Re: [Harp-L] What is the minimum blues band?

["Fernando Bresslau" <fernando@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Richard,

you took the words out of my mouth (fingers? keyboard?). My two
favorite bands at the time are Morphine first, THR second. Oh, wait a
moment. I don't like absolute favorites, they don't exist. Let's just
pretend that I haven't heard The Rhythm Junks, Charles Mingus, Maria
Scombona and others and continue with those 2 bands as my favorite
ones.

I first heard Morphine. It hit me. Then I discovered Mark Sandman's
other works, and Treat Her Right was just superb. I had never heard
harmonica used like that. The harmonica playing is not flashy or
technically very elaborate, but dead on, precise and very competent. I
wonder now what Jim Fitting is doing at the moment. There is only one
web reference to him, AFAIK, and it is already quite old.

Why isn't THR discussed more on this list? IMHO, it is the best (ok,
another absolute which you will kindly ignore) example for rock
harmonica out there. I'll eventually form a band to play Mark
Sandman's songs in his raw style.

It might seem that me admitting the above might weaken my former
statements about guitar, bass and drums. But I was talking about
usual, normal standard cover blues bands as you will find all around
the globe. Sandman and his bands were never a bit close to being
standard.

I recommend THR to all of you. Specially the first 2 albums. The 3rd
was recorded just to comply to their record contract.

All the best for all always,
Fernando

On 5/26/07, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Many, if not most, of Little Walter's great instrumental recordings were
> made without a bass player.  More recently, the great Boston band (with
> Jimmy Fitting on harp) "Treat Her Right" used a guitar through an octave
> divider instead of a bass.
>
> The bass is very much in front in a lot of modern popular music, but
> like any other sound, that's a matter of style and taste, not a matter
> of eternal law.
>
> (Note: the leader of "Treat Her Right"'s next band after that,
> "Morphine", had no guitar--just 2-string slide bass and baritone sax.
> Now that's an original sound.  Great, too.)
>
> Thanks, Richard Hunter
> hunterharp.com