I'm Creating a Harmonica "Rhumbas & Mambos" compilation CD for study and listening
Here's some of what I already have in my library
1) Minor Mambo by Gary Smith 2) Let's Mambo by Carlos Del Junco 3) Chitlins & Hot Sauce by Arthur Williams 4) Carey's Rhumba by Carey Bell 5) Blue Mambo by Steve Guyger 6) Walkin' to My Baby by Kim Wilson 7) Back Door Rhumba by James Harman 8) El Gado Rumba Azul by Curtis Salgado
You've got no Dennis Gruenling? So far I've almost never bothered listening to Dennis, because the last time I looked, everything by him on YouTube seemed to be Rumbas and Mambos! ---------- Kinda hot in these rhinos!
To my ears "Minor Mambo" is just about the definitive latin/blues harmonica tune. If you're no aware David Barret offers a transcription with any purchase from his website
Another song suggestion would be Gray Primich "Dummy on your Knee" which has a latin flavour. Nice 3rd position solo too
Little Charlie and the Nightcats do a few mambos and rhumbas - "That's My Girl" "Watch You Walk Away" etc, but none that I can think of which feature harp.
A whole lot of swamp blues is basically a rhumba - Scratch My Back etc
Also I find Jumior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues very latin (and funk) influenced. Certainly a lot of Gary Smith's riffs in Minor Mambo are reminiscent of Junior's playing here.
If you can find it, "Playboy" by Jason Ricci off his CD "Her Satanic Majesty Requests Harmonica Music". Its got rhumba riffs for days; it really reminds me of saxophone every time I listen to it. Eb harp in 2nd position.
Once compiled, if you aren't a stickler for copyright ethics, I'd love to get a copy for my own workout purposes.
I'm off to Alaska for a job in a little while. I'll be traveling light and mitigating boredom through the solitary confinement of a few harps and an iPod.
If I'm lucky, perhaps I'll be fortunate enough to find a person of the guitar persuasion somewhere on the jobsite.
The rhumba/mambo thing would be another good diversion.
Cool. Thanks. I haven't worked up there in a couple of years. I used to work for a company that had offices in Anchorage, New Iberia & Oxnard. Those were some fun rotations.
Toddgreene, I've got a version of Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White by Jerry Murad's Harmonicats. That tune was one that George Smith often played and George was Kim's teacher.
A lot of that rhumba/mambo thing is very often thought of as 50's New Orleans, but that's just a small part of the N.O. sound. Very often one hears as many as 3 or 4 counter rhythms happening with those grooves. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Yeah, Bob-I dig that Harmonicats version-I recently saw a funny video of them in their later years doing it. Like the Three Stooges if they played in a harp ensemble. ---------- Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Greg, i have to agree with you on the Albert King classic version of Crosscut Saw. Learning the horn lines and how it works rhythmically is incredibly important and tho he cut another version of this tune on another album for Stax called I Wanna Get Funky, getting those horn parts right definitely applies to that one too.
Todd, if that was more of a comedy thing, then it wasn't Jerry Murad's Harmonicats but actually Johnny Puleo's Harmonicats and many of the old time chromatic players often dismissed them as more of a comedy act than really good musicians, which is a shame, as I also have a recording of them doing some amazing Italian music. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
