Re: [Harp-L] When Did Fast Become Good?

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> But Frank, don't you think when Butter showed up he was considered a speed 
> player?

I don't recall that being true.  He was a whole lot more skilled than the 
local wannabes and even most guys playing on rock records (though not as 
tasty as John Sebastian), but the first fast player I heard in NYC played 
alot faster than Paul Butterfield.  I couldn't believe what I was 
hearing.  Until a few months later when I had learned all his tricks.

At the time he got noticed in NYC, around 1966, Paul Butterfield got 
noticed for several reasons:

* He made music most white kids like myself had never heard before.  Good 
music.
* He played with compelling power and some degree of originality.
* He had one unbelievable band.
* He had a sensational producer, Paul Rothschild, who believed in the band 
so much that, in the well-known story, put the first finished version of 
the first album on the shelf and recut it because he knew it could be 
better.  (The only other time I have heard of that was when Sheryl Crow did 
that with her first album, though I'm sure there were others.)
* With the exception of the Blues Project, no other rock band with the word 
'blues' in their name made especially compelling music.

But while there was a sudden fascination with very fast guitarists around 
1966 - Danny Kalb, we were told, could play 30 notes in a single second - I 
do not recall anyone talking or raving about Paul Butterfield's speed.

Quick memory some of you will probably also recall: there was a short bit 
of time when the world of teenage hipsters was split on the question of who 
was the best guitar player ever on earth: Danny Kalb or Mike Bloomfield.

Final irrelevant bit: Wonderfully enough, Danny Kalb is still alive and 
making records.

Yay for that.  30 notes per second or not.

K