Re: [Harp-L] virtuoso

["Bret Littlehales" <blittlehales@xxxxxxxxx>]

<I feel the same way when guys go on and on about various dead guys
<(who weren't all THAT good). I mean, they were good, but certainly not
<up to "Deity" status. It's like comparing swimmers from the 1954 and
<2004 olympics. This dog won't hunt.

<smo-joe

Hi, Joe-

As far as I can tell, everyone who currently plays blues on the harp
plays in the shadow of Little Walter. I watched a DVD of SBWII last
night and everything he did seemed incredible. None of the current
guys have a tone like Big Walter's. 

Now I know there's no need to remind anyone on this list how good
these guys were, but I think they're even better when I listen to them
now, after 37 years of playing blues professionally. I hear stuff in
Little's playing that even today turns my head around. The third
position head to  "One of these Mornings" for example. Or his part on
the original "Walking through the Park". Believe me, if you think
these parts are simple, you're not playing them correctly. 

Sure, cats like Little Willie Anderson or Birmingham Jones weren't
that good, but I don't think that's who you're talking about, are you? 

I agree that Charlie Parker was the best alto player ever, but I'd put
Little Walter right there with him in terms of invention, phrasing and
composition. 

Sonny Terry, Rhythm Willie, Deford Bailey, George Smith, Junior Wells,
SBW I (a very interesting musician), Jimmy Reed (listen to "Ain't That
Lovin You Baby"), poor old Paul Butterfield, Will Shade (great rhythm
and phrasing), William Clarke, and many other "dead guys" are still
more worth listening to than most of the current players, overblows
and retuning notwithstanding. 

If there is a player out there as good as Little Walter on blues, I've
never heard him or her. There are a few cats who come close, but they
still don't completely get that incredible phrasing, the gliding over
the beat, the swing, the phrasing....

Finally, I read recently that Johnnie Weismuller still holds an
unofficial (from a swimming exhibition) speed record for the fifty
yard freestyle. Granted that pools are measured metrically nowadays, I
still think that's something to consider.

Bret