Well if thats "shit", then is my kind of shit. I know on the whole its not what your into Buddha, but I for one would love to hear you playing some more blues.
Zhin, these are great vids, but my opinion is that you hijacked the term "modern blues harmonica".
We all know here how Buddha can be good, innovative and "modern". But listening to the music here, I think he made a point playing rather "traditional", tastefully on purpose.
Great music it is ; modern blues harmonica it isn't.
I wasn't making any point to anybody. I wholly believe in playing appropriately for the situation. That guitarist is the real deal...great voice...and that pretty rare for AZ
I was out on that side of town and knew they would be there so after dinner we stopped by. I expected to play one or two tunes but it turned into two sets. I had not played with Paris before and really enjoyed myself.
He hired me to play a few more gigs after last night and so it begins....my road to becoming a bluesman. :-)
Man, Chris...you got a major horn tone going. I had to look twice to see if there wasn't a sax player or something stashed in the back somewhere. I recognize the bass player from some of your other vids but the guitar guy is new to me. Some great stuff all around.
Yeah that rhythm section are the guys in my group which is why I showed up in the first place.
The electric drums belong to the wine bar. They don't allow real drums due to volume so they supply an electric set that sometimes sounds pretty good but most of the time sounds like shit.
Zhin, nothing inappropriate from you. I am no master of the keys for "MBH" brand. I was just rebounding on the term as a way to express my appreciation and understanding of what I was listening to. And definitely : thanks for posting.
Are you playing "Hoochie Coochie Man" in first or second position? Our band does the tune and I play second position in A. It sounds OK, but not great and I know that many folks do this tune in first position.
I just find it so unusual to see and hear Chris playing BLUES.
Normally I find that when he plays with blues bands he still kinda has tells that reveal he is jazz musician.
In these videos what struck me first was the fact that he totally did not give the impression that he's a jazz guy. He sounded DOWN and DIRTY.
I also notice he usually stands with his feet firmly planted on the ground and sways sideways. Kinda like a snake charmer. It's like his signature thing. In these videos he's shuffling his feet, lifting that knee up, being all twitchy and shit like a blues harmonica player!
I would like to point out that Chris is as capable of playing overbends as well as anyone, and he can produce fluid fast runs and arpeggios up and down the harp. I've heard him do it. However you don't hear that in these videos. Instead you hear LOTS of space, and long held notes. Of the few OB's I hear they're used almost exclusively as passing notes. That IS playing appropriately for the music. Beginners take note. Less is more. ---------- /Greg
Chris playing a shake. Holy shit the end must be near.LOL It's sounds like MBH to me. Iy has a lot of that Fathers and Sons vibe to me. If I had to put it in any school of harmonica I would IMHO put it a the Butterfield school. It moves in the direction of line playing as opposed to chordal. Longer lines than the more traditional player. I usually think of this as the influence of Jazz. Just one crazy guys opinion
What a weird venue... kinda makes a cool camera shot, because you are all crammed in the door way. It's always interesting to hear coffee shop type gigs with v-drums.
Last Edited by on May 30, 2010 11:17 AM
Buddha Cool playing. It's always nice to listen non-blues great player playing blues. Much interesting than blues-players, which plays blues and only blues. ---------- http://myspace.com/harmonicaboris
mostly lip purse but I tossed in some octaves and flutters from time to time.
I think playing blues is a technique in and of itself. You have to resonate the notes in the back of your throat to get that ballsy tone and as Greg points out the use of long notes is imperative to blowin the blues.
Having equipment is only one small part of the equation. You have to know how to use the equipment. How to push it, how to hold the mic etc. I can make the amp sound like it does in the vids or I can get a clean and pure tone out of it simply by choosing where I resonate the notes I'm playing.
