Nic Clark, a Denver-area harp player, was nice enough to come to my open house at the International Blues Challenge yesterday afternoon, and Brandon and later caught his show on Beale Street with his band, Another Kind of Magick. Nick is 14 or 15 at this point, and he's got far and away the strongest sound of any player that age that I've ever heard. I'm not saying he's the fastest or fanciest. I'm saying that he's got Sound, and taste. He played some great chromatic harp, with a lot of button action, in my room. Onstage he smoked; he has excellent vibrato, full tone, and a great sense of groove.
The band completely tore apart the house. Five teens from 14 to 17 years old, with an amazing lead singer/guitarist, Nic on harp, and the singer's younger brother (only 15!) playing some knock-down boogie piano. These kids could REALLY play--call it three junior virtuosos plus a rhythm section--and they had so much nervous energy, put to so much constructive use, that even though they approached the blues from a straight-ahead, traditional approach (Muddy fused with B. B.), they never once sounded stale.
Here's the website:
http://anotherkindofmagick.com/Welcome.html
Here's a video from a fundraiser last week. This will give you no sense of the excitement that they created last night in front of a packed house, but it certainly offers evidence for a 15-year old harp talent on the rise.:
I saw him at Ziggies in Denver a couple of years ago. He's a good player and a nice kid. His parents are pretty cool, too. That kid has some of the richest tone in the state of Colorado. He plays Blues the right way.
I like Young Nicky. Had the pleasure of his sitting in the OldWailer motel room at the 2009 SPAH with the rest of the Buddha Turks (Bailey, Zhindejo, Gaunt etc). Very nice kid. He's in my brother's music store in Denver all the time, experimenting with all the amps and effects. He's one to watch for sure.
(thought for a second Adam had a nice magic car to go with his pickup! :)
Kids these days. WOW!!
But go to any high school band room these days and you'll be blown away. Jazz combos, choirs, full on orchestras. Amazing players. ---------- MBH Webbrain - a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids FerretCat Webbrain - Jason Ricci's vids (by hair colour!)
Thanks for posting, Adam. These guys are wonderful and well rehearsed. I can't do what Nic is doing on chrom... he has beautiful tone and phrasing. Cool!
Really enjoyed this and checking out their web page, Adam, thanks for posting. I shared it with my 15-year-old guitar playing nephew who I'm trying to turn on to the blues. I think this did it. Hope when I grow up (I'm 44), I can play like Nic :-) Maybe they'll come to HCH 3 !!!
