Re: [Harp-L] Juke and Leap Frog

["Patrick Lines" <plines@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I read an interview with James Cotton where he said he thought it was 
ridiculous that all these harp players were trying to play Juke note by note 
when live Little Walter never played it the same night to night.

-----Original Message----- 
From: The Iceman
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2015 8:56 AM
To: dougharps@xxxxxxxxx ; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Juke and Leap Frog

I get the idea that LW may have always played his tunes somewhat differently 
rather than memorize and repeat - sort of a harmonica Billie Holliday
vie


-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Schroer <dougharps@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Harp-l for posting <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, Jun 1, 2015 11:15 am
Subject: [Harp-L] Juke and Leap Frog


After listening once again to the hit and alternate versions of "Juke" I
think
it is evident that LW had a lot of phrases he could use to play over
12 bar
segments of an instrumental song.  My view is that he would play to
this
instrumental groove and use whatever phrases appealed to him at the
time.
There are far more differences in the two versions than similarities
due to his
use of different phrases or different renditions of similar
phrases for each 12
bar segment.

Either there was no one version of this song and he made it up
as he went
each time, playing whichever phrase passed through his mind, or he
was
forced to shorten his long live song to fit the record format.  Perhaps
he
would play a much longer version live that included many more phrases
than
could fit on a record side.

My belief is that his musical mind was full
of ideas he could play over 12
bar segments, some his own, some riffs or
melodies from other songs he had
heard played by horn bands, and he would just
GO... and play.

Without the "Leap Frog" riff on the record would he have had
a hit?  I
think so. That is a small part of the song.

Doug S.