[Harp-L] Bloomfield bio, Smokey Joe, and "Georgia"

[Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

   I own the Bloomfield bio, "If You Love These Blues".  Kind of reminds
me of other bios I have on Little Walter, Stan Getz, Art Pepper, Bill
Evans, and Chet Baker.  Basically the story of hardcore addicts with
musical genius.
   A couple of things that stood out in the Bloomfield-Butterfield
references in the book were: 1) Bloomfield didn't initially want in the
band, he was afraid of Paul and Paul didn't want him either.  The record
company put them together.  2) According to Bloomfield, Paul was a "despot"
with the money.  3) Both guys were wired to be bandleaders, so there was a
good deal of friction over the band's direction.  4)  Bloomfield left
because he was interested in forming a band with horns and felt Elvin
Bishop was chomping at the bit to play lead guitar again, rather than
rhythm.
   Put me down as one of the people who loved Smokey's rendition of
"Georgia".  Coincidentally, Joe and I had been discussing the tune off-list
and I wasn't aware he had a version on YouTube.  I love the fact that he
used both diatonic and chromatic harps; it showcases his considerable skill
on both.  Not an easy thing to do!
   The great thing about YouTube is all the versions of each tune that are
out there to pick and choose stuff from.  I particularly love the version
by Stephane Grappelly's old guitarist, Martin Taylor.  It's complex and
very bluesy and soulful.  Since just about everybody plays the tune in
cross position, I've tried "Georgia" in 1st, 3rd, and 12th to kind of get
away from the crowd.  I think I like 1st best.  Even though I'm a lousy 1st
position player, I find the bridge? (the "other arms reach out to
me" section) plays nicely and all my 4th position minor-sounding riffs work
well on that section when I'm improvising.

Mick Zaklan