Teade Geertsma has, thankfully, taken matters into his own hands and uploaded another video--well, photo montage with audio backing--culled from Nat Riddles's small stock of LP recordings. It's about damned time! Although the Spivey Records website claims that the label has been resuscitated by one of founder Len Kunstadt's younger relatives, she hasn't yet reissued ANY of Nat's recordings, nor has she responded to my repeated emails requesting that she at least think about doing that.
So Teade is stomping all over copyrights, as many on YouTube do, and uploading the songs on an occasional basis. I'm extremely glad he's doing this, because it gives you a chance to hear the Nat that I knew. His amazing "kick," the little syncopations that he threw into his playing and that gave them a percolating inner life, are beautifully evident in this recording. And of course there's that beautiful tone. If you've heard all the guys on my top 20 list but you haven't heard Nat, and then you hear Nat, it's hard not to feel that he somehow sums up the tradition without being derivative. It's not like he's doing anything new; it's more like he's doing something old and true, straight down the middle of the tradition, that makes him irreplaceable once you've heard him. Or at least that's how I hear him. Anyway, please enjoy this:
Man,that was sweet! I know there are players out there that can throw down more advanced stuff but to me,this is bluesharp the way I like it! I would give a lot to play like that...
There's an older thread where it's mentioned by someone that they might upload a Larry and Nat record they found in mp3 form. I actually found something that matches that description by doing a simple search. What I'm wondering is if this is a download link that is okay to post on this thread? Or maybe by my mentioning of it everyone will just find it on their own :) .
---------- ~Ryan Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Very nice!! Adam (kudzurunner), I am curious why you didn't switch to Nat Riddles method of tongue blocking mostly everything (such as single notes) when he was your teacher? Given that incredible tone, why were you never swayed?
"Man,that was sweet! I know there are players out there that can throw down more advanced stuff but to me,this is bluesharp the way I like it! I would give a lot to play like that..."
You read my thoughts, dude. I couldn't have said it better.
As for TB'ing - and I know I'll be shot down for this - I really do believe there's an awful lot you can do to equal that tone LP'ing. You just get used to working with your throat and jaw, at least I think that's what I'm doing.
Still, that debate is perennial and irreconcilabe. Each to their own, I suppose. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
The moment I started to overblow, Nat's way of playing was no longer enough for me. And that's as it should be.
Nat's style is beautiful, irreplaceable, and valid, just as it is. He was and will always be my teacher--one of my teachers, and certainly the main one on harp.
But it's also true that he didn't expand the harmonica vocabulary as I've deliberately tried to do. He worked within an established style, and his tongue-blocking was part of that. I've pushed quite a bit beyond established blues harp styles--although of course I'm Mr. Tame next to Buddha or Howard, or (at this point) Jason.
Nat's way showed me the way, but at a certain point it was clear that I needed to move past what he'd done. I made the right choice. He would have agreed. In fact, he did agree. At a certain point, instead of me chasing him around with a tape recorder, he started wanting to record me. He was intrigued by what I was doing, although overblows weren't his thing.
It's also worth pointing out that lots of other players use TB technique and don't have any of the swinging magic that Nat had. That magic was aided by his TB technique, but it can't remotely be reduced to that technique.
As for his tone: there's no way to say this that won't seem arrogant, but I'm happy with my tone. It certainly owes something to him, but not everything. (His vibrato on this cut actually strikes me as a little under-developed; it got deeper and smoother later on, and that's when I met him and said "I want that!")
There's one way, though, in which Nat completely and totally formed me: he played off-the-shelf Hohner Marine Band harps, and he didn't waste much time worrying whether every reed was tweaked and brought into perfect tune. Right on, brother Nat! Old School rules!
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2009 2:18 PM
"It's also worth pointing out that lots of other players use TB technique and don't have any of the swinging magic that Nat had. That magic was aided by his TB technique, but it can't remotely be reduced to that technique." - How true that is. Ultimately is it the musicians ears and imagination that make them what they are, not their techniques.
