RE: [Harp-L] Norton Buffalo & the Many Harps

[Buck Worley <boogalloo@xxxxxxx>]

"The last harp in the sequence is a C harp played in first position, I
believe"
 
Yes, I believe you are right. In the video it appears to be that way. Sounds like you knew Norton well. That was a great story! What a great player/performer/artist he was. May he rest in peace.
BW
 
 
> From: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [Harp-L] Norton Buffalo & the Many Harps
> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:19:49 -0700
> 
> The last harp in the sequence is a C harp played in first position, I
> believe.
> He actually messes it up in the video the second time through. He plays the
> Db OK, but then doesn't switch on to the C and so has to play out the solo
> in C on a Db harp. He screws it up a bit, but the recovery is quite a feat -
> suddenly having to play in 6th position! I think he knows that he pulled the
> wrong harp, so he got 2 bar warning at least.
> Norton was a wonderful show off and it bit him like this on occasion. I
> always enjoyed his act and his stories, no matter how often I heard them. In
> fact, I appreciated the familiarity of them.
> With regards to dropping harps (and also showing off). I once had the
> pleasure of attending a show at Lou's in San Francisco where he changed
> harps with such fury that he could not hold on to it. It appeared to shoot
> out of the side of his head, flew through the air and landed on one of the
> tables in the audience. He finished the song without it and then took a
> short break to recover the instrument.
> Sorely missed.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Buck Worley [mailto:boogalloo@xxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 6:08 AM
> To: derwood.blues@xxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: John Norris; Lyndsie Worley
> Subject: RE: [Harp-L] Norton Buffalo & the Many Harps
> 
> 
> Please allow me:
> 
> He is switching harps as the chords change. I've been doing it for years.
> This is one of my all time favorite harmonica solos and if you can pull it
> off in a live show, it always, always gets a round of applause. Here it is,
> simply put without doing a music chord chart or going into modality
> explainations and/or theory stuff. Just "think" 2nd position:
> 
> C chord played / F harp used 
> Bb " " / Eb harp
> Ab " " / Db harp
> G " " / C harp (ending on the #1 hole blow which brings
> you back to C)
> repeat chord (& harp) progression
> 
> Thanks for the video. I have never seen him do it. I'll bet he dropped a
> harp from time to time. :D
> 
> The way I do the switching is by holding all 4 harps between my fingers.
> This style of holding does not allow for tight cupping but if you have the
> chops and the right gear it works. I use an old vintage JT30 Astatic with an
> old vintage Switchcraft volume control. I do not adjust the VC while
> performing this solo though.
> 
> Happy Harpin'
> Buck W
> 
> > From: derwood.blues@xxxxxxxxx
> > Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:01:43 -0400
> > To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [Harp-L] Norton Buffalo & the Many Harps
> > 
> > Suave Blues Man provided:
> > 
> > "Here's some of Norton - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPzcZNgVfpA";
> > 
> > What is up with all the harp switching? Starting around 1:20 he has a solo
> > where he make 7 harp switches which, it appears, he uses 3-4 harps. I am
> > impressed that he can grab the right one for the right moment and not drop
> > one in the process.
> > 
> > Derwood
> 
>