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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Kudzurunner sounds like sonny boy?
Kudzurunner sounds like sonny boy?
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sopwithcamels266
169 posts
Jul 16, 2009
1:52 PM
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Some time back either on the site here or a video kudzurunner mentioned that when he was playing on the street in New York a lot of passers by use to say he sounded like Sonnyboy "Williams" an issue on the name sometimes instead of williamson.
Well there was other issues on Sonnyboy Williamson name for sure right.
That a side, apart from a few gigs recently I have had to lock myself away 12 hours a day for the last 14 days to nail some Robert Johnson stuff for a paid session I have to do on a Reso.Digging through my vast record collection I came across a very early Sonnyboy Williamson track. Man I can't remember the record at present but its a very early raw acoustic cut of Good Morning School Girl, with acoustic guitar.
Now in that track you can here quite notably Kudzurunner.
Particularly in the first minute of the cut.May be Adam isn't consious of it.
I think its notable because all really fine players have some form of shout or little thing that they do when they play on everything to identify themselves. Often they are not aware of it.Sometimes very small nuances.
It's very apparent on the great Sax players.
When Kudzurunner does his instruction videos you don't always here it but as soon as he cuts loose to solo there it is every time.
(The funky thing in 3rd although a trade mark piece of work, he dosen't do it on this.)
Now to me thats the mark of an excellent player in this case a Blues player.
Last Edited by on Jul 16, 2009 1:56 PM
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kudzurunner
584 posts
Jul 16, 2009
8:26 PM
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I'm conscious of everything I do, especially my influences. I certainly spent some time, about 23-25 years ago, woodshedding with three LPs of John Lee Williamson, which is the Sonny Boy you're talking about--although not a lot of that cut in particular. (I copied "Wonderful Time" and "Sloppy Drunk" note for note).
What I suspect you're hearing, though, is what I got from John Lee by way of the guy who truly DID influence me in an audible way--and demanded that I listen to John Lee--which is my teacher, Nat Riddles. Nat had a way of adding some extra texture to his notes and chords, very much as John Lee does. In Nat's case, he achieved that using tongue blocking. I ended up adapting lip-pursing in a way that let me make that sound. I got it from Nat. But he got it from John Lee.
Sopwith, you remind me of me. When I used to listen to Nat, I would KNOW that he got such-and-such a lick from somebody. I'd decided that I'd cracked the code. And he'd go "Sure, that guy was an influence."
Then I'd listen to some other great players and say, "Wait a minute. THAT is who Nat got his thing from."
I did this with about ten different players, each time convinced that I'd cracked the code. After a while I realized that Nat was just Nat--more than the sum of his influences. He had a particular way of swinging vis a vis the beat--delaying or anticipating his note-placement in a way that seemed magical to me. I've got a fair bit of that in some contexts.
You're exactly right that all fine players have a "little thing" that they do when they play to identify themselves. Mine didn't come from John Lee Williamson, though. It came from James Cotton. The big growly tone that I get on A harps, in particular. I'm embarrassed by how much I sound like JC when I'm not careful to veer away.
And/or Big Walter. Somebody just wrote to tell me that I bend my blue third EXACTLY ten cents sharp from the minor third--which is exactly what Big Walter does, apparently.
And/or Sonny Terry. He was a huge influence. Sometimes I thin my 4 draw to make it metallic and cutting. I got that from Sonny T.
And Houston Person, of course. He's the reason I use a digital delay, and set it where I set it. I really stole my whole approach from him. I've admitted this for years. My sense of swing, the big tone, the particular kind of bittersweet blues-feeling that he projects on "Goodness."
And Hank Crawford: the way he edges his blue notes is what I tried to copy. I spent far more time copying his licks than John Lee's. Hank is the man.
Actually, the single note triplet runs that I play really come from Paul Butterfield. It's really embarrassing how undiluted the Butter/Gussow connection is. I'm basically a Butterfield ripoff artist.
And Sugar Blue, of course. I learned several choruses of "Pontiac Blues" note for note. His fast slurs. I have two or three that I seem to throw into every single solo I play.
I try to make the flat sevenths yelp. I got that from Stanley Turrentine.
And I have a slur that no other harp player has in which I slide down from a 6 blow into a bent 4 draw, following it immediately with a 4 blow. That's a Hank Crawford riff.
Last Edited by on Jul 16, 2009 8:38 PM
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sopwithcamels266
173 posts
Jul 17, 2009
12:35 AM
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Kudzurunner: Yea, I think that on the street passers by perhaps their only reference point may have been Sonny boy.
One thing is clear that players on Harp like your self and Buddha share that essential ingredient of listening to other instruments.
As a Sax player Turrentine was a huge influence on my playing style and yet like all players studied the Bird thing and others including Trane.
May be the times we live in and experiences are all relative. I was working the street in the 80s in London when you were developing in New York.
Strangely even though we think our influences are unique and are all free choices may be everything that is happening around us is really shaping us.
I say this because the blues music you were playing then wasn't the most popular music.
Certainly blues and jazz had a rise which peaked I believe by early to mid 90s and hasn't managed to get to that point since.
With the world wide recession and other matters I guess it MAY be due to rise again in the next 7 to 8 years if players adopt the principles of many of the sreet artists from before.
Last Edited by on Jul 17, 2009 12:37 AM
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