Re: [Harp-L] Re: Dylan at the Santa Monica Civic

["Rob Paparozzi" <Chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Your welcome Jonathan, your right he allows NO ONE to play harp on highway 61 but himself,-)

A few years back, I got a call to play on a Judy Collins record she called:
"Judy Sings Dylan"....when I arrived she came up to me and said, "I know your work and you are a terrific player " BUT when we do 'Like a Rolling Stone', I'd be SO happy if you could really play what Bob played", I told her that I'd try my best but BOB's sound was SO unique it'd be TUFF...

    I comprimised took out my 1st position harp and tryed to keep it in that vein...but it was tuff...bottom line is she loved it and as my reward, she said I could play like Paul Butterfield or better yet 'Rob Paparozzi' on "You gotta Serve Somebody",-) Ahhhh the life of a session harp player in NY can be trying to say the least......but does have it's rewards.,-)

Best,
Rob P
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jonathan Metts 
  To: Rob Paparozzi 
  Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 3:07 PM
  Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: Dylan at the Santa Monica Civic


  Okay, that was the one song I wasn't sure about because sometimes there is harp over Dylan's vocals, and I know he hates overdubs.  But certainly McCoy doesn't play harp on Highway 61 Revisited, and nearly every song on that album has a harp part (by Dylan), some of them awesome.  Anyway, thanks for the clarification.

  Jonathan


  On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 12:29 PM, Rob Paparozzi <Chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

    Ah Johnathon...you are mistaken,-)
    Charlie McCoy plays Harmonica very NICELY on Blonde on Blonde on:
    "Obviously 5 Believers"

    then on "Most Likely You go your way, I'll go mine" he plays BASS and Trumpet Riffs on the Chorus with his right hand, same take no overdubs!!!!

    This was mentioned in Al Kooper's book...Al play some great ORGAN on both these LP's

    Best,-)
    Rob P

    ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
    To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
    Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 1:58 PM
    Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Dylan at the Santa Monica Civic



      "Both of these are off of BLONDE on BLONDE,   IMO w/ HIGHWAY 61 his best two
      LP's...and CHARLIE McCoy is on BOTH,-) on Gtr, Bass, Trumpet and GOOD
      Harmonica,-)"

      I'm pretty sure (not 100%) that Charlie McCoy does not play harmonica on
      either one of those albums.  Dylan has never used another harp player in the
      studio, nor has he ever had anyone else playing harp in his touring bands.

      "Thanx for the Cool Review....sounds like it's time for him to STOP
      tourin,-)
      Best,
      Rob P"

      I respectfully disagree.  I've seen Dylan eight times since 2001, and almost
      all of them were great shows.  The quality isn't perfectly consistent, but
      it rarely is with concert tours.  He always plays harp on at least one song,
      occasionally a lot more than that, and sometimes it's really beautiful.
      Sometimes he just uses it as a pitch pipe before the song.  It really varies
      widely.  But he can definitely still play, and some people prefer his
      current harp style to the sloppy, folky sound of his 60s performances. For
      instance, there's a beautiful little harp solo at the end of "Spirit on the
      Water" from his most recent album; sadly, it's the only harp on the album,
      and the one before that had none at all.

      I think it speaks for the overall experience that jazzman had an enjoyable
      time despite complaints about the vocals and harp.  There's also the fact
      that Dylan packed out that venue to overflow capacity.  I for one am
      overjoyed that people like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Stevie Wonder are
      still recording new music and still touring for their millions of fans.

      Jonathan Metts
      Harp-L's Dylan Apologist
      Boulder, CO

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