Re: [Harp-L] Is Junior Wells over-rated?

[Ross Macdonald <pdxharpdog@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

In Buddy Guys autobiography he talks about how Jr thought he should have been bigger than James Brown.  Buddy was constantly bailing Jr. out of jail and generally causing him trouble, but you could tell there was some big love between them and it showed in their duo stuff.  I love the Alone and Acoustic record. Tasty licks spaced well. Buddy Guy had a ton of respect for Jr. 

Ross Macdonald 


On Apr 3, 2013, at 3:30 PM, David Brown wrote:

> Oh! such third position playing. I love Junior.
> 
> In 1988 I saw Buddy guy play at The Palomino Club in north LA. There were a
> lot of celebs there to see Buddy who was in ascension. Junior was out for
> bear that nioght and was amazing. He did what he did best: he placed sharp,
> controlled, perfectly placed licks that cut like a knife and groaned low on
> command *. I saw him play several more times over the years and near the
> end you could tell (on that night anyway) that he was tired. Then again, if
> I had his years and life... I would be tired too.
> 
> * (I gotta brag: I bought Jr a brandy to get a chat going and I ended-up
> getting toasted with actors Hervé Villechaize (Tattoo of Fantasy Island)
> and Roscoe Lee Brown. Thanks Jr.! ;-))
> 
> Still, I stand up for Junior if for no other reason than he was one if, if
> not THE, best harmonica players to use "silence" as a considered and
> important part of his style's impact. I like Rice Miller's playing and hear
> a lot of him in Jr's playing, but Jr had his own version of it (how can I
> say it...more "punchy" on the attack?). It fit well with the sharp edgy
> west-side sound guys like Otis Rush, and Magic Sam were doing in the 60s.
> It was* perfect* with Buddy. They played together like they were in a knife
> fight.
> 
> ........and Jr wore those bad-ass fedoras!
> 
> Concerning the other comments:
> - As far as his playing being "inconsistant"....who isn't? Ever heard
> Little Walter's live recording with Otis Rush?
> - If nothing else his style is almost always easily identifyable as "his"
> and that's worht a lot unot itself.