You guys may remember a spirited debate that we had here about 4-6 months ago. I remember it well. It boiled down to a fierce dispute between Kingley and me, more or less. Kingley insisted that Jason Ricci, in his words, had "left the blues behind," and really didn't deserve to be judged as a blues harmonica player, but rather as a harmonica player period.
I, on the other hand, while acknowledging that Jason's corpus did indeed include other sorts of music, noted the way in which his entire career--the awards he'd won, the sorts of venues in which he'd learned his trade and continued to earn his living, the players he'd credited as influences, etc.--had earned him the right to be considered, at least provisionally, as one of the all-time great blues harmonica players. I didn't say that he WAS one of the all-time greats (although I think at this point that fact is becoming increasingly hard to deny); I merely insisted that he deserved consideration in that list.
I'm sure that Kingley will find ways of saying that I've got this dispute all wrong. That's OK. I'll merely ask you guys, by way of rebuttal, to take a look at the following video, recorded only a day or two ago in Antwerp. (I think it's Antwerp; please correct me if I'm wrong.) Jason's solo starts at 5:00 on the dot. Many silly things have been written about Jason--above all, that his aesthetic is basically a blues-rock overkill approach--but this video should convince any doubter, even Kingley, that Jason Ricci knows how to take his time, and knows how to play the blues in a way that places him, or SHOULD place him, in anybody's Top-20 all time list of blues harmonica greats.
He has mastered every element of the great tradition that we honor here, and he has extended that tradition past where it was when he found it. He is deeply WITHIN the tradition, in other words, but he's also evolved an original and indelible voice. Kingley has argued that we're actually doing Jason an injustice when we force him into the restricted identity, "blues harmonica player." I disagree. I think we're doing him an injustice when we deny the evidence plainly at hand in this video: that he is, indeed, one of the all-time greats of the blues harmonica.
This is the art of the soul, to me beyond technique, mics,and gear...Jason is conveying such deep emotion. I'll carry this with me and remain inspired to search and play from that place deep within. Thanks so much for posting this Adam
I think it is fitting that in the background there are pictures of robert johnson and sonny boy williamson this young fellow demonstrates that he is carrying on the legacy of blues that we love so much JASON,you really are a great bluesman and quite sure they are convinced in antwerp play on young fellow
Man oh man, he is doing it to death! WONDERFUL piece of work!!!!! I caught his show a year or two ago here in Atlanta and left after about 30 minutes of hearing that insane noodling he can get into, but THIS is a refreshing departure. WHAT A PERFORMANCE. He has really really improved. Now...the only thing he needs to do is FIRE that lameass drummer who keeps stepping on everyone and get someone who can use brushes or 7A sticks. In that regard, there is a jam held here in Atlanta at a no-nonsense club who will bounce you in a heartbeat and the sign reads..."Drummers, if you come in here with sticks you will be told to leave unless you can play with brushes. Yea, we know, your money is good but its you we don't want. Also, $20 will be added to your tab if we have to listen to how they did it back in New York. If this makes you mad, just leave now." Run that guy off Jason Ricci, you don't need him...someone better will be falling down to take his spot (and at a lower sideman rate, too)..because you got the bookings waiting to be worked. You are working like a real player now, young man,...keep it up and make LOTS of $$$$$$.
Technically, without doubt he is one of the greatest. He's got intensity too, that you can't deny.
But I justcan't help thinking he overdoes it sometimes. Obviously its up to him how he plays, to my ears though, it can sometimes be a little too much.
Don't get me wrong, I really admire the guy and like alot of what he does. I just think that SOMETIMES listening to his over the top phrasing can feel a little too much like hard work. I would rather listen to a guy who can say all that he has to say in a few choice notes, that, to me, is part of what the blues is about.
Trying to be very careful with my words here lol, don't wanna cause no rows ;)
Jack and Jill were married for ten years then got divorced. Jack is "playing the field" but still sleeps with his ex-wife on occasion. Has Jack left his marriage behind? ---------- Ozark Rich __________ ##########
How many of you own Jason's latest CD "Done With The Devil"? If not, you should. He and New Blood do cross several genres, but there is always a blues undertone and several of the songs are what I consider blues. He is innovative with the use of tuba and bass harp.
In this video his passion and feel are undeniable.
Jason may or may not be the competitve type but if he were, I don't know of anyone, past or present, that would want to be "cuttin headz" with this cat on blues harmonica. I've seen several videos of Jason matching licks with guitar players. He always shines.
