelage of Barrett and Smith (amongst others) has been hugely beneficial to his learning.
As to whether he will become "one of the greatest living bluesplayers". Well only time will tell. In the meantime I'm simply enjoying listening to and watching his journey.
Last Edited by Kingley on Aug 31, 2015 9:53 AM
I think things get confounded once people use terms like "greatest" or "one of the greatest". These terms and ambiguous terminology cause much strife and division, mostly because someone is trying to classify something or someone that is subjective in nature, and trying to form a concrete case.
I personally agree 100% with Ted. Yeah, Aki is much better than most. His playing is solid, and obviously rooted in the "old school" tradition. I don't know much about Aki, but based off this video, nothing notches an impression in my mind of him being "the greatest". There are several local players here that can pull-off just that. Nothing technically amazing about his playing, such as what Howard, Carlos, or JR can do. At the end of the day, music is a language that we as musicians attempt to convey to our listeners. Sometimes that language digs deep and moves us. Sometimes it remains just a superficial conversation. That's ok. This video, for me, was more a "it's supposed to rain this weekend" kinda dialogue rather than "the meaning of life" type of conversations :)
The basic problem i have isn't with Aki's musicianship, which is fine,but the hyperbole we greet it with. I hear a professional harmonica player, yes, skilled and nuanced in the little things we all like, but I don't hear how he's pushing the blues harmonica style forward. If he wants to be Wynton Marsalis of his instrument, someone of technical brillance dedicated to playing in old style, then that's a good thing. But I don't hear anything in is playing that.
The hyperbole was mine, nobody else's, and I take full responsibility for it. I wasn't saying it to be provocative; I was saying it because I believe it. Most of us can come up with a list of 10 blues players alive right now who we would be happy to call "some of the greatest living blues harmonica players." I've put on a blues harmonica event for three years and I brought at least four such players--Sugar Blue, Jason Ricci, Billy Branch, and Mitch Kashmar. Those guys would be on my top-10.
Aki may not be leaning forward into The Modern the way some would like, and I've certainly argued in favor of that sort of thing. So here I'm saying that a pointedly forward-looking or "different" sound (Sugar Blue, Jason Ricci) isn't all I care about. I've made clear what I like about Aki's playing: tone, power, groove, and what I'll call playerly tact, his ability as a sideman to step lightly, then move in for the kill. Each great player has a different set of virtues. What I didn't praise Aki for, but should have, are two more things--the perfect proportions of what he plays (it's an elegant solo, high energy as it is), and his creativity as a third-position player.
I didn't say that he's the equal of a Paul Delay or Little Walter, an all-time great. I'm saying that, for me at least, he has moved into a place where he can stand on a stage with any living blues harmonica player and hold his own. He can't blow Jason off the stage--but then again, put those two guys side by side and ask them to play a contemporary update of "Juke," and you'd have something on both sides.
Greatness can take many forms. Acing the sideman's role is part of that for me. When I see this performance, I say to myself that he hasn't left anything undone. He's not showing off--he's not showboating--but he steps up to the plate and hits it hard and true.
The truly great players meet the three-second test, I've always said: you'd know their sound anywhere. I'm not sure I'd know Aki's harmonica sound anywhere (i.e., coming over the radio, unannounced)--although I WOULD recognize his singing voice anywhere. But if somebody posted five or seven of his very best performances and we listened to them carefully, I suspect we might begin to hear his Aki-difference. I'm happy to acknowledge this caveat, though.
Take the four players I mentioned above; add Kim, Charlie, Rick, Dennis, Rod....Nico Wayne Toussant, perhaps? (He won the Blues Music award for harmonica last year.) We've all got our favorites. Does Aki belong in that list of 10 contemporary knockouts? I'm saying that I think he does--or, at the very least, I'm asking that he be considered for that list: for YOUR list, whomever you are.
No need to fight about it. Discussion is good, though.
Some of you have seen this, from two years ago, but some of you haven't: Aki doing "Juke." I like the way he moves seamlessly from the original into his own creative extensions:
Here's one that was previously posted in another thread. Aki is killing it here, especially during the solo - very grooving and fresh. Also, is that Jon Atkinson guy the same person who used to post here as "Bigtone"?
Thanks, harpoon man. That's an exceptionally nice video. It makes my point.
Some of you guys (& gals) don't realize how hard it is to remain deep in the pocket the way that Aki does here. Without seeming to try, this band, and that harp player, are making some of the most masterful blues music I've heard in a while. What I like, apart from the harp stuff that happens later, during the solo, is the way in which Aki lets the 12-bar form disappear early on. He stretches out in a way that happens a lot down here in Mississippi, but doesn't happen with folks who are just copying the records. He lets the music breathe. He lets beats and bars go by between vocal lines. This is real blues, not copycat stuff.
