This song for me is one of the best harmonica instrumentals ever recorded. I know every bar of it and I've recorded it 6 years ago. It's time to revisit "The Deb" that was recorded by Magic Dave Therault. It's probably the hardest song I've played (it's seen on my face :) ). hope you will like it
jbone, Thank you so much! :) I've transcribed it in 3 days and then I've started training it. It took 3 weeks, but I'm not even 50% close to the original. It's impeccable! ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) http://kolesnichenko-harmonica.com/
Congratulations Wheel, that was a very fine effort on a difficult song to play. Nice tone too. It is one of my favourite harp songs. Has anyone seen Magic Dave playing this live and if so is this typical of his style and appear in his sets?
Wow! That was really cool. Just out of curiosity (question to you Konstantin and to anyone else reading), what kind of gear gives that Magic Dave horn-like sound?
BronzeWailer, thank you so much, pal! You are too kind. You can try the Deb. You have the skills. BTW I've made a video about it. It contains tabs, chords and backing track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MmY6t7kHNg
Gnarly, thank you! I think it's live recording too. I'm curious was it improvised or prepared before?
Grey Owl, thank you so much! I've found another one from the set and blues album with him as a sideman. It's good, but nowhere close to the Deb! https://www.discogs.com/ru/artist/5070964-Dave-Therault https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSzYmZ39U7Q
nacoran, thank you again!
Simon, thank you so much! I've used astatic with CR +lone wolf harp break + t-rex reptile delay and mosky reverb. I think Dave had that sound because of recording quality - it cut highs and mids. He definitely has an amazing tone, bends control and phrasing, but I think that flute kind of sound is because of recording quality.
"I can tell you exactly when Dave Therault began playing harp: summer 1974, after we met while I was playing a gig at the Oar and Anchor (also known as the Sore and Chancre, or the Score and Thank Her) in Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Dave told me later that he was inspired by my playing, and took up harp immediately after. So far as I know, he didn't know Magic Dick, and certainly he didn't start playing around the time Magic Dick did, which would have been sometime in the 1960s (the J. Geils band's first record was released on Atlantic records in the fall of 1970, or so I recall--it was one of the first records I bought after moving to Boston at that time). " A quote from Richard Hunter (via Grey owl post years ago)
Gnarly, I will think about tabs. The main problem is that I don't have tabs, because I made very primitive music sheet. The second problem is that I use valves on all my harmonicas and changed the song a little bit by moving some phrases to different registers on harmonica.
Grey Owl, I started topic on FB with my recording and some friends of Dave posted some info about him. Probably you could be interested: https://www.facebook.com/groups/214229322273955/permalink/841906192839595/ ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) http://kolesnichenko-harmonica.com/
Great! As I said, the video you made many years ago makes it much easier to play along--but Dave made such an inspired recording, it's difficult to imitate!
Grey Owl, it's closed group, but you can ask for access. some quotes: "Magic Dave sat in with my band a few times at the Plantation Club in Worcester, MA. He usually only had one of two harps with him and still played entire sets -- no matter the key. Great, great player."
"Dave is a personal friend of mine. I haven't seen him in a long time. I played with him a few times in Dallas, Texas and I stayed at his home when he was living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a great guy that is fluent in jazz and in traditional blues as well." "Originally, Dave was a trombone player and then moved to harmonica. It is very interesting that his tune "The Deb" (his wife) starts out sounding like a trombone but, it is not a trombone.. it is a harmonica." "Please know that Dave recorded "The Deb" a very, very long time ago when he was quite young.. maybe in the 70's" ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) http://kolesnichenko-harmonica.com/
Thanks Wheel, Interesting info.I like the fact that he was a trombone player first and used his experience to transfer his musical skills to the harmonica in a most amazing way. It would be great to hear him playing again on the harp as there is little in the way of old recordings of his work.
Wheel, you got me thinking about alternative positions for The Deb with your video showing the upper octave tab for 3rd position on a Bb Harp with no bends.
I thought I would try the head of the song on Richter in 2nd position on a low F Harp, 3rd position with bends on a Bb Harp and as well as the original on an Ab Harp in 5th. position.
They all present difficulties with bending but the bends help in getting the trombone like tone. I recorded samples with mic straight into Audacity with reverb added.
Grey Owl, you sound amazing! And you bend control is perfect. Great job! ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) http://kolesnichenko-harmonica.com/
Thank you Wheel for your kind and generous words, it was a fun little exercise! I can't imagine what patience and practice it must have taken to learn and play the whole song as you so expertly did.