If his ranking is based on popularity, records sold, concert attendance, longevity, etc...he may not be in anyone's top 20.
If you base his ranking on technique, tone, passion, skills, talent, inovation, influencing young players, and live performance....in my humble opinion....Jason Ricci IS the greatest blues harmonica player of all time.
It's all opinion, but he just doesn't do it for me. I've seen him several times, he was actually playing in Tampa a couple of weeks ago at a music festival, and he put on a good show, but one or two songs was enough for me. There is no denying thathis skills and technique are amazing, but the music always strikes me as too self-indulgent.
I liked the first part of the solo. The second (or third) part seemed to be more of a show than music. The first part seemed to be blues, but the later part didn't. In my opinion he should have stopped after the first part to make the song the center, not the skills. But that's just me, the maestro is of course the one who decides (and perhaps the audience).
Blues isn't a marriage. You don't have to go to the church and make a vow about the relationship. Sometimes you have the blues, sometimes it leaves you. That's fine. If one knows how to play the blues, s/he can be considered to be a blues player. It's that simple. One doesn't stop being a blues harpist when he practices "Oh Susanna". He just doesn't play the blues at that specific time. One doesn't stop being a harpist either when he puts the instrument in the pocket. He just doesn't play the harp at that specific moment.
I think that Jason Ricci is a phenomenal harp player who can play the blues as well as some other musical genres. I just wish he will travel to Finland some day. He doesn't always play the blues and as that video showed he might even switch genres during a song. :)
I'm the same Johnster. I hear high-end noodling and it's like most Reggae bands. After two songs, it all sounds the same. I much prefer the style and tone of Kim Wilson, Charlie Musselwhite, Rod Piazza. Even Mark Hummel sometimes gets a little too "expressive" for me.
It's all subjective, I know....but I'm more of a tone freak with delicatezza than with rapidita delirio or troppo tostissimo.
Jason is my top influence: hearing him play made me completely change how I approached harmonica. I realized that it is on the same level with any other instrument and one can achieve a high degree of musicality on the harmonica.
He may noodle, he may play "too much", but there are so many famous guitar players who we could make the same argument about.
As I see it, Jason delivers so many great licks, phrases, tones, techniques and ideas I find it an unending source of practice material. For those of you that get depressed and question why you practice... well it would seem you should practice to get better if you really enjoy playing. Find the clips of J playing as a teenager; it's almost impossible to believe it's the same guy. For that reason alone should be inspiration enough for any harmonica player to keep honing their craft.
Here's the clip:
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 8:42 AM
You know, I have seen a post from Jason since that last spirited debate ....on whether you could call him a blues player or not. I wonder if he may have seen it and gotten pissed off at all the people claiming he wasn't really a blues player?
To answer your questions, no, he has not left it behind. But he is certainly on a path that is unchartered and blazing anew.
As I have said before, the first time I saw him, he followed Ray Norcia and Ryan Hart. The band starts the boogie and there appears a skinny tatted guy with a fishnet muscle tee, leather pants and pink hair. He proceeded to blow 108 bars of music and didn't repeat one phrase before saying "hello, nice to be here..." The audience were just doublely stunned, the look and then the playing. I laughed and thought, this will be a new standard that many will try to achieve.
I can understand some of the comments regarding the long solos but that's his thing at the moment. But I think he combines technique with phrasing or telling a story well so it does not overwhelm the music. I am afraid many of his imitators can't get beyond the technique and thats what there solos become about.
But, Jason is a blues guy, and I look forward not to his next record as much as to where he is in 10-15 years.
Adam, I really do seem to have rattled your cage with my comment that Jason has moved beyond blues and in my opinion should be considered as a harmonica musician and not just a blues harmonica player don't I?.
I have noticed that at every opportunity you seem desperate to align yourself and "modern blues harmonica playing" with Jason.
Are you really that insecure in your stance that you need to have Jason as a "poster boy" to confirm the legitimacy of modern blues harmonica?
I have never stated that Jason couldn't play blues or use space, as to do so would be simply ridiculous.
Do I think those incredible abilities entitle him to a place in an all time top 20 BLUES harmonica player list? No.
Do I think that he is possibly one of the greatest harmonica musicians to have walked this earth? Yes.
It seems to me that you are insistent on grouping Jason with the blues players and are unwilling/unable to let go. In much the same way that a mother is unable to release the apron strings from her child and let if fly free.
