RE: [Harp-L] Dennis Gruenling - Tribute to Little Walter

[Daniel Woody <dpwoody75@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I saw the first 'Tribute to Little Walter' gig at the Turning Point in Piermont.  It was one of the most inspirational gigs I've ever seen.  He opened with a slightly slower, no less brilliant, version of 'Juke'.  I've heard 'Juke' a number of times by some great players, but never a version like this.  The first half of the song was vintage LW and the second half was pure Dennis: HUGE TONE and beautiful, original phrasing.  He covered a mixed bag of songs that were either LW originals or LW supporting songs (Otis Rush's "If You Were Mine" was particularly nice).  Of the originals were 'Up the Line, Fast Boogie, Just Your Fool, One of These Mornings, Cobella (with vocal group), Hot Shot (unreleased LW tune) and one of the scariest (in a good way) moments in blues harp history (IMHO) with his version of 'That's It'.  Nobody, I mean nobody, has harp tone that fat.  Dennis sounded ridiculously good.  
What became immediately apparent was how much time and effort went into this project.   He and his band studied that music (Chess 50's era Chicago Blues) to perfection.  He left no stone unturned in doing LW's music justice.
 The guitar and bass players were spot on and managed to capture the subtleties of the great players on the original recordings.  The drummer also studied the great playing of Fred Below and his genius. 
 He was also joined by the great Steve Guyger on 'I Got to Go', Temperature, Blue and Lonesome, Mt Little Machine, Just a Feeling'.  Good stuff! 
 
I can't recommend seeing this show high enough.  It is a beautiful tribute to one of the greatest, if not the greatest, practitioners of this instrument we love so much.  Steve Guyger will also be gigging with him on future gigs.  
 
If that isn't enough, it in support of a LW tribute CD with Dennis, Guyger, Kim Wilson, and Rick Estrin on it.  
Does it get any better than that?!
Dan Woody> Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 13:54:45 -0700> From: harp@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: shaggycs@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Dennis Gruenling - Tribute to Little Walter> CC: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> > Christopher Scholz <shaggycs@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:> > > I am going to see Dennis Gruenling soon. I am looking forward to > > his performance. Has anyone seen his tribute to Little Walter yet? > > What are the reviews?> > i have not. but having seen him play all kinds of other music,> from jump blues to rock, i'd expect this to be stellar.> > -- > Optimism and pessimism don't exist for me.> I'm a blues man. I am a prisoner of hope.> I'm going to die full of hope.> - Cornel West> > > _______________________________________________> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
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