Re: Yet Another Juke Question[long reply]

[Howard Chandler <chandler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alright, now I'm a bit curious and this applies pretty much to blues 
harp guys.  How many of you folks are playing these songs note for note 
and how many are keeping it loose.  Myself, I never play the same thing 
twice.  Years ago I learned a few songs like this, but by now it's just 
part of the stew.  A lot has to do with interacting with the other 
players, especially the singer.  We might work out intro's or endings, 
but for the most part it's spontanious.  If I play the same thing for a 
long time with the same folks, I might sort of lock into some "stock" 
phrases or such. 

Anyway, I can't imagine LW playing a charted arrangement.  Was he even 
known to read music?  I personally never learned to read harp tabs, but 
by now I can pick up most stuff by ear which works out pretty good for me.

What do you prefer hearing when you go out to hear bands.  "The" harp 
part, or the harp player?

Howard Chandler




Keith Dunn wrote:

>WVa Bob <rmcgraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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><Was Juke improvised or "arranged?" I've got a LW CD with an alternate take
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>of Juke that is very different; this might suggest that the Juke we know was improvised, or it could it be that it was more-or-less an arrangement that LW had worked out on the bandstand while playing the tune with Muddy's
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>group?..>
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>I am sure that many of you have heard this but I will repeat it here. Jimmy Rogers, who of course was playing in Muddy?s band with Little Walter at the time, told me several things that may shed some light here. Juke was their break song at the time the band recorded it. They would play it two or three times a nite so I would imagine that they had a version worked out but did they always choose to play it? Also, according to JR, LW rarely played anything the same way twice. Listen to any of his alternate takes and you will here that. Also remember that these guys were young and wild and that improvisation was (and IMHO should still be) a major component of the music. They were creating a style and we are still talking about it. Something else that Jimmy Rogers said was that they were young, needed money and would sometimes change a song from what they would normally do on the bandstand to what they thought Chess would want to hear on a record just to get their money, keep him quiet and get out of there.
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>This probably does not answer your question but hopefully offers something to think about.
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>All the best to everyone for supporting this music.
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>Keith Dunn 
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