Re: Butterfield/Sebastian teaching tapes

[sawyer@xxxxxxx]

I bought the Butterfield portion of this series (4-6) some years back.
I was not very impressed at the time. Recently I dug them out and
listened to them again, with new ears.  My reaction is hardly
objective since I am an avid consumer of anything relating to
Butterfield. [I think he is one of the most influential musicians of
the last two or three generations.]  I found the 6th tape completely
fascinating.  I listened to it dozens of times, replaying individual
phrases at a variety of speeds.  Butterfield was not an articulate
man. He is not a very good teacher.  There are few, if any, points
where he breaks down his technique into digestible components.  Yet
the tape has something of inestimable value to me: samples of
Butterfield's playing a capella through an amp.  He plays 12 or 24
bars of improvised phrases in his inimitable style.  It's all there.
I understand his playing *much* better now that I've devoured that
tape.  It's also a sad listening experience; it is so intensely
personal when you listen to him talking about playing.  You can
imagine you are alone with him and he's telling you how he feels about
the instrument and what it can do.  What a waste that he should have
gone into such a decline after having exerted such a strong hand in
bring blues into main stream culture.  I have reason to believe, based
on information supplied by one close friend of his, that his death by
"multiple-massive-overdose" was a suicide.  What a shame!

	--Charlie