Re: [Harp-L] When Did Fast Become Good?




But Frank, don't you think when Butter showed up he was considered a speed player?

I don't recall that being true. He was a whole lot more skilled than the local wannabes and even most guys playing on rock records (though not as tasty as John Sebastian), but the first fast player I heard in NYC played alot faster than Paul Butterfield. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Until a few months later when I had learned all his tricks.


At the time he got noticed in NYC, around 1966, Paul Butterfield got noticed for several reasons:

* He made music most white kids like myself had never heard before. Good music.
* He played with compelling power and some degree of originality.
* He had one unbelievable band.
* He had a sensational producer, Paul Rothschild, who believed in the band so much that, in the well-known story, put the first finished version of the first album on the shelf and recut it because he knew it could be better. (The only other time I have heard of that was when Sheryl Crow did that with her first album, though I'm sure there were others.)
* With the exception of the Blues Project, no other rock band with the word 'blues' in their name made especially compelling music.


But while there was a sudden fascination with very fast guitarists around 1966 - Danny Kalb, we were told, could play 30 notes in a single second - I do not recall anyone talking or raving about Paul Butterfield's speed.

Quick memory some of you will probably also recall: there was a short bit of time when the world of teenage hipsters was split on the question of who was the best guitar player ever on earth: Danny Kalb or Mike Bloomfield.

Final irrelevant bit: Wonderfully enough, Danny Kalb is still alive and making records.

Yay for that. 30 notes per second or not.

K





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