It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
I record myself practicing as a matter of habit, and the piece linked below is the first thing I play on stage and in practice: Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.” This arrangement is mine, and is…
The Dusty 45s Rock, and the Drummer Plays Harp
I went to a free concert in Jackson Wyoming tonight. The headliner was Wanda Jackson, a nice lady in her mid-70s who used to be a singer, and who had some interesting stories to tell about the days in the mid-1950s when she toured with…
Richard Hunter with One Ton Pig: “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down”
I played last night (August 2 2011) with One Ton Pig, my bluegrass friends (actually, they refer to what they do as “Chicken-Fried-Prison-Music,” but bluegrass is easier to place in context for most people) at the Silver Dollar in Jackson, Wyoming. I recorded the first…
Video of the Day 3 August 2011: Hendrik Meurkens, “Mundell’s Mood”
Straight-ahead jazz by one of my favorite jazz chromatic players, NYC-based Hendrik Meurkins. Beautifully clear tone in the Toots Thielemans style, great lines that go faster and faster until they get all the way to Wow!, and a wonderfully bouyant feeling throughout make this piece…
Video of the Day 21 July 2011: Brendan Power, “Sweet Georgia Brown”
This performance is a lot of fun, and it demonstrates so many cool things that you can do with a harp and a couple of pieces of gear (and talent, of course) that I don’t know where to start. Brendan lays down the chord changes…
Video of the Day July 13 2011: Otavio Castro
Otavio Castro is a Brazilian jazz harmonica virtuoso in his early 30s. As this piece shows, he can make the diatonic harmonica do some pretty amazing things. I’m amazed at how strong his tone is at the velocity he’s playing at in this piece, not…
Charlie Musselwhite’s “Rough Dried” is the real thing, live
I’ve been an avid follower of Charlie Musselwhite since his recording of “Cristo Redentor” on his “Tennessee Woman” album on Vanguard changed my life in 1969. Charlie has always had a unique sound and approach to the harmonica; his rhythms and his notes alway seem…
Video of the Day 4 July 2011: Big Shoulders with Ron Sorin, “I Got Love,” 1989
Ron Sorin is the harp player on this cut, a very enjoyable Bo Diddly groove with a lot of free reeds in the mix–the lead singer is playing a squeezebox. The mix of amped-up harp and squeezebox is totally cool, the rhythm section drives like…
Video of the Day 1 July 2011: Philip Achille, “Genevieve Waltz”
Philip Achille is based in the UK, and his Myspace page lists a lot of jazz and R&B influences, though as this clip shows he’s obviously at ease with more classically-oriented genres. Here he’s playing Larry Adler’s best-known composition. Comparisons are inevitable, and Achille compares…
Video of the day 18 May 2011: RealWeepingHarpSenoh
RealWeepingHarpSenoh is a band from Japan with three harp players. I never heard of them before this video was posted to the Harp-L list. Every one of these guys plays totally authentic blues harp–it’s really quite impressive. This piece is Jimmy Reed’s classic “Baby What…