Heck, I like the modern stuff a lot. I love the way that Sugar Blue messes with "Messin' With the Kid." But if I'm going to listen to somebody play Little Walter grooves, this is exactly how I want to hear it. I don't want to know what's coming up next. I want some surprise behind the familiar. That's what this video offers--and without apparent strain. This sort of flow ain't easy to create. Great player, great band.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Aug 31, 2015 6:38 PM
What you hear is a classic black blues sound where it's THE GROOVE driving the music and Aki rides the groove rather than the way a lot of harp players (or musicians who play other instruments in general) have a tendency to do, which is to force the groove to happen.
This is classic playing BEHIND THE BEAT, the REAL blues sound wheras the more rock approach is to play on top (or worse, AHEAD of the beat), and for both the harp as well as the vocals, much of the phrasing is off the 2 and the 4 and phrasing off the 2 and the 4 makes it much easier to play behind the beat and there's more space to work with and no need to fill up every hole and the music more naturally breathes. This isn't just true for blues, but also for classic soul, R&B, and black gospel music as well. This is the kind of thing you RARELY find in 75% of open jams anywhere in the world.
What Aki plays is meldodic, rhythic and percussive all at the same time and those with a more rock oriented approach that's played ahead of the beat often have trouble with and in a grooves like these, they will almost automatically sound completely out of their element.
On Juke, one of the phrases he plays is also on one of the alternate takes of Little Walter doing what was labeled on the 5-CD set as Fast Boogie where the phrase plays 1 draw, 4 draw, 3 draw, 4 blow, 4 draw.
Aki shows how much good time is important for any musician, not just harp players, and many harp players unfortunately, often have really horrible time and if you've got horrible time, nothing you do will ever groove. He's someone I would definitely go see and I don't impress very easily. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Harpoon man - Yes it is the same Jon Atkinson. He is a really good blues harmonica player, guitar player, drummer and vocalist. He might even play some other instruments as well. Since moving to California, Jon has become quite a regular on the scene and played alongside Kim Wilson and lots of others. There is a lot of good stuff by him on YouTube.
Big Jon is awesome and deserves his own thread IMO. I'm sure he's worked very hard to get where he is but he seems like a natural. Everything he does oozes authenticity.
He's just moved to San Jose and is actually playing drums with Aki tonight over in Fremont.
Here he is with Mark Mumea blowing some fantastic John Lee-style blues (this is from 2 years ago).. all kinds of killer subtleties going on in his playing, dig it.
---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
Last Edited by slaphappy on Sep 01, 2015 12:29 PM
I am a big Ali fan also.Always in the song Also a Big Jon fan and brought one of his Masco harp heads which is still going strong. Hot harp and man does he nail it here on the the gat.
@bbqBob: Placement of notes in relation to the beat is certainly very important. But I gotta disagree that pushing the beat is always a bad thing. If you want people to dance on an uptempo number playing on the front edge of the beat creates drive, so long as you have a drummer who is good and doesn't speed up as the soloist pushes against the front edge of the beat. Not really part of the old time blues tradition perhaps, but it's a musically powerful technique to utilize.
Aki is unquestionably a masterful player. His technique and execution is flawless, he has a very refined sense of time with a solid and sophisticated sense of goove and his phrasing, note selection and note placement is incredibly tasteful and highly musical even if he does play over the vocals. Excellent player. But, I am sort of with Ted on the greatness issue. His playing does not evoke a strong emotional reaction from me. A great artist evokes that type of emotional response. Stylistically he is certainly not the most modern of players, but that is not necessarily a negative thing, but it is part of not having a recognizable individual voice on the instrument. But, wow! He is really excellent. The cat can flat out play
Last Edited by hvyj on Sep 02, 2015 9:05 AM
I think Adam has it right and to say Aki's playing is in the pocket is exactly right it's playing that trad/Chicago/west coast blues stuff and not letting it get away from you or you from it! That takes a ton of listening and playing to play like he does in that style. It's a discipline in itself staying true to that style of blues. I said it in another thread that Aki, Big John and Kid Anderson etc. are the future of trad blues and I stick by that. Adam did say one of the greatest living bluesplayers so that's ONE OF and BLUES not eclectic/rock/jazz/funk/indie....however I guess as usual it's all very subjective!
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"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
Last Edited by marine1896 on Sep 02, 2015 9:42 AM
