I have been reading/posting/watching the junior wells videos on the recent thread about him. I remember Junior well. He was a quiet man off the stage. Very humble, often looking in deep distant thoughts. I heard him live many times. I also helped him carry his suits and harp box. I would hang out back and wait for him to arrive. One night in SF (I can't remember the club name) his stomach was really bothering him. I carried his box and suit into the club. He told me about how tired he was and was worried about the back up band. Well the band was one of the wierdest I ever saw, heard to date. Junior came out first (buddy was late getting there) and after a song or two from the band that was borderline funk/white noise/unintelligble crap, Junior came out. He talked on the mic some with the music going and then called buddy out. Buddy came out and was playing some obnoxious crazy guitar to the backing and Junior was walking the stage. He accidently stepped on buddy's guitar cable and broke the jack on the his hollowbody guitar. Buddy immediately left. I think he welcomed the excuse to get off the stage.
SO, here was junior onstage with a bass, drummer, keyboardist. He tried to play a song and stopped it right up and said "Mr. Bassman get off the stage". This guy was doing forward and backward rolls on the opening numbers while he played thumb popping million notes of noise. So then Junior tries another song. He stops in a few seconds and says "Mr drummer get off the stage."
Now it is just him and the keyboard player and the same thing happens again. So it is just Junior and his harp. He was playing off the mic and sang and played about 20 minutes of incredible solo harp/singing. He then went off the stage and backstage was exhausted. He said he was done and buddy agreed. That was about 1979 and is the most memorable harp display I have ever seen. The man could blow when he wanted to . Walter
Here are a couple songs I recorded today:
Hey Junior Wells Seeking peace in my soul
---------- 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. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
Having seen Junior several times, there were times he was mailing it in, but a couple of times I saw him play and sing his butt off. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Bob: I wish some of the younger guys could have seen him live when he was on. That was the way the old guys were. They were erratic. You never knew what to expect. But when they were on, it was something you never forgot. Walter
here is a video that was heavily influenced by junior. I forgot how much his playing influenced me.
---------- 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. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
Walter - When I lived in Chicago, I used to see Junior quite frequently. Either at his own gigs or sitting in with other people. I never saw a bad performance, until I moved to California. There was one show I saw where he wasn't in form.
One time Junior came to Mountain View, California. He was playing at JJ's when they had a club in Mountain View and one in San Jose. The horn players went to the wrong club. They missed the first set and a half. Junior was not pleased with those guys, but the audience was in for a huge treat.
Junior played nothing but old school Blues for almost two hours being backed by Steve Ditzell, George Baze and Willie "The Touch" Hayes. I can't remember who was playing bass. It was an amazing show. It was the most incredible shows that I ever saw. It was like being transported to Theresa's.
The last time I saw Junior was before he stopped touring as his health was failing. He filled the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. He was having a blast that night. He had the band leave the stage and he played the last 45 minutes as a duo with Johnny Iguana playing piano. It was some of the most down home Blues I've ever seen. His playing was fantastic and his tone was deep and rich. His vocals were spot on. He had the crowd in his hands.
People that think Junior couldn't play in his later years or that Junior didn't have tone near the end, never saw those shows.
At a show late in like 1996 or 97 My wife walked up to Junior on a break (after I told her not to BTW) & tells him that I was a big fan He then invites me to sit down and have a drink with him I ordered us two beers and just he I sat at the end of the bar and talked through the entire break :) For me it was unforgettable
Thanks Junior A True Great RIP
Last Edited by on Mar 25, 2010 3:41 PM
Isaw Jr. Wells w/ Buddy Guy on 2 dull occasions in the 70's on the East Coast but I caught Junior in Reno, Nevada just before he passed on. He had a regular group of his own with 2 great guitarists and he was unbelievably good. Great timing, endless terrific improvisation, the guy "stopped time" he was so good. He played forever, walked throughout the audience, sang his ass off and thrilled me deep in my heart. I will never, never forget it. PS Walter Tore- The band I played with back East called New York Central played a gig at Gerde's Folk City opening for The Roche Sisters. As an added attraction one night Mike the MC put on a set by Louisiana Red who I had never seen before. He came out with about 2 or 3 pieces including an overweight woman who sat down on the drum stool and played the best set of blues drumming I've ever heard before or since. Red was smoking. You're a lucky guy having had that guy for a friend.
Too Blue: Living with Red was a great experience. He is one of the last real bluemen. Unfortunately most of the world has seen him not in that light. He rarely is in the right live set up. He relies on pick up bands and most are terrible to what he really is about. He is best alone or with just a basic drummer and bassist and if there is a harp player, one who doesn't overplay. Walter ---------- 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. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
thanks walterharp and congaron! I often feel sad that so many of the greats have fallen by the wayside with the younger generation. I don't get it. When I heard the stones I went crazy and when I heard their heros, the old blues guys, I went double crazy. the stones era guys continue to praise them as their idols, inspiration, and how thankful they are to have met, played, recorded, and learned from them. they also say they could never hold a candle to them. This is guys like clapton talking. He can technically play circles around any of the greats he talks about, but he understands that music goes way beyond being technically superior on an instrument.
