Can somebody tell us a little more about the following video footage? There are a half-dozen short videos on YT that were apparently dubbed from this VHS tape.
I love all things Junior Wells. But I have to say that his playing here is far from what he was capable of. Plus, the 80s were not kind to him fashion-wise. Why is he wearing "mom jeans?" :^)Love the rings, though. Rings, not a hat, make the harp player in my book. -Bob
The guys in Chicago weren't the kind of guys that told you what hole to play. They didn't give "harmonica lessons", but you sure could learn a lot from them. It was sort of a tough love approach. You had to figure it out on your own.
I used to own this video. One of the things that's apparent from watching it is that Junior wasn't a harp geek. He just played it and did his thing.
Junior was one hell of an entertainer. When he performed, he had the audience in the palm of his hand. Junior was fabulous!
The guy with the Lone Ranger outfit is the late Black Lone Ranger. He was a fixture on the Blues scene in Chicago. He was a good singer and a very interesting character.
JoeL: I guess you either get guys like Junior or you don't. I love the man. He carried a vibe with him that oozed more music from the soul than any instrument can convey. I think a lot of people that have never seen guys like Junior, or Lightning, live, or better yet been onstage with them ( I have) miss what they were all about. they weren't harp geek at all. When I asked him why he switched to LO harps he said because they gave him all he wanted for free. The old school guys learned on cigar box guitars and funky hand me down flat, busted up harps. Today guys build such guitars. I always thought Lightning would get a kick out of that because he said he dreamed of having a real guitar when he was playing those things. I remember when he was playing a black strat at the end of his life. I asked him why he didn't play those acoustics anymore with the dearmond soundhole pu's. He said they were too much work. He said he got all the sound he wanted out of the strat. I think the old school compared to new school players are very different personality types. The old school just picked up whatever was in front of them and played their butt off. there was no talk of gear and holy grail and technical things. the new school has to have custom stuff to play, and seems to spend a ton of time on the technical end. I am not judging one to be better or worse because it all is just opinions, just my observation over the years the same thing happened when the white guys started being rock stars with the guitar in the 60-70's(clapton, page, etc). Walter
PS: I post my views to keep that spirit alive. One should never forget history. ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
Walter - you got that right. I used to see Junior often. I grew up in Chicago. When he wasn't touring or gigging, he was out supporting the music scene. It wasn't uncommon to be hanging out and see Junior walk into a club. When he walked in, you would think he owned the entire city of Chicago. James Cotton was the same way.
I sort of feel sorry for the guys today that never had the opportunity to see those historical artists do their thing. I do admit that I feel even more sorry for the people that had the opportunity and couldn't understand what they were seeing.
He was great bluesman, great showman, nice vocalist. But his harmonica playing (especially in this "teaching" video, and his later recordings) and teaching skill aren't enough to be good. Some early recordings with Muddy and later were really good.
I must admit, I rather agree with Boris here - Jnr's playing in that video isn't really up to his usual standard.
Joe L said: "Weak tone, my ass. Junior had some serious tone." Ordinarily that's completely true, but does it apply to this video? I say no. He sounds like a noodler with one-dimensional tone.
-------------------- Murray. The smartist formerly known as Elwood.
Junior only had one lung in his later playing years, There is alot to be learned from Junior Wells, his use of space is close to miles davis. junior could say more with one note, than most harp players could say with a million. His tone in his early years was incredible. Listen to the cd "Blues hit Big Town" What you are seeing in the teaching video is not representative of Junior Wells nor is the accompaniment. I dont blame Junior I blame the producer.
First Blues I ever heard (and I mean payed attention to) was Junior Wells, Messin' With The Kid. I've been hooked ever since. Junior is the king of cool and his sound is rooted in the blues with a swagger all its own. That is all that matters to me. I don't think he was at his best in this video but it looks as if th9is was ore of a "Giving it away to keep it" video than it was a "Play my ass off" video. ---------- -[][][][][][][][][][]-
Am I mistaken, or is Mr. Wells playing a MS series Blues Harp for the first six minutes or so? If my eyes don't decieve me, that would date this footage to the (mid?) 90s...
