[Harp-L] Sugar Blue Live and Kickin'

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Saw Sugar Blue Friday night.  Absolutely off the hook! Best I've ever  
heard him.  Fresh arrangements, the usual unbelievably high energy,  
some new material from the new CD and a new tune called "Once and  
Again"  he just wrote for a film of the same name.  He also performed  
"The Gucci Gucci Man" putting the album version (which isn't bad) to  
shame.  Rico McFarland on guitar.  SB dancing on stage and engaging  
with the audience all night with the most pleasant charisma I've ever  
seen flow from him.  Played two sets.

This guy is an incredible musician and is an absolute virtuoso on the  
harmonica.  Some people dis him for playing "so many notes" but when  
he does play fast (which is not all the time) each note is  
articulated with artistic expression, played precisely on meter in  
relation to the beat, and his note SELECTION is incredibly musical.   
He's not just playing patterns like Popper does, he's playing a  
combination of scale tones and chord extension tones that are very  
tightly related to the chords he's playing over.  And he does all  
this at 32d note speed when he steps on the gas.  It's not just how  
many notes he plays and how fast he plays them.  It's WHICH notes he  
plays at that speed and WHERE he puts them.  Unbelievable control.

He did an incredibly good new arrangement of "Another Man Done Gone"  
on a 365, playing into the vocal mic, unaccompanied, using his hands  
to shape tone a la Sonny Boy Williamson, playing with acoustic tone  
from the hand of God. He got sounds out of 365 most musicians  
couldn't get with a synthesizer. IMHO, this guy is a modern master  
walking among us.

Except for "Another Man Done Gone" SB was amplified for the rest of  
the show, playing through an Astatic wireless into a Mesa Boogie Mark  
(one 12), which, i am reliably informed, he borrowed from Rico  
McFarland.  No effects.  Rico was playing through a Mesa SOB ("Son of  
Boogie").  Ilaria Lantieri on bass, Anthony Space who was tearing it  
up on keys,  and a drummer who, unfortunately was not having the best  
night.  He would speed up occasionally, prompting looks from Rico,  
but it wasn't bad enough that a non-musician would notice it.

Well worth the 90 minute drive.