[Harp-L] Rambling about Mickey Raphael and Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Nelson and Wille Nelson and Sonny Boy's Centennial

[William Donoghue <fessormojo@xxxxxxxxx>]

I don't play harp or sing but I do know Rice Miller's sound intimately enough to 
hear it when a musician has grown through his sound and soul.
There is a wonderful DVD of Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis playing at Lincoln 
Center. It is extraordinary to my ears. 
 
Willie is playing at a higher level of jazz sophistication than I have ever 
heard him play. 

 
Wynton, rather than using his trumpet to upstage Willie on Wynton's own turf 
chose to turn his trumpet into a voice-like instrument using a series of mutes 
and hats. Again it is one of his best performances that I have seen.
 
The surprise of the evening is that a third lead voice one who steps up to play 
is Mickey Raphael whose harp solos are at an equal level of skill and feeling. 
In fact, his harp solos are so astounding, appropriate and moving that the 
producers of the DVD have to insert an interview explaining who this artist is 
and what his relationship is to Willie. There is no way for the concert DVD to 
proceed without acknowledging Mickey's strong presence.
 
What I hear in my ear is where Sonny Boy would have grown had he lived another 
decade or so. It's not the blues he played and sang in jukes but a voice he 
could have developed. It is known that he recorded with Roland Kirk (with mixed 
success) who he had apparently met years before on the streets of Milwaukee and 
Chris Barber's Trad band and that he jammed with Dexter Gordon, Sonny Criss and 
possibly Pharoah Sanders (who was so impressed with Sonny Boy coming back stage 
and opening with his usual, "I'm Sonny Boy Williamson, I'm the original Sonny 
Boy Williamson and the only one." that Sanders wrote a tune dedicated to him.).
 
Imagine where he could have grown and polished his sound if he had toured 
with Levon and the Hawks (The Band) when they backed Bob Dylan. 

 
There are a lot of harpers that play Sonny Boy tunes, fewer who can accurately 
imitate Sonny Boy (Hook Herrera and Rick Estrin stand out) but few have 
integrated Sonny Boy's playing as an influence among others. I think Mickey 
Raphael is where I hear that influence the most.
 
The 100th Anniversary of Sonny Boy's birth will be in 2012. 
 
Yes, he was born in 1912 making him 53 when he died. With better health or just 
some medical attention, he had much more to give. Some Bluesmen have lived to be 
quite old. Robert Lockwood Jr. was 94 when he was still touring the road, 
recording new material and playing a local gig downtown every Wednesday. Pinetop 
Perkins is 95 and still playing regularly.
 
Next year 2011 will be the 70th anniversary of King Biscuit Time and 2013 will 
be the 50th anniversary of the 1963 American Folk Blues Festival which brought 
Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) to the concert halls of Europe and to serve 
as a mentor to many British Blues Rockers. Sonny Boy was ahead of his time and 
could tour with his "band" in his hip pocket.
 
His music touches many today. Six or seven years ago I spend two hours with 
Wynton Marsalis in his condo at his invitation and told him the story of Sonny 
Boy Williamson. It was an extraordinary life-changing experience to talk about 
Blues history and personal stories of my research. Speaking with someone whose 
talent, whose ability to add his artistic input to so many exciting and 
innovative music ventures and whose abilities as an educator and mentor converge 
in such a talented feeling individual was moving.
 
Like Wynton's music, Mickey Raphael's music takes what has gone before and 
integrates it into no-holds-barred contemporary sounds with room to grow in the 
future. It starts, in many ways, back in the 1930s and, yes, the 1920 with Sonny 
Boy Williamson (Alex "Rice" Miller).
 
So what are we going do to do celebrate Sonny Boy Williamson's ("Rice" 
Miller) Centennial years? There is more than enough Sonny Boy music to fill a 
full and exciting concert, more than enough leading musicians whose musical 
growth was influenced by him personally, and room to grow for the future. Who 
wants to help me make this happen? I've got the biography, documentary and 
screenplay on track to be ready for the Centennial, what can you lend to the 
celebration?
 
It starts with listening to his music again with new ears. How long has it 
been since your really listened to him. You've grrown as a harper and so has the 
level of sophistication built into Sonny Boy's music that you can draw from his 
recordings. Do that and a renaissance in Sonny Boy's music will grow. Mickey 
Raphael is probably the best example because he has a huge podium for on 
playing, what 40 years (?), unadulterated American roots music at a 
virtuoso level with access to a huge contemporary audience. Willie never stands 
still and Mickey seems to be able to keep up with him.

 Bill Donoghue AKA 'fessor Mojo
 William E. Donoghue
218 C Foss Creek Circle
Healdsburg CA 95448
707-395-0147 home
206-954-4762 cell