Re: [Harp-L] Perfect accompaniment on harp

[Robert Paparozzi <chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Steve,

That is Don Brooks, and it IMO "can't"  be done any better than that!
Thank You so much for finding and posting this to Harp-l. I really do
believe this should be 'required listening in ANY harp 101 class or Book on
HOW to backup a singer. Sheer taste, dynamics and just brilliant spatial
conception of the whole.

Since Don Brooks doesn't get much talk time here on Harp-L here is a bio
from All Music Guide by Bruce Eder:

But first go to this link and look at a 'partial' listing of the great
singers and artist that called upon his expert services..I'm honored to have
had Donny as a mentor and friend....we miss you Don Brooks.....
(Rob Paparozzi)

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3cfoxq85ldse~T4

Biography    by Bruce Eder
Don Brooks had a career that took him from playing blues harp in folk clubs
in Texas to playing sessions with Billy Joel, the Bee Gees, and Diana Ross
on some of their best-selling records. A native of Dallas, he always had a
love of music and turned toward the harmonica after hearing Sonny Terry
playing on an album in the early '60s. By the mid-'60s, he was playing clubs
and coffeehouses, locally accompanying blues legends like Mance Lipscomb and
Lightnin' Hopkins and up-and-coming artists such as Jerry Jeff Walker.
Brooks outgrew the limited folk/blues scene in Dallas and moved to New York
in 1967, where he became a popular player in Greenwich Village. He performed
with David Bromberg and John Hammond Jr., and by the early '70s, he had
become a member of Waylon Jennings' backing band. He became one of the top
studio musicians in New York and appeared on records such as the Bee Gees'
Main Course, Yoko Ono's Feeling the Space, Judy Collins' Judith, and the
James Gang's Newborn during the '70s. By the '80s, his harmonica, with its
simple, precise dexterity, was a virtual fixture on the New York music
scene, and his instrument graced the records of the Talking Heads among
numerous others, as well as the Roger Miller-composed Broadway musical Big
River, and he was heard for weeks on public television on the soundtrack of
Ken Burns' documentary series The Civil War. Brooks died of leukemia in New
York during the fall of 2000.



On 11/17/09 11:44 PM, "steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxVJPDka3u4&feature=related
> 
> This song by Waylon Jennings was what really hooked me on harp. I'm pretty
> sure it's Don Brooks playing.  I had only heard the harp work of Charlie McCoy
> before this and, while i really liked that,  this had a whole  different feel.
> We have talked on this list before about accompanying a singer.  If it can be
> done any better than this, I haven't heard it.  I love the tone and the
> dynamics and controlled bends... hell, the whole thing is great. I just keep
> listening to it.    Try it yourself.
> Steve Webb in Minnesota
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
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On 11/17/09 11:44 PM, "steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxVJPDka3u4&feature=related
> 
> This song by Waylon Jennings was what really hooked me on harp. I'm pretty
> sure it's Don Brooks playing.  I had only heard the harp work of Charlie McCoy
> before this and, while i really liked that,  this had a whole  different feel.
> We have talked on this list before about accompanying a singer.  If it can be
> done any better than this, I haven't heard it.  I love the tone and the
> dynamics and controlled bends... hell, the whole thing is great. I just keep
> listening to it.    Try it yourself.
> Steve Webb in Minnesota