This is a little more unpolished than stuff that I usually put out there, but it's a cool song and hey: with Levy and Barrett breathing hard down my neck on the digital-lesson front, I need to keep on pushing.
Hal Singer's "Hot Rod" (1955), for harp and footdrums:
Actually, I may have posted this here a couple of weeks ago in much rougher form.
The moment I posted this video, YouTube's evil computer emailed me with the following advisory:
Your video, Gussow OMB rehearsal - "Hot Rod" (1955) , may include content that is owned or licensed by these content owners:
* Content owner: WMG Type: Audio content
This is because I end the video with about 60 seconds of audio from Hal Singer's original recording. YT obviously sends ALL uploaded videos through song-recognition software to detect copyright violations. Just BAM! The moment you upload.
It's nice to see a work in progress Adam. It gives people an insight into the way you work on things. I think the polished version should sound great. At the 20 second mark it reminds me slightly of Rod Piazzas version of Little Bitty Pretty One/Rockin' Robin (Killer Harp Tune!).
It's a shame they got to get at the good guys to take care of any of the possible bad guys. I had a suggestion, maybe instead of trying to include the original you could link to it? I've been checking out lastfm.com a lot lately they have lots of full tracks you could put a link in the video info box. Just a suggestion.
Either way, Im inspired to find more songs like this :) . ---------- ~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
One of the very first sax inspired things I learned was the classic Bill Doggett tune Honky Tonk, Parts 1 & 2 and those sax parts , which have been credited to either Shep Sheppard or Syl Austin (depending on who's writing about it) falls easily into diatonic harp and on top of that, I've also played the classic guitar parts that Bill Butler played on them.
Hot Rod and Red Prysock's Hand Clappin' are classic bar honker R&B sax tunes. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Seeing as how he is obviously by horns and a apparently bit of an addict when it comes to listening to horns. I'd be very interested to know who Dennis Greunling thinks are THE horn players to listen too. Dennis?
Bob out of interest which Albums by Red Prysock do you recommend?
Chris out of interest which Albums by Eddie Harris do you recommend?
Just had a quick listen on iTunes to both and liked both of them.
I first heard "Honky Tonk" played by Muddy Waters band on a live album with Jerry Portnoy on harmonica. Great tune! I didn't even know it was a Red Prysock tune. Thanks Bob, you're a mine of information as always.
Honky Tonk isn't a Red Prysock tune, but a Bill Doggett tune and Bill Butler, the guitarist on the tune also plays guitar on King Curtis' cover of that tune. Most bands that cover that tune often cover it note for note.
Red Prysock has his trademark tune Handclappin' on the Rhino blues masters series on jump blues, but there is a collection that I can't remember the title of off the top of my head that also contains another tune I've covered on live gigs called Fruit Boots that's really very easy to cover on harp and nowhere near as uptempo as Handclappin'
I happened to be talking one day several years ago with now retired Roomful of Blues drummer John Rossi and he told me during the 70's, when Duke Robillard was still part of the band (and that band was at its most swinging/jumping), they did a gig backing up Red Prysock at the Knickerbocker Cafe in Westerly, RI, and to close out the show, Red did a 45 minute version of Handclappin' that never seemed to run out of ideas or his sheer raw power and stayed at that crazy uptempo thru out and once that tune was done, John told me he thought he'd keel over because he was wiped out, but it was unbelievable and on top of that, nobody had a tape recorder that night. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Yes, I worked up an arrangement of "Honky Tonk" years ago from the original and also from drummer Steve Gadd's version. In order to play one small part of it properly (1:00 - 1:02), you need overblows. Here's an abbreviated version. I was working from memory and didn't quite reassemble all the bits:
"Hot Rod" definitely has a "Tenor Madness" element. The bridge is interesting, too, because it's not the usual I-VI-II-V. The melody note over that second chord is the fourth (relative to the tonic chord, I mean), not the sixth. On guitar, what sounds best to my ears is a bIII13th. I'm playing the song on a Db harp, cross. So the bridge is:
Ab7....B13.......Bb7.........Eb7 (or A13)
Or at least that B13 works and sounds right when played on guitar in the usual barre form. I'll be interested in what harmonic choices others make.
Last Edited by on Jan 27, 2010 12:23 PM
There's web site called "Sax on the Web" that has all kinds of articles about stuff like how to play rock & roll sax, how to play blues sax, etc. as well as interviews with players who talk about breath control and breathing exercises and music in general as well as playing sax.
Now, i don't play sax, but I've sure found a lot of useful stuff on that site that I can apply to playing harmonica.
@Buddha: I love Eddie Harris. My favorite tune is "Cold Duck Time" with Les McCann. I've got two other versions of that that I actually prefer, and I AM going to record the tune someday.
Last Edited by on Jan 27, 2010 12:22 PM
