Re: [Harp-L] Blues Birdhead WAS is it my ears or does the chromatic sound different?

[Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been amazed, over the time I've been reading/writing on harp-L, how
so few players have listened to Blues Birdhead.
I think it's partly because no-one seems interested in 'old' jazz these
days; probably the same reason there's been little attention paid to Don
Les' great diatonic playing. I bought a couple of LPs in 1971, called 'The
Great Harmonica Players' vols. I & II (on the 'Roots' label, out of Sweden,
I think) That's where I first heard BB, as well as Palmer McAbee, De Ford
Bailey and a bunch of other players from the 20s and 30s. To me, these
guys, along with Gwen Foster, delved deeper into the possibilities of the
instrument then any of the more famous blues players in the next few
decades.
For some reason I didn't come across Willie 'Rhythm Willie' Hood till maybe
the 80s:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4orCmvgijn8&list=PL36538C990F6157E1
....there's a fair bit more of Willie on Youtube. His approach to the harp
is similar to BBs.
BB (or James Simon; how would you like to be called 'Birdhead?!) doesn't
seem to have recorded much. His playing can also be heard in the 'Bubbling
over Five'  I suspect Simon played other instruments, and his work on the
harp was just part of his career as an entertainer. Hey, maybe he was the
David Therault of the 1920s; brilliant, obscure and elusive!
RD

On 4 June 2013 00:57, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Robert Rowe wrote:
> > In case you, like me, had never heard of Blues Birdhead or James Simon...
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzvjZPHYfyU
>
> Holy smokes, is that great stuff.  A fully formed jazz harmonica
> conception on the diatonic in 1929!  BB obviously spent some time schooling
> on Armstrong and Bechet.  I am going to study this piece very carefully.
>
> regards, Richard Hunter
>
> author, "Jazz Harp"
> latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
> Myspace http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
> Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
> more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
> Twitter: lightninrick
>



-- 
Rick Dempster
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