I think it's time to cut those strings and allow the wonderful Jason Ricci bird of paradise to fly free and let it's plumage bloom to it's full glory.
Personally I think that Jason probably hasn't even really scratched the surface of his full potential yet.
In fact I'll tell you what. I' ll email Jason directly and ask him where he positions himself with regards to being a blues harmonica player and/or a harmonica musician. If he replies and gives permission me to post his reply here, I shall do so.
If however he doesn't give me permission then I shall ask his permission to forward his reply directly to you Adam and we can then put this to bed once and for all.
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 9:06 AM
To call Jason JUST a blues player would be a disservice. I wouldn't want to pigeon-hole him into that category. Adam-you're always saying to not listen to just blues to get your influences (I hardily concur),well Jason is doing just that. Yes,he can play some really long solos that can get tiring in a musical sense. But I think he's releasing his demons when he does it. I'm actually physically exhausted after watching his live shows. And sometimes his playing is so fierce,it's downright scary. I think it's his youthful exuberance. May he age like a fine wine.
"Kingley has argued that we're actually doing Jason an injustice when we force him into the restricted identity, "blues harmonica player." I disagree. I think we're doing him an injustice when we deny the evidence plainly at hand in this video: that he is, indeed, one of the all-time greats of the blues harmonica.
These are by no means mutually exclusive. I think both points are perfectly valid:
A) Nobody should "deny the evidence in this video." Jason absolutely CAN and DOES play blues and is among the best in the world.
B) Jason is WAY MORE than a "blues harmonica player" and should be recognized as such. I've been to entire concerts of his where he didn't play a single blues tune. Calling him a "blues harmonica player" is like calling Wynton Marsalis a classical trumpet player. He happens to be one, but his skills go way beyond that. I think it is more fair to just call him one of the best harmonica players alive, period.
Another ditto. Trying to cagetorize or not categorize his playing ad nauseum is a huge waste of time. Bottom line:Blues are an integral part of his style and reportoire, but he's beyond cubbyholing. Let Jason be Jason, without labels. ---------- Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 10:08 AM
this feels like the oscars. a bunch of people getting together for self congratulation. where is ricci? why does he post only when it is convenient? personally i dont like adam's usage of mr. ricci as a poster boy.
argument between 2 people is pointless it can go on forever... lets hear from ricci WHAT KIND OF PLAYER DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF?
I've really fallen far from these forums lately. But here are some of my cheap thoughts.
*Great video of Jason doing driften' & driften'. Definitely more blusey for him. *What's with the labels? Why is he either a blues player or not a blues player? He's somewhere in between. * "Good god. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother practicing..." (Elwood) - This!
Okay, back to noodling on my harmonica...
---------- ~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)
@hermonica Jason plays in the realm of 300 shows a year. JNRB drives themselves pretty much EVERYWHERE in the states. So he's on the road or sleeping or enjoying life, I suppose.
I'll put my Jason Ricci poster boy poster away when everyone puts their Little Walter poster boy poster away. I don't see why praising/congratulating a deserving player is a problem; it's done all the time over dead players. Why not let him get the praise while he can accept/reject it?
Maybe if we can convince him to twitter we could get his opinion on everything...
I love the shot of the guitarist at the end, standing idly at the side, waiting for something to do next, with a mild "WTF?" expression on his face. ;)
Awesome talent.
Hard to deny there is a cross influence, but this is without a doubt blues-based harmonica playing.
Maybe it's time for a new title. PROGRESSIVE BLUES HARMONICA. This is for those of us that play blues but have many other influences and music that we play. So PBH it is now. I guess we need a new forum. LOL
Ha-ha! I'd say, "Welcome to MODERN blues harmonica!" :) This ain't Sonny Boy Williamson. Also -- the term progressive might get misunderstood with the movement in Jazz -- totally different, I'd say.
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 10:21 AM
Jason Ricci is not even on the local blue TV channels.I dont get that at all.They do play the Allman Brothers though is that really the blues.I have seen some great harp players that have great tone but no soul.If you ever saw Jason live he has soul.Soul is somebody that makes the whole bar get up and dance. That is the blues and he has it. I go to see him make people dance.That is why I go to see him to dance like Billy Branch did at Hill Country that Sunday night ---------- Fred HARP (Harmonica Assn 'Round Philly)
the blues genere and music in general is very strick and loaded with rules about what you can and can't do. If you venture outside it a bit regularly, you will have a very hard time getting in the scene. That is a good thing in its own way. The music is being preserved. I know this personally. I am in no way the type of player as Jason, but my songs regularly leave the classic blues formula and my approach is unique. If I am in a blues club and do a standard type beat, it goes over. If I venture off it, it rarely goes over for long. That is cool because people dig what they dig and you either play it that way or deal with the consequences. If what turns you on is outside the box, then that is where you are at.
