Piazza plays very well, but captin beef harp asked for harp players "with the most imagination...." Piazza has about as much imagination as your average Elvis impersonator.
Jason Ricci would certainly be on my short list for this one. Kim Wilson, too: very strong sound and dozens of signature moves. He has a way of hitting a certain note or big octave once, then holding it briefly before hitting it again and holding it much longer, with the breaks between the two hits and the duration of the second, much-longer "hold" creating a lot of dynamism. I'm thinking about those T-Birds showpieces that I love so much: "Down at Antone's" and "Jumpin' Bad," especially. And he always has great power behind what he does.
Yes, Paul Delay is huge here. Much as I love Sugar Blue, imagination isn't what strikes me as his gift, at least these days. He has great originality of approach (i.e., an immediately identifiable voice on the instrument) and dazzling speed. A more precise way of putting this would be to say that he had a lot of imagination early in his career (on the CROSS ROADS album, for example, with his dazzling solo piece on "Another Man Done Gone"), but that once he reached his prime and found his thing, he pretty much stuck with it. But balls he DOES have.
Last Edited by on Sep 12, 2010 1:52 PM
"Piazza plays very well, but captin beef harp asked for harp players "with the most imagination...." Piazza has about as much imagination as your average Elvis impersonator."
That is probably one of the most ridiculous posts I have ever read on this forum. Piazza is one of the few players responsible for the modern day "West Coast" harmonica sound. He has probably influenced more harp players than Ricci, Gussow, Sugar Blue and Butterfield put together. To say he is not imaginative simply shows that you haven't payed much attention (if any) to what is really going on in his playing.
Last Edited by on Sep 12, 2010 2:07 PM
Butterfield's influence may not be large on the West Coast, but it's significant elsewhere. Certainly in New York I heard his influence on many working pros, including Rob Paparozzi (PB is the single most audible influence in his diatonic blues playing), Felix Cabrera, and Speedo Jones.
I agree with Kingley that Piazza is both powerful and imaginative and thus a good person to invoke in this discussion.
Zack and Joe are being silly. I say that with all due respect, of course.
As for Kingley's claim about Rod having influenced "more harp players than Ricci, Gussow, Sugar Blue and Butterfield put together": my initial inclination was to agree. Certainly more high-end players--call them second- and third-tier pros--have been influenced by Rod than by Gussow, Ricci, and Sugar Blue put together. But I suspect, given the amount of email I get from around the globe that I have influenced more.....well, I was going to say BAD harmonica players, but really what I mean is, beginners and early intermediates.
Rod's a player, and he has influenced many players, but he's not a teacher. Teachers influence players, too. The web has changed the game, Kingley. Fine players like you don't need half-baked harp gurus like me--or Jon Gindick, for that matter--but we have taken it to the masses. Rod's influence on aficionados of West Coast harp is immense and incontestable, and for good reasons that you and I agree on. But your claim about his influence overall, in its current unedited form, is debatable. In fact, Jon Gindick has probably influenced more players than Piazza, Gussow, Ricci, Sugar Blue, and Butterfield combined. The fact that you don't know his "sunshine" lick means that you're out of touch with the masses. :)
Last Edited by on Sep 12, 2010 3:04 PM
@hvyi I was thinking the same thing but if I would said it there would have been people with torches at my door. LOL
The problem is there just hasn't been that many harmonica stars since Butterfield. The progressive rock period made a lot of people immortal. Being at Woodstock didn't hurt. The Butterfield bands were part of that great wave of music with Hendrix, Janis, The Byrd, Cream, Country Joe and the Fish, The Buffalo Springfield and so many other legends of that time.
I think the cross pollination of music is what set Butterfield apart. I'm not sure if we have that today in the blues.
Having the butterfield band play behind Dylan helped carry the legend of the name. Outside of the harmonica world it's Butterfield.
