Re: Speak up... (and further ramblings)

[<karish@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From Chris Pierce:

    Yup, that's about it.  My roommate bought the Simpsons Sing the Blues
    CD the other day, and one selection on it (Moanin' Lisa Blues) has
    Harp in it by John Sebastian (I think that is right).  Anyway, his
    name is familiar but I can't place him.  Has anyone else heard of him?

As others have pointed out, John Sebastian was the front man for
the Lovin' Spoonful.  He sang, played harp and rhythm guitar,
and wrote many of their songs (including all of the hits).

To answer a question from another thread, one of my favorite
songs to play is Sebastian's "Night Owl Blues", named after a
club in New York that he played in during his days as an
itinerant folksinger.  A couple of favorite rock 'n' roll songs,
from the Rolling Stones: "The Spider and the Fly" and "Under
Assistant West Coast Promotion Man".

Favorite song that I'd like to be able to play: Walter Horton's
version of "Trouble In Mind", as he did it on the album with
Carey Bell.

I second the recommendation of Rick Estrin.  He has great stage
persence, too; outrageous deadpan tongue-in-cheek schtick and
lyrics, all done with an air of uncompromising sleaze.  If you
get a change to see him with Little Charlie and the Nightcats,
go for it.

Still another agreement: James Cotton was a fantastic breath of
fresh air for blues harmonica in the '50s and '60s.  He had a
full, rich sound that worked well with the material he played.
I saw him in 1968 with the band he played with on his first
Vanguard recording, and it was one of the most exciting musical
evenings I've ever experienced, enough that I jump at the chance
to see James Cotton or, more often, Luther Tucker when they play
in this area.  Cotton is less of a dominating presence in his
group these days, but the music still has a nice feel to it and
he still has formidable chops.

Beware of the James Cotton albums with songs that were arranged
by Matt Murphy.  Murphy is a great guitar player, but his
arrangements don't capture the feeling that I enjoy in James
Cotton's music.

Junior Wells is fronting a big band these days, playing more
funk than blues.  He does some James Brown songs, and does them
better than James Brown does these days.  Junior is also
playing at being a superstar the way James Brown, BB King,
and Ray Charles do: you get to listen to his band play
half a set before he comes up on the stage.  Luckily the
band is pretty good.

Didn't the Greg Kihn band hava a hot harp player for a while?
I remember hearing some tasty stuff on the radio, but never
followed up on it.

    Chuck Karish        karish@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Mindcraft, Inc.     (415) 323-9000 x117