Blues players usually listen to blues mostly, and copy licks. Non blues players often listen to a lot of styles and can add to blues more ideas from other styles, like Buddha here. ---------- http://myspace.com/harmonicaboris
Oh, I'm sorry, I must be really dim. I heard him playing blues.No, really. I love when bagpipe players from planet zob play traditional bagpipe zob music in blues . It completely transforms the music, aaaaah so refreshing. Playing blues harmonica with that particular genre would be unforgivable. I am now renouncing my life long love of blues harmonica and saving for a solid gold gapped embossed bagpipe with a ribbon on it and a shuttle to zoblandia. Knobs.
Oops pardon me for that last post, but come on ! The music Chris played was great. It helped he is a good musician. But he was playing in a blues context, so he geared his style towards that. I love the leaps and bounds harmonica playing is taking over the last decade but whether you can play good music with all your f**king technique is another matter. Hendrix verses Malmsteen. Big difference. Stop selling me cornflakes with a hat on by telling me regular cornflakes taste funny.
Boris - you left out something really important or maybe you haven't learned it yet. When a player add new ideas from other genres, quite often it falls flat or forced because they are trying to invent something new and change the form into something it isn't.
Just because something can be done doesn't mean that it should be done. It has to fit into the musical context of what is being played by the other musicians.
If you've got a traditional sounding band with a standup bass and a Robert Jr Lockwood style guitar player, it usually sounds crappy playing modern style harmonica in that setting. It's like forcing a square peg into a round hole. It isn't going to fit correctly, but it can be done.
Well, I hadn't heard of Paris James before--so I did a little searching around and listening to some stuff--he is indeed "the real deal." He also plays some really nice acoustic slide on one of his albums--(the name of the cut is "Folk Tales" on his "Death Letter" CD.)
Now THAT'S what I'd love to hear--Buddha with Paris doing an old-time acoustic slide song!
DevonTom Good musician must play in musical context. If he can't - he will not play. But if player plays and listen only to one style of music, he will never bring any new idea. The best blue player I listen and play with is Russian player Vadim Ivashenko - he is great fingerpicking player, with a lot of jazz and country knowledge.
See, Boris, I don't think you listened to Buddha's videos. I mean, you probably played them and stuff, but you didn't listen. But maybe there's some patch software in your brain which translates what the rest of us hear into what you hear.
I still have that hose and golf ball, champ. Pucker up.
Boris , if you want to talk down to someone go to the the local kindergarten. I have been playing harp professionally for 25 years. I listen to plenty of other styles. We differ with aesthetics, full stop.Pointless six page long thread diffused. Sue my ass for defending Blues music on a site called Modern Blues Harmonica.
Even if the notes are in tune and in key, if the phrasing doesn't work with the groove, it will always sound out of place. If you're phrasing blues off the 1 and the 3, it ain't blues anymore, it's rock, and that's for starters, be it modern or traditional.
If it doesn't properly mesh with the groove, it's fighting it. I listen to quite a wide variety of things and if you use quotes from other music genres, you HAVE to make adjustments to the phrase so that it PROPERLY fits with the groove or it's a mess. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
"See, Boris, I don't think you listened to Buddha's videos. I mean, you probably played them and stuff, but you didn't listen. But maybe there's some patch software in your brain which translates what the rest of us hear into what you hear."- EV
"Please refrain from flaming, insulting, or otherwise impugning the intelligence or good intentions of your fellow board members".- Forum Creed
What I like about this is a typical non-blues playing harp player who often gets called out on this board on just about any topic, walked into a club, sat in with a band and totally nailed it. That doesn't mean blues is easy. It means Chris knows his sh#t. There are a lot of us on this board who wouldn't have sounded like that had we been asked to jam with a band we just met in a genre that isn't our primary genre while wearing sandals.
Now how many of us could sit in with some of the non-blues bands he's jammed with and nail it? Lol.
Cool stuff. Paris seems like a pretty sweet musician!
"I think playing blues is a technique in and of itself. You have to resonate the notes in the back of your throat to get that ballsy tone and as Greg points out the use of long notes is imperative to blowin the blues."
