[Harp-L] Re: "Too Late" Little Walter by Little Will

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Peter Ruth wrote:
<Wow-  that was nice!

For those who don't know, Madcat recorded (or was recorded playing) an incredible live version of "too Late" as an instrumental backed by bass (and drums?) at a SPAH convention in the early 1980s, I believe, at which time SPAH was very much a club for chromatic players.  I was given a cassette tape by a friend that contained that recording sometime around then.  Madcat played the piece very fast and with terrific precision.  It was a very powerful performance.  I have no idea how it was received by the chromatic-oriented crowd at SPAH at the time; for anyone who was listening, it must have been a terrific jolt.  His version was so inspiring that it made me want to play the tune.  

I called Madcat up in 1993, when I was recording "The Act of Being Free in One Act," to tell him that I wanted to steal one of the licks he played on his recording--a fast upward spiral of triplets--for my own solo recording of the piece.  He very nicely gave me permission to use that lick.  I kind of felt like Bela Bartok asking Henry Cowell if he could use Cowell's note clusters.  Sort of.

Anyway, if Madcat tells you that you're playing "Too Late" great, you are.

Regards, Richard Hunter

 



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