|
Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Little Walter would be 80 today
Little Walter would be 80 today
Page:
1
Elwood
435 posts
May 01, 2010
4:43 PM
|
It's the man's 80th birthday, as near as I can tell. Honor him (or, if you prefer, challenge his legacy) in this thread.
----------
Murray. The smartist formerly known as Elwood.
|
Nastyolddog
646 posts
May 02, 2010
5:00 AM
|
It's the man's 80th birthday,as near as I can tell.
Honor him, ? what makes you think i don't,
by telling some one to Honor him you think there are poeple that disrespect Him,
(or, if you prefer, challenge his legacy) in this thread.? Why
|
Elwood
436 posts
May 02, 2010
6:28 AM
|
Nasty,
My comments weren't meant maliciously. I was not challenging you to justify your views on Little Walter by any means. It wasn't a command either.
Rather, on the anniversary of his birth - and a good 60 years after he started cutting the records that changed the trajectory of blues harmonica - I thought it would be a good space to reflect on the legacy LW left. We have many passionate LW fans here, but not all of the same stripe. For some of us, getting THE Little Walter sound is a life's work. Others gratefully acknowledge their debt to him, but are searching for the POST-Little Walter sound. If I am correct in understanding their views, there are some here who think Little Walter was a drunken idiot.
Let me start things off. I arrived at Little Walter the long way around - that is, I started listening to blues harp backwards in time, beginning in the 1980s with Steven Tyler of all people, then Jerry Portnoy, then James Cotton, then Big Walter and late Sonny Terry, and then FINALLY Little Walter.
It took me some time, and concerted listening, to start hearing the amazing nuances and texture in Little Walter's playing off of which so much of the subsequent tradition has been based. And only in listening to it in the context of its time - post Sonny Boys, for instance - could I start to hear why LW signalled a shift in the way harmonica could fit into songs. I only feel ready to start tackling that sound NOW. So I'm really trying to bring the nuances onboard these days.
But I've also got one ear on the post-LW sound - the 21st century blues harp sound that guys like Gussow, Jason Ricci et al are trying to squeehze out of us. So I guess if I had to consider LW's legacy, I would say we're hugely in his debt, but we should beware of getting swallowed up in his shadow.
There's another part of the LW legacy that I can't help considering. It's the tale of a hugely talented guy with a self-destructive attitude. He drank and raised hell, and it ended up destroying him. The stuff he recorded in the late 1960s - for instance, that live recording of "Watermelon Man" from the Chicago Blues Festival in 1967 which I posted about a short while ago - was the sound of a broken man with one collapsed lung and a tired old heart. There's a lesson in there about what it means to be at the top.
----------
Murray. The smartist formerly known as Elwood.
Last Edited by on May 02, 2010 7:43 AM
|
Nastyolddog
647 posts
May 02, 2010
6:58 AM
|
Brother i knew you had something to say i was fishing, i just wanted to hear what was on your Mind:)
|
harpdude61
124 posts
May 02, 2010
12:54 PM
|
Happy Birthday Little Walter!!
When I first started learning harmonica, I knew LW sounded good, but I wasn't sure what the big whoop was about. However, after 3 years of listening and learning, I realize how special he really was.
R.I.P. L.W.
|
Post a Message
|
