[Harp-L] RE: Helge Tallqvist

["Donnie MorTone" <harp_boy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Helge has long been thought of by the top blues
chromatic players in the U.S. (Piazza,Clarke,(of course
I know he's dead foo!! They were friends!;) Wilson,
Estrin,Hummel, ect.) as THE MAN in Europe when
it comes to traditional chromatic blues, ala George
Smith or Little Walter. His 3rd position diationic is
also Killer. I believe that if he was in the U.S. he
would be considered one of the top blues players
at this time. Piazza considers him one of the best
players...period. I have to agree.

He doesn't sing at all...so all the recordings I know
of have someone else on vocals. I have a Cd called
Helge Tallqvist & The Deep Blue Divers "Hitsville Hop"
that came out in the mid 90's...and the band covers
lots of Little Walter and George Smith on that one too.
It sounds way better than allot of the crap that was
coming out at that time, when so many were jumping
on the "swing/jump - west coast - whatever" - bag.

Big Tone...Fat Octaves...Great Feeling & Phrasing...
and from the tracks I just heard off his website from
the new "Plays George Smith" Cd...he's getting even
stronger. I'll be looking to hook me up a copy of that
disk...you can bet on that!

~Donnie~

The Ultimate William Clarke Tribute Site
http://www.angelfire.com/blues/williamclarke/index.html

MorTone Microphone
http://www.angelfire.com/music4/mortone/index.html

BadAssFinishHarpBlower
http://www.helgetallqvist.com/

> From: "Bert van Oortmarssen" <odemar@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 28, Issue 60
> Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 23:44:31 +0100
>
> > Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:49:38 EST
> > From: Aeskow@xxxxxxx
> > Subject: [Harp-L] Helge Tallqvist
> > To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> > Message-ID: <9d.6dfde008.30d884f2@xxxxxxx>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> >
> > I just picked up a CD by a Finnish harp-player named Helge
> Tallqvist--mainly
> > because it was a tribute to George "Harmonica" Smith--and was  knocked 
> out
> by
> > Tallqvist's playing.  Remarkable depth of tone, soulful  phrasing, just
> > spectacular work.  The singing's done in a curious kind of  Finnish
> drawl--Baton
> > Rouge by way of Helsinki--but it's perfectly serviceable,  and doesn't
> detract
> > even slightly from the power of the harp.  Does anybody  know more about
> this
> > Scandinavian bluesman?
> >
> > Peace and Respect,
> > Johnny T
> >
>
> I heard a few tracks of it too, your description is pretty accurate, nice
> tone and strange accent (even to my european ears).
> Have a look at:
> http://www.helgetallqvist.com/
>
> Bert
>
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