I read quite a few posts here that look down on the blues greats. I wonder how many of the ones that put them down actually sat in a club and saw them perform on a good night? I wonder if they have ever really got to know any of them?
I don't hold anything against these critics. I feel sad for them because they just don't get it. That is the sadness of not having bridges connecting the generations. Live music is the greatest way to do this, but vibrant live music scenes are just about extinct. So how will the youth learn this side of music? I don't know, but I know that this internet explosion has lots of good and bad sides and this is a bad side. Seeing it on a youtube is nothing more than pixels and digital sounds. NO better than listening to a record with a moivng picture. You have to see, touch, smell it to get it and learn it.
Lightning Hopkins was more musical smiling than most guitar players are doing their most perfected song. These guys were folk heros like Paul Bunions, Johnny Appleseeds. Todays music scene demands perfection, high technical antics, fast, and loud. No mistakes, perfect tone, perfect gear, custom harps that allow for unique tunings and notes. The old guys were the John Henry's and todays players the steam locomotive. I was driven to meet, play, and live with the old guys. They passed on a way of life that went beyond playing. It is sad to see the younger generation disrespecting them. One should always study and respect what laid the foundation they walk on. I never will call myself a bluesman. That is reserved for guys like wolf and his caliber of players. I am a white boy, that loves blues, and have a different wiring system, from birth, than those guys. I play me and the world can call it what they want. Of course things need to evolve, and I think part of the old vs. new and who is better is really comparing cars to candy bars. The real bluesmen are gone. only a few are left and they will soon be gone. 99% of guys claiming to be bluesmen are imitators of the greats licks all rolled up in a real nice and technically neat package. The sad thing is the root of the blues is honesty and the uniqueness of each of us, yet there are few out there conveying this today. It is more about set list and technical greatness, gear used, more than the musicality of the person. the old guys were generally real loose onstage. they worked their way into playing. You ever see a Mariachi band play in a mexican restraunt? they get there around 5, eat, drink some, tune up, play a little on their own, and then around 7 or so they come together and tear it up. Then they will stop after a few songs, sit down and go through the same routine again. they do this over a 5 hour period. it is a time honored process. I saw the old blues guys do it in a similar way. they would wait till the club filled up, sit around and talk to people, get onstage, talk some, and ease themeselves into the performance. It was an experience as much as a musical show of sounds. Now it is pedal to the metal from jump, thought out set lists, keys, tempos, timed breaks, and just plain concerned with not losing the audience. the IBC is the crowning achievement in this way of doing music. I remember playing with Big Jay McNeely in Brussels. He wanted a coffee real bad so we left the brussels jazz club (on the grand place) and went to a small cafe. Jay got into a deep conversation with a jazz fanatic. He was in no hurry to get back to the club. Call it unprofessional, but when he got back he was so fired up, he tore the place down and no one complained. Call it what you want, but the root of the blues greats influences anyone who plays music. I share these things not as a put down on todays music approach, but so younger players have some history to reflect on, and may discover that old blues spirits like to visit you when you dabble in their ways some. Walter ---------- 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. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
little walter recorded behind louisiana red when red used the name rocky fuller. reds a great musician, he can blow the harp too. Its true if you didnt see those great blues players live its hard to communicate what they were like, there are so few videos of this stuff. none of it captures the real deal. when son house played the newport folk festival in 1968, one of muddy waters band menders was goofing on him cause he was drunk, muddy grabbed the band member by the collar and put a finger in his face and warned him "dont you ever mock that man! if it wasn't for him you wouldn't have a job!" muddy respected his elder and mentor and im sure at the time Son House was only a shell of the musician he once was.
Red taught me a lot of harp too! That is true about the respect the old guys had for their mentors. When cool papa finally got hired on the SF Blues Festival he brought up LC Good Rocking Robinson and backed him up for the whole set. LC had no gigs and was down. Papa got him onstage out of respect. Here was his biggest gig of all time and he turns it over. Papa took me in when I hit SF with nothing more than the clothes on my back, a funky acoustic guitar and flat harps. He also pushed me to play electric guitar with the band. He would get me up, insist I play the guitar, and then sneak off the stage and get in the front table and shout and scream for me to go man go! Red was the same way. Those guys respected the oldtimers, and encouraged us young ones. Roy Smeck was another great that pushed us young uns to shine. He could have sat back and been a primodona with his history. The greats were great for many more reasons than the notes they played and that is what you would experience live. Walter ---------- 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. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
