[Harp-L] the difference between funk and blues; a response to JR Ross

[Buddha <groovygypsy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan,


Here's the vid from the original post for comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdyvPg0c6bI

Blues or Funk?

Is this funk?  it's blues because it's slower?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge9u4g12FsE

gee do you think John Lee Hooker was influence on this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOyj4ciJk34
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y4wne1Cl_I

Of course JLH can be funky so maybe you're right
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-VN1-XR0Vs

Do you hear any similarities to this classic funk tune featuring James Cotton?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K91Qj870HHk

Found a version with a harp leading the tune...ah yes, Freddie made it
sound funky and this harp player makes it sounds bluesy. Good thing I
took my medication today otherwise this morning I would have thought
they sounded the same. Nice funky guitar solo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZPLJw5aXIw

Here's a similar groove but lead by harmonica players and it's slower
so not too funky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb5GVVKU7eM

let's say you're the harp player leadign a jam and you want to play
over this groove. What do you tell the band?  Gimme a funk groove or
gimme a fast john lee hooker train style shuffle?  Maybe in Hew
Hampshire calling a funk will get you that but in Phoenix call a funk
groove will get you something like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyUY9A057JI

On the topic of Eric Clapp. Maybe his website is incorrect but...

When he was 16, Eric began studying at the Kingston College of Art on
a one-year probation. He was expelled at the end of that time for lack
of progress as he had not submitted enough work. The reason? Guitar
playing and listening to the blues dominated his waking hours.

Typical of his introspective nature, Eric looked beneath the surface
and explored the roots of rock in American Blues. The blues also
meshed perfectly with his self-perception as an outsider and of being
"different" from other people. Sometime in 1962, he asked for his
grandparents' help in purchasing a £100 electric double cutaway Kay
(a Gibson ES-335 clone) after hearing the electric blues of Freddie
King, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and others.



***************
Bulldogge Ross wrote:

I don't claim to speak for "blues harp players", and don't really
claim to be one in particular, but I'll take the questions anyway.

All quotes are from Chris:

"Why is this considered blues but if it were played on a harp it
wouldn't be blues?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdyvPg0c6bI";;


This is in reference to a Freddie King video and my answer is simple--
it would be considered blues if a harp player was the lead instead of
King. I say that because this is very similar (essentially the same)
musical ground which James Cotton and Junior Wells were tilling from
the late sixties on. I think a better question would be is this blues
or is it funk. It is an example (as are many of Cotton and Wells'
songs, and others such as Albert Collins) of how genres influence each
other and can blend together in ways which go beyond absolute brand
labels. So I'd argue the answer to the question of is it blues or is
it funk would be along the lines of either yes or it depends on how
you choose to look at it.

For an example of harp which mixes blues and funk together, try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nuOWuhWNmI&feature=related


"Why is only one of these players considered a "blues man"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmEBTUbaWjA";;



Probably because Eric Clapton has tended to focus on playing rock/pop
rather than the blues per se for most of his career, whereas Buddy Guy
has always defined himself as a blues musician and has very deep and
direct roots in the blues tradition, unlike Clapton who came to it
after the tradition had already been codified. Bands like Cream, Blind
Faith and his 70's solo work are all blues-influenced, but don't
really sit as purely in the genre as some others (including some of
his English contemporaries). In the end it's a bit like asking why
Louis Jordan is often not considered a jazz sax player but a
rhythm&blues one--it's essentially only important to people who want
to pigeonhole music into easily defined categories.

However, that doesn't mean that categories don't exist, rather that
they are often hard to define in any abstract, absolute or even
objective way. The phrase "I know it when I hear it" may seem trite,
but it is more often correct than not in these cases, IMO.



 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()
`----'