[Harp-L] Re: Butterfield

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Those of us that are diehard fans of his own the recordings of Butter  
that
never made it to cd.  The bootleg recordings of his live concerts were  
incredible.

What you can't find on cd are the long improvisational songs where he  
is just
wailing in 2nd position minor and 3rd position.   The thing I like  
about his 3rd position playing
is it didn't sound like the slow 3rd position stuff I hear most harp  
players play.  I'm surprised no one is
commenting on how dead on he hits the 3 draw bend on the 2nd position  
minor songs while playing fast.

Don't dismiss his playing Work Song based on the lp version.  He did  
many versions of it
including one where he is the first soloist out of the head.   He did  
it first at 23.
Give Mark Ford all the credit you want but remember he had 30+ years  
to Work on the Song
 before recording it plus all the other songs in the Butter library.

Butter's harp solos grew on East West as well as he became more  
comfortable playing it.
I don't think the cd his keyboard player, Mark N. put out showed his  
best on East-West.
That seemed to center more on Bloomfield's/Bishop's guitar work IMHO.

play on

mike


On Jul 10, 2009, at 7:23 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:17:21 -0400
> From: "John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Butterfeild
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID: <85852F41-3EE3-46CC-9726-18BC7B8C1EBC@xxxxxxx>
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>
> Butterfield knocks me out.  An enormous influence on my playing (and
> on the playing of many others who are a lot better players than I
> am). His phrasing alone is an inspiration.  And he is authentic.
> Others may or may not agree, but I rank him right up there with the
> all time great blues harp players.  WHY?  Not just because his style
> is authentic and his technique is masterful, but also, and more
> importantly, because he is not an imitator.  He has a distinct style
> of his own.  No one was playing harp like that before PB.
> Butterfield paved the way for Sugar blue, Jason Ricci, Lee Oskar and
> so many others.  His influence cannot be overestimated.
>
> And, btw, he does use chords, octaves, split intervals and double
> stops (listen to ?Too Many Drivers? for example).  PB did not have to
> imitate ODBGs to be one of the greatest blues harmonica players of
> the 20th century.  He had a style of playing the blues that was
> uniquely his own, and that?s why we are still talking about him now,
> long after his death. Whether one likes his playing or not is a
> different question and a subjective matter.  But, by any objective
> standard, his musicianship, the originality of his approach and the
> enormity of his influence is undeniable.
>
> For proof of his authenticity, listen to PB playing with Muddy Waters
> in ?The Last Waltz? and on ?The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album.?  As
> far as his innovation is concerned, I played ?The Work Song? and
> ?East West? for a friend of mine a few months ago and she simply
> could not believe it when I told her those tunes were recorded in
> 1967.  Timeless originality.
>
> JP