Re: [Harp-L] Re: yet another Juke question (long, but no Le Riff)

["Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "scott" <checker758@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 12:42 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: yet another Juke question (long, but no Le Riff)


> Stephen's comments are very insightful and on-target - a great post.
>
> I think it's especially important to note, as Stephen does, that a large
part of what made Little Walter great was what was going on around him.  You
simply cannot separate LW's harp playing from it's context and still have it
make musical sense.  To put it another way, we could spend time learning to
perfectly duplicate a passage from a LW song, but unless every other element
of the music surrounding it is ALSO exactly duplicated, that passage won't
"work" - it *can't* work.  The passage was played the way it was in response
to what was around it, and when you change that context, it no longer fits.
This is why I think the answer to the "Was Juke improvised?" question is
yes.  LW was constantly changing in response to what was going on around
him, and why there are precious few examples of him ever playing the same
thing the same way twice.
>
> Something sort of related: I've always felt that Little Walter got a bit
of a bad rap for some of his later work not measuring up to his early
classic recordings.  No denying that his skills suffered due to his
self-destructive lifestyle, BUT...I think a lot of the time he was just
playing what worked and what fit in with what was going on around him, the
same as he always had.  When he was playing with clumsy or insensitive or
drunken or inexperienced backing, *of course* he couldn't recreate his
earlier triumphs - those licks didn't fit anymore, and he knew that.  So
when he couldn't get gigs that would pay enough for good musicians, he used
the second or third tier guys in Chicago, and it was reflected in his
playing.  When he went to Europe in '64 and '67, and got uneven (or worse)
backing, he adjusted to the occasion - and got his share of bad reviews for
it.  But for evidence of him rising to an occasion, listen to the live
recordings he did just a month or two before !
>  his
>  death, with a band that included Eddie Taylor and Louis Myers on guitars,
and Sam Lay on drums (released on a bootleg LP some years ago.)  Though he
was playing very differently from his 1950s recordings, he was playing his
a$$ off, and meshing with the band around him as well as he ever had.  I
honestly can't think of any examples of blues harp playing in the 1960s that
were any better.
>
> It's been said before, but I'll say it again: I don't think LW's genius
was so much in the area of technical innovation (amplification, fancy licks,
etc.) as it was in the way he thought about and approached MUSIC.
>
> Anyway, once again, great post, Stephen.
>
> Scott

Hi,
I can clearly relate to this quite well because who you have as musicians
surrounding you can affect for BOTH better or worse how you play. You just
can't get away with blowing all over everything regardless of groove, feel,
etc., and so to make what you're doing work, you HAVE to adapt to everything
going around you, unless you're the one hiring the musicians surrounding
you, and then it is THEIR job to adjust to what YOU want and need. Same deal
applies to any harp player who gets hired and ain't the boss in the
situation. Here's where groove is so VERY IMPORTANT, and where having good
drummers and bass players with you in a band context is MUCH more important
than who the lead players are.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/