[Harp-L] Butter...tone....

["tomsmics" <tomsmics@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Clarification for Drew:  I did mean what I said about Butter's strongly emotional playing.  To my ears he put much more emotion directly into his solos that what I had heard before, and, to paraphrase another astute comment here, he really did seem to go for the heart (or throat) everytime he stepped out front to blow.  

I am not trained in psychiatry, but I would like to addend one of the very on point comments made in this thread regarding the pursuit of certain styles--Horton, Jacobs, Williamson, etc.--by some of the leading players.  When I hear these guys, many of whom are great, great, players, friends, and in rotation in my changer constantly, my emotional connection with them is formed in large part by THEIR direct "sounding" of past traditions.  My emotional connection to these guys is triggered by my emotional connection to the icons that came before.  

With Butter there are no precedents. You can argue that at his very, very early stages you could hear Cotton or Wells or Walter, but by East West this was disappearing and his strong, clear, unique voice was evident.  By the big band era it was fully formed.  So when I listen to Butter what I respond to, emotionally, is just HIM.  There is no "sounding" of past traditions to color my reactions.  That's what I mean when I suggest that no players since have played with such direct emotional energy.  When Butter played he put all of himself into what came out, with no overtones of anyone who had come before.

I think that is why many people who heard him in his final years were so disappointed.  He had flashes of his old intensity, but the drugs and alcohol and physicial ailments had robbed him of much of the energy he had put into the harp and his music.  And changes in the music biz made it difficult for him to retain a bandfull of musicians who inspired and pushed him like the guys in the Butter bands and Better Days.  

There have been players since Butter who have had their own unique voice for sure--Paul Harrington here in Dallas comes to mind.  But I stand by my statement that for me no one I've heard has played with the emotional intensity of Butter.   Tom Ellis/Tom's Mics