From: Tom Ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] was little walter's amp now little walter's sound
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 18:15:55 -0800
Rainbow Jimmy writes:
Yes Little Walter was one of the first to really play amplified harp but
his
real accomplishment was bringing the big band R and B sound and
sensibility to
a small blues band. I would suggest if you want a Little Walter sound, you
should listen to Count Basie, listen to Ray Charles' early Atlantic
recordings,
listen to what the big bands were doing at the ballrooms and try to figure
it
out on the harp. A lot of folks can play the notes, they have the chops,
they
have the equipment, but they don't swing and they don't understand their
role
in the band.
Hence they don't sound like Little Walter.
-=-=-=-=-=-=
Well stated -- amen, Jim. And for yet another quote re LW I would point to
the following, from Wynton Marsalis:
"Everyone in the fifties was playing the blues like,
'Be-boop-diddly-popa-DO.' But then Little Walter came on the scene going,
'Be-boop-diddly-popa-DA.' And that's why there has never been any real
blues since Walter died in the sixties."
-TB