Re: [Harp-L] Sugar Blue Live and Kickin'

[Abner <cdgaldos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sugar Blue is also one great guy.

Abner


On Apr 18, 2010, at 8:22 AM, "John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> 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.