[Harp-L] Re : Fills--and Horns

["Hurricane Ramón" <party_man1@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Johnny T  :

Sez :

" Early on, I spent a lot of time playing harp along with a three-man horn section--sometimes as one "voice" in that section, sometimes playing lines that snaked in and out of it. It was an incredible education in the art of the fill ...... "


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Hurricane sezes :

Good point , a horn section like Johnny mentions with guys who rip serious heat like  ( King Curtis, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and The Memphis Horns ) are a free lesson in how to cop a good collection of backing groove for Blues , Jazz , Rock ( and all the flavors there of ) and even Country Western & ethic horns heard in Boleros from Cuba and or Rancheras from Mexico if you give them a serious study and just dig on them long enough to learn to cop some of those type comp chops .

I guess there might be really good manuscripts ( notation ) on some of the classics from the years of :

The Trainiers ( I bet I misspelled that name again ) ,

Louie Jordan ,

Louie Prima and

Bill Haley & The Comets

These guys would not be a bad  group to choose from to study(s)

- - - But - - -

R&B grooves are :

  " Feel " stuff .

It's easy to " feel " it just by listening to it when played by monster musicians that inspire you in a few minutes with an infectious groooove you can't get  out of your mind or even want to , to begin with , because it entertains you through a work day or while driving a car a long or short distance , or in airplane , you name it , the groove is there and that groove moves you and dats a good thang !

The repetitive listening type approach re enforces it and you just emulate it in time if you stick with it ( if your a newbie and if your a more advance player you just kind of " fall  in " ) memorizing it ( and quickly too )  as it were .

I learned it ( ¿ them ? )  on recordings ( yep 33 1/3 LP's 45's & 78's rpm'rs , reel to reel tape recorders , cassettes  & 8 tracks ) as well from going to live shows . I can read notation but this stuff I didn't learn from a sheet of music .

Louis Armstrong's style of playing trumpet is quite adaptable for the diatonic harp as well as a chromatic . He's my first ever music study as a kid .

Yeah man -- take a test drive on one of them beauties and see if your rhythm stick doesn't swing afterwards towards the R&B side :)

Others of note are the monster clarinet players :

Pete Fountain

Bennie Goodman

Sydney Bechet

and days mo to find out if you just take time .
 
......Flash Back .....  Big Island Hawaii   ..... Hurricane hangs up his tenny's & harp's 1981 .......


¡ Ho !


Walking home after serving up a culinary feast to many satisfied patrons where he daily dazzles delectable delights of gastronomic greatness upon a faithful clientele , this mild mannered Chef by day and restrained ( temporarily ) raging musician by night ... 

......he passes a night club (O.K. a Bar but not toooooo sleazy ) on his way home and hears a 3 piece horn section ripping slick sounding Rhythm & Blues stuff along with a B3 , drums , lead guitar & P-bass  and has to take a look inside to check out da action while the lead guitar/singer belts out some " authentic " stuff in the middle of a tropical rain forest just about 30 miles south of Hilo Hawaii -saaaaaaweet !

Dressed in my white Chef's coat and hounds tooth black & white pants I walk in and then order and drink a well deserved cold frosty schooner of suds and just kick back , relax after a  good day's work and dig the scene and sounds .

....Set over ....

I ask one of the band members who I had met in the restaurant if I could sit in and he smiles and introduces me to the band and we figure out a few songs and keys

... Badda Bing Badda Boom .......

It's magic and I get back on that horse and ride the musical mustang again ......

....Five months later the trumpet player says he's booking to the mainland  ( USA ) to attend Berklee School of Music and informed the bad of his intentions to leave the Big Island of Hawaii in 3 months 

.... I used to do duets with him & the sax and trombone all the time since that first night I sat in with the band .

- - - It's what really set off the night from just a " Blues Harp " doing traditional stuff ( nothing wrong Tom Ball , easy now you da man !:) because I realized this group was a R&B ala old school ( sorry using this tired clichÈ phrase but what da heck I can't think of a better one now ) with a swinging west coast type groooove going down smoove .

Bottom line I got " in " and played with these guys and had a ball and replaced of the trumpet - sweet - that horn player I saw on TV a couple of years ago blowing for Joe Cocker on David Letterman's " Late Night " show from N.Y.N.Y.    

Solid horn chops will help make you look good as you make the band & " Top Banana " look great and they plus the crowd will dig your soulful strut on the harp and you won't be able to whip off that big fat grin from your face either when you do it right the first time and all the times there afterwards :)


Sincerely :

H.R.

Aka :

Party_Man1@xxxxxxxxxx


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