James Cotton Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) Nat Riddles Big Walter Horton Rev. Dan Smith Mitch Kashmar (high notes, straight harp) William Clarke (chromatic) Carey Bell Junior Wells Little Walter Ronnie Shellist
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 07, 2015 7:17 PM
hvyj: I love Big Walter, but I don't agree that he's in "a class by himself" and that "no one else even comes close." For my money, Cotton and SBW II are very much in his class--Cotton for depth, power, and raunch, and SBW for a kind of cutting power on the high harps that even Big Walter can't match.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 09, 2015 12:35 PM
@Adam: Well, I must confess that after I wrote that, I began to have nagging second thoughts about Cotton. BW is a more disciplined player than JC, but, yeah, for pure power and depth of tone, JC is tough to beat. I'm not familiar enough with SB2's entire body of work to have a a sufficiently informed basis to either agree or disagree with your assessment. I do absolutely agree that Kashmar is at the top of the food chain on the high register, though.
Last Edited by hvyj on Dec 09, 2015 4:30 PM
Tone is so much in the ear of the beholder it's something all harp players zero in on, not just about technique or phrasing it's so much about a sound and if it is a sound you find beautiful and desirable and also it's either (for me anyway) whether it's acoustic or amped up. SBWII everytime for me acoustic I can almost hear him sing when he plays and how he shapes his notes and uses his mouth/breath to produce his tone. Same for Wild Child Butler, Billy Bizor, James Cotton to guys like Mitch Kashmar, R.J. Mischo,Kim Wilson,Paul lamb and although I'm not a fan of Jason Ricci amped up his acoustic tone is dreamy smooth abit like like Sugar blues! and of course Big walter's beautiful tone...just so many.
Amped up Big Walter,Papa Lightfoot and Little Walters various tones through to early 90's Piazza, William Clarke, Mitch Kashmar, Paul Oscher and Gary Primich his acoustic or amped tone was just a gorgeous playful yet deep tone. ----------
"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
Last Edited by marine1896 on Dec 13, 2015 2:32 PM
Michael, not that I'm aware of, but after Levon Helm said what he said it seemed to me that would explain the distinctiveness of PB's tone. But maybe I'm just hearing what I want to hear--you know, cognitive dissonance.
Big Walter, Gary Primach, and Gary Smith have that deep, fat stuff I like. ---------- Ricky B http://www.bushdogblues.blogspot.com RIVER BOTTOM BLUES--crime novel for blues fans available at Amazon/B&N, iTunes, iBook THE DEVIL'S BLUES--ditto HOWLING MOUNTAIN BLUES--Ditto too, now available
