For anybody who thinks that real gut-wrenching harp is about letting go and losing control, this is a must-see. James Cotton, here, is completely in control at every moment--of his mic, of his note-placement relative to the beat--but he's also wild as hell.
And he's a modernizer. "Crazy, Mixed-Up World" is an old Little Walter song, but nothing in what Cotton and his band do here is quite in line with LW's take on the song. It's faster, peppier, hotter. That's what it means to be modern.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 24, 2016 6:58 PM
This is from one of the last years he was still going thru an amp. His band at the time this was shot was one of the very first black blues bands playing VERY slightly behind the beat, almost on top of it, rather than classic 50's sound of Chicago blues, which were played WAY behind the beat. That band was very heavily influential in Chicago since the 70's. I remember seeing this band for the first time in 1973. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
That's interesting. This is pretty much the band that was on 100% COTTON, I believe. Matt Murphy and the rest. They definitely swing in a hard-driving way, very distinctive. I'd almost say that Sugar Blue's current band is coming out of this updated Chicago sound:
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 26, 2016 3:47 AM
And he's a modernizer. "Crazy, Mixed-Up World" is an old Little Walter song, but nothing in what Cotton and his band do here is quite in line with LW's take on the song.
didn't little walter play songs different on ocassion? is it possible james heard walter do something similar at some point? it seems to me that it is quite common to play one groove and sing the words to some other song. lester butlers live at the king king,exemplifies this approach. that entire record is done in that fashion. last i checked james cotton is still alive and kicking, couldn't someone ask him about it?
this clip has little walter all over it, and at the same time,it is "pure cotton"... the band is playing my babe, james is singing crazy mixed up world. and then for the solo, he qoutes little walter verbatim it is the solo from my babe only a little faster.
1847: I'm sure Little Walter sometimes played songs differently live. I'm talking about his recorded version vs. what Cotton is doing live. I'm sure you can hear the difference between this video and what Cotton and his band are doing above--and not just in the matter of Cotton playing diatonic rather than chromatic. I think BBQ Bob nailed it: LW's original has a behind the beat, heavy on 2 and 4 beat. Cotton's update is driven by an almost ahead of the beat rhythm section motoring, I would guess, at almost double time relative to the original, and with, at that tempo, a machine-gun kind of offbeat hit, four to the bar rather than two to the bar.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 26, 2016 4:24 PM
Both versions are being played at the exact same tempo, but the way Little Walter and the backing band is playing it is playing it FAR behind the beat, the classic old school 50's Chicago blues groove from the South Side, and Cotton's approach is deliberately being played just BARELY behind the beat, almost on top of it, with somewhat less emphasis on the 2 and the 4, almost 1 and 3, which gives it a decidedly more rock like feel that was deliberately aimed to the younger white audiences at the time and both show the importance of getting your time together and understanding how grooves really work as well as learning things like how to play behind, on top, or ahead of the beat plus the different delineations of exactly how far ahead or behind makes the groove appear to be playing at a different tempo than you think it is. The way the Cotton example gives the groove a feeling of being faster than what it is and the LW groove gives a feeling of being slower than what it actually is. All of these things are very subtle things many musicians often don't learn particularly well (but if you were a full time studio session, you HAVE to know this stuff COLD) and the subtle stuff is usually the hardest things to learn.
If you need to hear it best explained with examples (most of them aren't blues but well worth paying attention to) is from a drummer instruction book and CD set called It's About Time by Fred Dinkins and there are 10 tunes there at three different tempos each, plus each example has it played right on top of the beat (or as he puts it, "in the middle of the beat"), behind the beat (or as he puts it, "in back of the beat"), as well as ahead of the beat (or as he puts it, "on top or in front of the beat") plus the beats per minute setting on a metronome and it will be a real eye opener for you. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Sounds like I need that book and CD! My gut tells me you can't possible be right about the respective tempos of both songs, but maybe so. When I get a moment this evening, I'm going to get out a metronome and zero it in on both vids.
This book is a real eye opener and an excellent book. Each example has the correct beats per minute setting to go along with it and you'd be amazed at how totally different the same groove sounds when you hear it played for real in samples of on top, ahead and behind the beat. It's a book that I drummer I worked with who has excellent time and knows this stuff in his sleep bought because it was such good instructional material for him to give to a student of his.
---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