To play devils advocate, here is an interesting article Franz chmel wrote. If you don't know who he is, youtube him: http://www.chmel.at/sites/assets/static/Harmonica_Course_.pdf
Three minutes' perusal of that pdf and I must say: Chmel is dead wrong in almost everything he says about the lip pursing vs. tongue blocking controversy. Just wrong on every point.
Thanks for pointing me towards it, though. Although the debate is tiresome and needless, it's good to know what the best-known educators are saying.
if you provide an email adress I'm pretty sure that alot of us would put pressure on the right people to get them to give some of Nats stuff out again. At least put it up for downloading in some way..
Nat used to talk about Lenny Rabenovets; he was one of the handful of Brooklyn guys that Nat learned from. (And Bronx guys.) I met Lenny only once, about 8 or 9 years ago. Maybe 2000, before the World Trade Center was knocked down. He had a lunchtime gig in a park near Wall Street. I think I'm remembering the right guy. In any case, I did either meet him or communicate with him. Or maybe I met some other teacher of Nat's.....
Marty Fink. It was Mary Fink who I met near Wall Street, at that summertime gig. Lenny and I traded an email. He'd read my book and wanted to share memories of Nat.
I didn't know he'd passed. I'm sorry to hear that.
I googled "Marty Fink" and "harmonica" and found this. It seems relevant to the thread.
A NIGHT OF BLUES HARP AT THE ZOO BAR Sunday June 5th 8PM - Midnight A SPECIAL EVENT PAYING TRIBUTE TO BIG WALTER HORTON, SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON, LITTLE WALTER JACOBS, EDDIE TAYLOR AND ROBERT NIGHTHAWK FEATURING FROM NYC Page 2
Marty Finch (originally spelled Marty Fink) from New York City started playing harp seriously as a teenager in the mid- 1970s. He adsorbed harp skills from the local masters: Paul Oscher, Bill Dicey, Danny Russo, Bob Shatkin and others. Many nights were spent at local clubs intensely watching the blues acts that passed through –Muddy Waters, The Great Walter Horton, Willie Dixon, James Cotton, Freddy King, BB King, Albert King, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones amongst others. Marty worked as a sideman and started his own band that played locally at Dan Lynch and other clubs. He also played with Hash Brown (now located in Texas), Tommy Tucker (“High Heel Sneakers”), Left Hand Frank and Bob Margolin (Muddy Waters). Marty’s most memorable highlight was the privilege of backing up Big Walter Horton at Tramp’s in NYC in 1979. In fact, he still treasures the microphone he let Walter use as being “blessed.”A traditionalist in the “NYC”school of harmonica playing Marty emulates the styling of Big Walter Horton and other “kings of the harmonica.”
Hometown: Catonsville Current members: David "Automatic Slim" Carreon, guitar and vocals; Scott Stump, drums; Jim Harrell, guitar; Jack DiPietro, bass; "Lazy" Lenny Rabenovets, harmonica; Steve Potter, bass Founded in: 1989 Style: blues and roots rock
GREAT harp playing. Tone and swing. His TB-enabled rhythms make it. (Mickil - sorry, but I do not think it is possible to play like that in LP. There's a lot of slaps and pull-slapping (Dave Barrett's terminology) in there. Of course if you can prove otherwise I'd love to hear it.
Among modern harp players with whom I'm familiar, I find RJ MIscho's style very similar. I'll bet RJ did a lot of listening to Nat. ---------- /Greg
http://www.BlowsMeAway.com http://www.BlueStateBand.net
Last Edited by on Nov 14, 2009 5:11 PM
Just purchased the Nat Riddles album. There is some good $h!+ on there. Lots to learn and good audio to. Real music because they were having fun and worth every penny.
@ Adam, did Nat do much rehearsal for those street gigs or was he knew his stuff so well he just went out and played?
