Ok so I love stuff like Messin With the Kid and Keep it to Yourself, but what comes to your mind when you think raw unfiltered blues harp instrumental songs? We all know Juke, Whammer Jammer, and Creeper Creeps Again (to name a few), but what are some of your favorites? What are some other classics that NEED to be mentioned?
I was looking for a Howard blues tune and who do I bump into. I guess Chris will always be with us in one form or another. LOL
the whole less is more is a bullshit argument in my book. You seriously need to get out of the harmonica box and listen to how all other instruments play blues, you'll hear it's not that far off from what howard does.
Howard is one of the very few "real" musicians that play harmonica. Show me an average to above? average harmonica player and I will show you a musician that can't hold his own vs high school musicians. chrismichalek 1 year ago
---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
Sorry Diggs, given all the other posts about promoting peace & harmony, I gotta say, I'm not liking the "attitude".
The OP asked about "raw unfiltered blues harp instrumental songs"...your clip is, interesting & typically Levy, but it's not really what he was asking (to my perception anyway)...you don't even reference the title of this classic harmonica blues instrumental?
I can see why you feel this way. Your playing style is traditional. This is more poking fun than attitude. I guess I'll be banned soon. Well at least I'll be in good company.LOL
---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
not sure you could call it a blues but i always liked train time by Jack Bruce in cream. christo redentor Charlie Musselwhite nut popper Paul Butterfield
I can't see vids now or post them, so I don't know if it has been posted(or even if a video exists), but one of my faves is The Fabulous Thunderbird's version of Prez Prado's Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White-not blues, per se, but it always goes over well in a blues crowd wheni've played it or seen others do it.
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Todd L. Greene, Codger-in-training
Last Edited by on Dec 22, 2010 10:36 AM
Listen closely to Evan's Shuffle, it is very similar to the Honeydripper. Here are a few obscure ones that I dig that won't likely get mentioned.
Sputnik Music - Harmonica George Speed - Wild Child Butler Walkin' With Snooky - Snooky Pryor Late Night - Little Willie Anderson Light Fuse Get Away - Scott Bradbury Top Of The Harp - Louis Myers
Spokey Dokey and Digging My Potato by Weeping Harp Senoh ---------- A - Hohner Crossover Bb - Suzuki Manji C - Special 20 D - Marine Band (stock) F - Golden Melody G - Hohner Crossover
it's not a classic but it's pretty totally completely awesome, THE POODLE BITES [Gary Primich]---------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
this groove, since one of the members posted it here, exemplifies the traditional blues groove for me...I fell in love with it then, and strive to accomplish the same even now as we speak:
what a colorful selection of songs. Some I haven't heard of. Cool. I'm a big fan of Steady, Work Song, Blu Stew, and many others. Keep the blues alive!
heard from the mythical Ed S. today. said he'd come by with some repairs. have you spoken to him lately?-------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
diggs, i have to agree with you on average and high average harmonica players having a hard time keeping up with high school band students. i would be happy if i could play harp as well as i blew my alto in 10th grade.
i might have missed something but i don't see a bad attitude with your statements at all. i will say i don't like the cussing ...but i don't have to read it...do i
Clyde - "i would be happy if i could play harp as well as i blew my alto in 10th grade."...this kind of begs the question, "Why don't you then?" can you blow alto like you did in 10th grade? Are you suddenly better able to determine pitch & phrasing just because you are playing another instrument? If you're average at alto & not as good on the harp, then you're not "average" on the harp.
If you are of average ability on the harmonica, then that's average ability...no better or worse than average ability on any other instrument. However, this thread isn't really concerned with average/high average/mediochre...on the way to good. It is about classic instrumentals, seminal work.
If you can play "Worksong/Misty/Rockin' Robin on a harmonica, then you can play it...that's basically that.
Why not try and join in the spirit of the thread? Perhaps make a suggestion, rather than sit & slag off harp players...on a harp players forum?
I suspect your idea of average and mine are different, "average" to me is a level of competency midway between not being able to play (anybody who hasn't yet learned to play/progressed beyond holding a harp to their face & therefore "plays" purely by virtue of not dying of asphyxiation) and "excellence" (which relatively few ever achieve...on any instrument).
Many harp players I know are multi instrumentalists & better on harp than anything else.
Last Edited by on Dec 23, 2010 9:28 AM
Damn that Howard Levy thing posted is raw and amazingly funky! Thanks Diggs. I'd definitely add "Monkey Lips" by Lee Sankey: another "wow" addition. ---------- myspacefacebook
BigD - I once saw Lee do a Sonny Terry/Paul Lamb inspired fox chase at a jam, "stunning" is the only word I can use to describe it, to hit every note with such great tone & perfect pitch at the speed he was playing, it was simply jaw dropping!
Other instrumentals by UK harp players worth a mention are West Weston (he has a couple on his Myspace - "Hard Drive" & "Dead Beat") & Pete G & the Magnitones "Cadillac" from his last album (again, it usually features on his Myspace).
5f6h well..no i don't play sax as well as i did and i don't play harp at what i call even an average level. going by your feelings i guess i am average.
i am not sitting and slagging on harp players at all...i just responded to diggs post.
as far as spirit of the thread goes do you think you jumping on me is in the spirit of the thread or anything else.
i am not a very good musican anymore for a number of reasons but how good i am now has nothing to do with it.
from now on i will try to bow to your wisdom and not coment on any post until unless it fits into your idea of how a post should be commented on.
Little Sonny has some really funky instrumentals. He is worth checking out. Mark Hummel does a nice version of The Creeper Returns. ---------- The Blues Photo Gallery
@Clyde - maybe if you offered up an instrumental in addition to your color commentary, maybe people wouldn't jump on you. Is it possible that you don't listen to Blues and have little to offer to the thread?
anything is possible....but...i do listen to and enjoy the blues although after losing all my records in a flood i only listen on you tube and sirius radio so i am limited a bit. i also have some cuts from mbh.
anything is possible.....you are probably right that i have little to offer this thread so i'll not delute the content any more.
i will offer this .... anything by the late willie j foster.
also red headed woman comes to mind.
i think people were not jumping me just person...until you jumped.
Clyde,I wasn't jumping on you, I just didn't get the logic. Many threads on this forum seem to quickly get off track & descend in to off-topic sniping, I find it tiresome & I avoid posting on threads & topics that don't interest me, as my old grandmother used to say, "if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything"...I'm quite happy to let others say great things about whoever they like, if I don't agree, hell, I'm happy to let them have their fun, I just expect the same courtesy, that's all. I just found it hard to see what was positive, or relevant to the subject specifically raised, in your post, so I said so...and I'd do the same again given the same scenario. We all have the choice to contribute in a positive fashion, or to be disparaging.
Diggs was perhaps playing devil's advocate, tongue in cheek? But I'll reiterate the point, by definition, a harp player of average ability is a musician of average ability...genre & instrument aren't specifically relevant.
Nice to see Willie Foster represented, I saw him support Piazza once, Willie just blew through the PA, it was a heavenly sound...& much as I love Rod's playing, I'd have been more than happy to listen to Willie all night on that occasion.
agree with 5F6H clyde did not appear to me he was jumping on you just trying to get his point across that being said a big tennessee MERRY CHRISTMAS! to all in the blues forum
