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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Corky Siegel
Corky Siegel
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ramclean
13 posts
Jun 07, 2009
10:26 AM
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Here is an artist that has gone almost unmentioned on the forum. Several people have recently posted videos on YouTube of him solo; and with his longtime partner, Jim Schwall. Corky, along with Paul Butterfield and Charley McCoy, were thr players that got me hooked on harp. While he knew Little Walter, Junior Wells, Howling Wolf, and others; he always had his own sound. Check this out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTXRhumK7Qc
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thehoppingsparrow
3 posts
Jun 07, 2009
10:45 AM
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hes good.
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MrVerylongusername
344 posts
Jun 07, 2009
10:52 AM
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For something different, you should check out the 1966 recording "Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra" that Siegel-Schwall band recorded with the SF Symphony Orchestra.
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genesis
25 posts
Jun 07, 2009
5:14 PM
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His dynamics are awesome. I went to a seminar last summer in Chicago that he gave and was blown away.
Unfortunately, there were only 2 people that showed up for it. The seminar was entirely about dynamics. His version of Amazing Grace blew me away. He can play so quietly with the full gamut of tonal colors and effects its unreal.
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kudzurunner
494 posts
Jun 07, 2009
6:04 PM
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He has an original vision, fusing classical with blues. I had one Siegal-Schwall album thirty years ago when I was learning, and I enjoyed it.
I checked out the video above and I'm afraid that I'm not impressed by his harp playing. He's a good blues pianist with a solid swinging groove, but his harp playing is unoriginal and, at worst, self-indulgent, a series of stock licks without much underlying musicality. I'm speaking strictly on the basis of the three recent videos I've just watched. On the harp--and I'm NOT speaking about his larger musical vision, chamber stuff, piano, etc.--he strikes me as somebody who was content to measure up to the players who'd come before him, rather than, like Butterfield and Musselwhite, somebody who wanted to recreate the instrument in his own image.
That's why he doesn't show up on my all-time greats list. He just doesn't move me, and I don't think he's excited many other harp players to the extent that they said, "Hey, I want to play like THAT."
Harsh words, I realize, but they're the standard I hold to. When I praise Jason Ricci, Dennis Gruenling, Kim Wilson, Magic Dick, Billy Branch, William Clarke, it's because they're exciting. They kick ass. Siegel's musical vision is about much more than harp, but considered purely in harmonica terms......
Annnnnh.
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Buddha
602 posts
Jun 07, 2009
7:15 PM
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I once had a very short "I want to play like Corkey" moment. I heard his reunion album when I was learning to play and I like his clean sound and quirkiness. I learned everything on that album in about a week and moved on.
A year or two later I was the 1992 SPAH and Corkey was supposed to be there. I was sitting down by the pool playing by myself when this gentle man came down to listen. He sat next to me and told me it was the most beautiful harmonica playing he'd ever heard.
I was SOOOOOO nervous. I was stuttering and stammering when I was talking to him. I started playing his stuff from that album. This guy lights up and starts clapping. I nearly soiled myself. He says "WOW. I've never heard anybody do that before. So do you play any Bob Dylan?"
I was all apologetic and said no I wasn't a fan. He starts to tell me how much he loves Dylan's music, has most of his albums and loves to sing along. Then he introduces himself. It wasn't Corky Siegal at all. In fact he wasn't even a harmonica play. He was just some business dude that had a conference at the hotel.
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The Gloth
84 posts
Jun 08, 2009
1:20 AM
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LOL, good story !
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CarolynViolin
43 posts
Jun 08, 2009
6:40 AM
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I like Corky's playing. I love the "Crazy Harmonic Violin Jam" that he does with violinist Randy Sabien!!! Harmonica and violin go so well together!
Carolyn
Last Edited by on Jun 08, 2009 6:41 AM
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ramclean
14 posts
Jun 08, 2009
2:48 PM
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Corky doesn't push the envelope of harmonica, but I enjoy listening to, and playing some of the stuff from Siegel-Scwall's early days. Because of that, for me, it has value. I'm probably a bit retrospective in my musical tastes, so maybe that's why I like it.
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