Right on, man. Rice Miller was a master of the diatonic harp. Great control, phrasing and attitude to his lines. Sonny Boy II and Little Walter (Jacobs) -- w/ Walter being my #1 -- are probably my two favorite old school harp guys. Guess I could also throw in George Smith and Big Walter Horton as well.
Re: Some more blues as it should be played
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:17 am
by peewee
Had to put some Walter up here! The first man to amplify the harmonica and a harmonica genius... and one of my personal musical heroes. The man had a tone so fat that you got greasy just listening to it! For harp players, if you weren't influenced by Sonny Boy I or II then Walter was your man. His influence is heard today by nearly every modern day harmonica player on the scene and his inventiveness and musicality took the harp to completely new levels during the 1950s.
And with Muddy Waters - Walter's tone on this song is text book "Little Walter". Marion Walter Jacobs got his start at Chess by backing Muddy and did something that not even Muddy had accomplished; scored a #1 hit on the Billboard R&B charts w/ "Juke" in 1952. One of my favorite Muddy Waters numbers ever from 1956 - what a groove!
Re: Some more blues as it should be played
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:42 pm
by peewee
Used to play this one all the time; Lonesome Sundown's "My Home Is A Prison" on the old Excello label. Wish there was some performance video but it's just the audio here -
Re: Some more blues as it should be played
Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:13 am
by rictified
Here;s another great Muddy waters tune, do you know who playing harp on this Peewee? (of course you do, haha!) I don't.
Re: Some more blues as it should be played
Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 2:23 am
by rictified
A different faster version of Temperature, Little Walter:
And the more familiar version:
Re: Some more blues as it should be played
Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:24 am
by peewee
Bob, there has always been some debate as to who was playing harp on "Iodine In My Coffee"; Little Walter or Junior Wells. The recording logs at Chess credit Walter as being on the session, and based on the timeline makes sense. However the tone of the harp on that track sounds a lot like Junior Wells to my ears as well as the phrasing.