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How you doin'
Last Edited by on Sep 12, 2010 3:10 PM
Paul Butterfield for many but outside of blues circles, around my age bracket the first person people think of is John Popper. Not necessarilly by name but when I talk to people I meet about my harmonica playing their response is something of 'oh, like that guy from Blues Traveller'. Or theyll ask if I can play a song by him or something.
Yay for subjective threads.
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~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)
I think Rod is cool, but over here no one mentions him. Just one of those things, I guess. If that makes me silly so be it!!! Popper, though, I agree with.
yee haw kim wilson rod piazza huge imagination and balls they are after paul. i dont care for sugar or jon popper after ten minutes a lack of groove . Dennis Gruenling would come to mind on the list. some of the players mentioned i have not heard, where have i been btw.rod was this good as a teenager
I think that: Paul Delay, Norton Buffalo, David Burgin, Jim Liban (short stuff album is one of the coolest harmonica recording I ever hear) William Clarke, Sugar Blue, Dennis Gruenling, P.T. Gazell, Brendan Power, Lee Oskar,Carlos Del Junco. Piazza is good but all ---------- http://www.youtube.com/user/wheelharp
I think the most drive in music give Jason Ricci and John Popper, although my favourite player is Howard Levy, but he is much intelligent and mild. ---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
I would like to add Peter Madcat Ruth as a real innovator. Listen to his work (YOUTUBE) on with Sky King on cuts Secret Sauce and Hot Mustard. He also was way ahead of his time on a Two Generations of Brubeck.
no doubt madcat is band to the bone got a live cd of his madcat and kane live @creole gallery-refuse to say who is best on earth but if I did would not leave this man out of consideration
i am almost new to the forum i am learning alot and intend to buy all the artists i dont have that are showing up here THANKS EVERYONE VERY MUCH this old dog is gonna try to learn some new tricks
Every harmonica player ever could be named here & it's not like the person naming that player can be wrong. I really suggest that you check out Adam's links and buy albums from all those guys.
@hvyj somebody @hill country harmonica told me he puts on a great workshop and is a prince of a guy-I would say he could go anywhere he wants and "cut heads"
I'm one of those rare beasts in the online harmonica world who actually likes John Popper's playing... not instead of the other guys mentioned, but in addition to. I should add that I like it in doses, but I could say that about most musicians.
Actually, everyone mentioned in this here thread has something from which most of us can learn. I think I've said this before, but I am really not a fan, in music, of the "Top Ten" phenomenon or the parlor game competition between players. It strikes me as a mostly American phenomenon, where everything is a competition. (Yes, I am a red-blooded American and a former athlete, but I just don't like the idea that there's some kind of objective standard about who is "best", or a competition that is there to be won.)
I hear imagination and balls in just about every pro-level player, presented in different ways. I try to learn from the things I like best. I don't try to imitate. Some players touch my soul more than others... but often I find that it's really their MUSIC that I am touched by, or not, more than just their playing per se.
@groyster1: First and foremost, Madcat is a master musician. He also has complete and total technical command of the diatonic harmonica. Although he doesn't OB in performance, he is proficient in every technique and employs those techniques appropriately and with great musicality. He is fluent in just about any style of music --jazz, blues, folk, rock, pop, etc. And he is proficient playing in at least 6 or 7 positions. A sincerely nice guy, too. Very cool fellow to interact with.
And, if you ask them, you will find that many other accomplished harmonica players of high repute have extreme respect for Madcat, and will tell you so. If he's not the best on the planet, he's certainly on a very short list of top level virtuosos.
@Diggs: I've been hiding under my bed waiting for the crowds of peasants bearing torches to tire out and trudge back to their huts so they can practice Little Walter licks with a West Coast twist.
Last Edited by on Sep 13, 2010 4:19 PM
@hvyj on this live cd I have with him and kane I have pulled you tube versions of some of the ones on the cd like robert johnsons theyre red hot with him starting out whistling and playing a ukelele another johnson come on in my kitchen with him playing slide ukelele he is coming to my neck of the woods in east tn next spring will have to be there hes unbelievable
