Band provides some structure but not too much,just right I think.
They leave things open for guitar soloist but bass player keeping it straight in his melodic line so guitar can kind of do his own thing and get away with it without loosing the listener.
Harp player got a good voice works well. To harp the blues harp sounds interesting to me and complements the band as much as dominating or soloing for that matter. Yep and within all of this for the listener, punters are dancing.
Nice post kingley I enjoyed listenting to this band.
Clever actually, they can play what I class as more or less blues stuff tweaks in the 9th chord department etc so they can get away with slightly more interesting stuff.
Just takes a little bit of thought process thats all. It is what I class as a cleanish blues delivery but nice band........................
Last Edited by on Sep 28, 2009 10:45 AM
Hey Buddha man what' happening you airbourne warriers just wont lie down ha ha.
To answer to your question I guess it was for me right, this band works thats how I see it It works on several fronts.
The post of Mr levy playing on the other thread doesn't work on any front.In fact half way through he goes into some bluesy stuff for sure but that isn't a developed solo, that is is one box followed by another box. The band are clearly on one level and he is on another.As I said before He dosen't need to drop in and do that stuff like that in that way. it dosen't fool me.
Sure Mr levy has got feel sure he is one of the greatest diatonic harp players that ever lived but even he would admit that that session dosen't work.
To my way of thinking there is no need to fire technique off for the sake of it.Particularly when the band are on a way way different level.
That is not working smart and what you find is that most of that chromatisism tends to some anyway, sound out of tune.On any instrument let a lone a diatonic harp which is very tricky. Come on Buddha your one of the great diatonic harp player yourself so you must kind of dig some of what i'm arguing here.
Hey Im still a big fan of his jazz stuff and dig and respect what that cat has done for music on a diatonic.
That may be didn't answere your question. Second go,ha ha, Blues like jazz to my mind has to have several fundermental elements in their respective definitions.
Even when Mr Levey kicks into the blues idea thing switching one to the other well to me that isn't blues. I don't doubt he can play great blues but that isn't it here. It dosen't communcate with what the band laying down and have been laying down from the start. He heres rhythm and he was going to do what he was going to do.For my money he is a far better player than that to go down those elementary tracks.
Last Edited by on Sep 28, 2009 11:21 AM
I have a CD-"Got harp,if you want it!"- Mark Ford does a kick ass,almost over the top version of-ta dah! "Summertime". I think Buddha is playing devil's advocate on Levy.I agree with Kingley & Sop and I think Buddha does, too.
@ Buzadero. It was so long ago, I had to do some Googling. I remember that it was before I saw him backing up Joni Mitchell with the L.A. Express and that was 1974, so it must have been '73 or so. (Damn, time flys!) Years later I saw a version of the Charles Ford band -the Patrick Ford band, and they were outstanding.
I wish I could say I'm a fan of Mark Ford's. I haven't watched all of the videos above all the way through, but I've watched this one:
It's certainly possible that by 2003 he'd lost something. In this video he has a couple of interesting ideas on the IV chord, but he doesn't swing at all. He plays hard, but the INNER energy that I look for in harp playing isn't there. When he's playing a rocked-out Green Bullet, as in some of the videos above, it's easier to be impressed by his speed, but the moment he slows down and is forced to depend a little more on his tone, swing-sense, and lyricism, those three elements turn out not to be there as fully as I'd like to see them. I hate to put it this way, but: he's a better rock player than blues player.
You all know what I like, because I've made that clear: on the forward-looking end, Jason and Sugar Blue. On the more downhome end, Billy Branch. Contrast Mark Ford's playing in the video I've posted just above with Billy's in the following. This IS swing on the harp:
@kudzurunner very harsh criticism from you; he flows and feels and moves as one with the band (his family!!) The Ford band tribute to Paul Butterfield cd is a masterpiece and an inspiration
Last Edited by on Sep 29, 2009 2:56 PM
Mark Ford does some awesome acoustic work on the Butterfield Tribute CD. I like Mark, but I can see Kudzurunner's point. I've always felt that Mark and Andy were very similar in tone/style from what I've heard. They really play an aggressive in your face style. Very different than traditional players. ---------- Mike Fugazzi http://www.myspace.com/niterailband http://www.youtube.com/user/NiteRail http://www.twitter.com/NiteRail http://www.facebook.com/mike.fugazzi
I would agree with Adam that Mark is more suited to rock than blues. He is at the rock end of blues for sure. Even he would admit that I suspect.
Andy Just and Mark Ford are very similar in tone / style / technique. It is sometimes very hard to tell them apart, and they do play with an aggressive in your face style.
For me Mark has some interesting ideas that set him apart from a lot of blues harp players. Although this video maybe isn't the best example of that. Like most people though it's hard to judge from one performance a persons whole style / ability. You have to listen to a wide selection of their material to gain a subjective view.
I like Marks playing but I couldn't listen to him every day.
But every few months or so he makes a refreshing change from one Little Walter / Big Walter lick after another as churned out on masse by so many players.
I'll listen to the Butterfield selection, and thanks for suggesting it. You'll notice that I'm careful to tailor my criticism to the evidence I've actually examined, and I don't offer criticism of other harp players in a casual way, since my a-- is hanging out there and things said publicy tend to get back to the person who is being talked about.
When I visited Europe in 1991 with Satan & Adam, everybody wanted to talk about Paul Delay and Mark Ford--two players who I'd never heard of, or heard, at that point.
I am pretty sure Mark is doing all the acoustic and Andy is doing all the amped stuff. That's what I mean, they are so similar! In My Own Dreams is just gorgeous, but it surely isn't a "blues" song.
From what I've read about the Fords, Mark never had much of an interest in playing out like Robben. Maybe Mark's motivations are just different than the norm. I am sure if he had dove all in like Robben, he may have more blues-blues out there on CD and YouTube. ---------- Mike Fugazzi http://www.myspace.com/niterailband http://www.youtube.com/user/NiteRail http://www.twitter.com/NiteRail http://www.facebook.com/mike.fugazzi
