Re: JJ Milteau

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Milteau is very much into exploring the sound of the harmonica, and to do
that, he wants the notes to be heard. So he plays less and less. Laid back /
mellow is definetely a trend in his recent stuff, both records and live.

But if you check out some of his earlier stuff, either on 'Blues harp',
which has awesome playing even if the production is very very dated, or on
'Routes' if you can find it, there's lots of heavy stuff.

I doubt the heavier playing would push him 'out of his element', but most
likely it's not actually what he likes to play anymore ;-)

Ben


- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Pierre" <slavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>; <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 10:09 PM
Subject: JJ Milteau


>
>
> Writing about Greg Z. made me think of JJ Milteau which I saw a few weeks
> ago at the Montreal Jazz Fest...
>
> (Note: this was the first time I heard Milteau play)
>
> Yeah I saw Milteau in a small room with no more than 400 people. Had a
great
> table close to the stage. Anyways the show was great, after a few tunes my
> impression is that this guy can play many different styles of blues, each
> style having very different colorings. After 3 or 4 laid back tunes he
> played a Chicago style blues and did it very well, anyways by this time I
> was really impressed by Milteau's versatility. So on went the show with
many
> great tunes and after about an hour of playing, Guy Belanger (an excellent
> local harmonica player) joined the band with a local blues slide guitarist
> (played guitar flat on his lap). Anyways the show suddenly went from a
laid
> back and melancolic style to a kick ass style. Belanger is a wild/heavy
> player, an excellent player who is very hard on his harps. He cranked up
the
> show several notches and really got the crowd going. This became a totally
> different show.
>
> Milteau jammed along but it looked like he was out of his element, imagine
> Elmer Fudd playing harmonica beside the Tasmanian devil.
>
> I felt bad for Milteau as he is excellent in his layed back way. But
they've
> played together before so he must of know what he was up against. I
suspect
> Belanger was included on the billing to attract local harmonica fans.
>
> Anyways, the show(s) was great.
>
> Pierre.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 12:24 PM
> Subject: Re: REVIEW : Greg Szlapczynski - La Part du Diable
>
>
> >
> > I have to say that this is one of my favorite recordings.  As Ben
> > says, it's not a traditional genre-based recording, it's a diverse
> > collection of a wide range of styles, but it has a jazzy feel
> > throughout, and has VERY high production standards, and the other
> > personnel on the album, all the way down to engineering and
> > recording, absolutely shine.
> >
> > I only wish that Greg would come to the US, or myself to France, so I
> > could meet the man, and maybe take a few lessons, pick his brain a
> > little.
> >
> > I purchased my copy by wading my way through Amazon.fr, the French
> > Amazon site, which wasn't too difficult if you've done much online
> > shopping.  I bought using my MasterCard, which handled the currency
> > conversion and payment for me.  I think, including standard shipping
> > from France, I paid about $30 for the CD.  It was certainly worth
> > it!
> >
> > Not everyone is going to like this CD -- it's not your standard blues
> > fare -- but if you like innovative ideas in music and very clean,
> > stylish harmonica playing in a mix of jazzy and other genre music,
> > you should check it out.  It might get on your favorites list too!
> >
> > -tim
> >
> > Tim Moyer
> > Working Man's Harps
> > http://www.workingmansharps.com/
> >
> > --
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