I can play straight blues all day- do the classics, and originals that mimick the classics, and the odds would be a lot higher I could get in the click, but that doesn't hold my interest for long so I drift where it does.
One should play what turns them on regardless of the worldly outcomes-period. That is what making real music is all about. Intellectuals that don't play have created all these boxes that work at keeping you in a sound or you are banished to your own road to pave. I wish we could do away with all labels and just groove if it hits you!
Walter
PS: Jason is doing his thing. I leave it at that. ---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
perhaps no one noticed the paul butterfield influence.
even down to his vocal phrasing.
check out paul butterfields live album version of driftin' and driftin'.
of course i love ricci, and he is hands down my favourite overblower, but it is very obvious to me where his inspiration came from for this song on this particular clip.
even down to when he switches from acoustic to amplified harp.
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 12:37 PM
MP - Jason has acknowledged numerous times the influence that Butterfield has had on his harmonica playing.
For what it's worth in my opinion the first part of Jason's solo in that number (the acoustic part) owes more to Kim Wilson's 1st position harp playing than anyone else. So many of the licks are almost directly lifted from his material. Check this out and tell me differently.
yes, yes, of course i didn't miss the sonny boy 1st pos. stuff.
i had no idea jason acknowleged butterfields influence many times.
what i'm talking about is the treatment of this song. up to and including the big crescendo at the end. like his mimicking of butters vocal, "ever think of me,ever think of me". like his ahhs and moans.
all of these butterfieldisms and more will be found on butterfieds live version from 1970 at the filmore.
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 3:36 PM
It seems to me that the majority of 1st position solos I've heard follow the basic pattern of starting out slow on the low end of the harp and the switching up to the standard 9-10 hole blow bend licks. After that, most guys have played all their 1st position licks and switch back to cross harp playing. It's not that I don't like it...it just gets kind of predictable after a while.
To me, his harp playing in this clip is more Sonny Boy Williamson than Butterfield. When he plays acoustic, I hear SBW more than Jason Ricci. But when he picks up his mike, I hear more Jason Ricci than Butterfield.
The arrangement and the vocal is based on Butterfield's version of the song rather then the original Charles Brown.
It's an awesome video. It's something I'm going to rip and listen to over and over for a long time. It's that good.
Insofar as the original dispute, I think the distinction that Adam is offering to Jason implies a certain amount of loyalty to the Blues. I don't think Adam is saying that Jason is such a good blues performer that he cannot be anything else.
But I guess the question boils down to is it fair to attribute the distinction of being one of the best blues harmonica performers to someone who does so much more than the blues?
Obviously Jason can play blues harmonica to a phenomenal degree of competency. I don't pretend to know enough about these things that to say any more than that really.
But if someone who knows little about blues, harmonica, or Jason Ricci - asked me to describe his music to them... I'm not sure that 'blues harmonica player' would be quite sum the man up.
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 6:51 PM
Greg wrote: "These are by no means mutually exclusive. I think both points are perfectly valid:"
Yes. I think Adam's logic is a little off here. It's perfectly possible for Jason (or anyone else) to be 'one of the all time greats of blues-harmonica', YET, at the same time, 'blues harmonica player' may not be the optimal description.
In other words, 'blues harp player' is obviously a sub-group of 'harp player'.
It seems that the members of the Blues Foundation definately still think of Jason as a “Blues Harmonica” player. A fine achievment considering this years other nominees
Winner Best Instrumentalist – Harmonica "Jason Ricci"
(Other nominees)
Billy Branch Kim Wilson Mark Hummel Rick Estrin
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 9:49 PM
The Blues Foundation gave that award to Charlie Musselwhite fifteen times.
Charlie is great, but has he been better each and every year? Was he better than Carey Bell, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Sugar Blue, Billy Branch, Snooky Pryor, Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin, Rod Piazza, Paul deLay or Mark Hummel?
Some of the members of the Blues Foundation are greener than a pool table and twice as square!
Last Edited by on Jun 04, 2010 10:11 PM
Joe, spot on. Charlie is a fine player, but for me he would rank near the bottom of the list of names you cite, along with Sugar Blue and Billy Branch.
