kudzurunner
868 posts
Dec 13, 2009
5:37 AM
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I just came across the following, which was new to me:
The author transcribes solos from a number of class blues sax players, including Eddie Shaw, A.C. Reed, Stanley Turrentine, and Willis "Gatortail" Jackson, and then plays them on the accompanying CD.
If I was starting my journey all over again, this is the book I would get. Kids these days don't realize how lucky they are!
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barbequebob
201 posts
Dec 13, 2009
6:36 AM
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This looks like something that many harp players can use as a textbook. Too often the average player tends to have the attitude "if it ain`t got no harp, I can`t/won`t listen to it," and it`s really a very poor musical attitude that I find ironic, given the FACT that many of the very best players ever ALL listened, learned, and adapted things from listening to a lot of other instruments besides the harmonica, most especially sax players. Adam, I`m sure you followed a very similar path many of the greats did as I did by doing so much listening to sax. In LW`s playing, I hear tons of quotes from sax players like Louis Jordan, Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, as well as trumpet players like Roy Eldridge and Louis Armstrong. I believe VERY STRONGLY that the attitude too many harp players have against listening AND learning from instruments other than the harmonica is severly limiting and almost irrational.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Kingley
532 posts
Dec 13, 2009
7:34 AM
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Willis "Gatortail" Jackson was a huge influence on William Clarke.
Rod Piazza listens to a lot of Gene Ammons and is influenced by that.
Dennis Gruenling is absolutely influenced by horn players. He listens to them all.
Most harmonica players have been or are influenced by horn players, even if they don't all realise it.
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Scoltx
58 posts
Dec 13, 2009
7:42 AM
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Looks like this is written for Bb tenor sax, a Marine Band Low Eb harp to jam along should work nicely. The standard Eb is just not saxy enough in my ears, one of the reasons I tend like low harps, more sax like growl. I often think of how a horn section would play something when working on backup harp parts, great with low harps.
Last Edited by on Dec 13, 2009 8:28 AM
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djm3801
270 posts
Dec 13, 2009
8:28 AM
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Sax is actually my instrument of choice. However, having known some professionals, the hand coordination and more complicated nature of it is something I did not want to take on. Have an Alto sax in the basement somewhere... David Sanborn is a guy i love to hear and watch and I catch him whenever he appears locally.
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Scoltx
59 posts
Dec 13, 2009
8:49 AM
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Sanborn got some airplay back in the eighties IIRC, he appealed to the rockers I think, it was his "Change of Heart" album. I bought it and a couple more of his albums. I really like his tone, a nice "buzz saw" sax tone as one sax player described it to me. I was a Bassist at that time his playing actually reminded me more of lead guitar.
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Greg Heumann
185 posts
Dec 13, 2009
10:04 AM
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Thanks, Adam
As a hack sax player along with my harping, I'm sure I will get some valuable lessons from this book. I ordered a copy.
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/Greg
http://www.BlowsMeAway.com
http://www.BlueStateBand.net
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bluestate
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barbequebob
205 posts
Dec 13, 2009
2:23 PM
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I use Low Eb`s for the very same reasons. I`m a huge fan of the big band and jump
guys from Jacquet to Gene Ammons, Joe Houston, Hal Singer, Red Prysock, Sam The Man Taylor, Tab Smith and that`s just to name a few.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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kudzurunner
872 posts
Dec 13, 2009
4:50 PM
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Hal Singer is great! I don't know Sam the Man Taylor or Tab Smith.
Sterling Magee and I opened for Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang at the Kiawah Island Country Club in S.C. last summer. Nice guy. I had a nice conversation with him out on the porch. Blues people are good talkers.
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barbequebob
210 posts
Dec 13, 2009
7:00 PM
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Sam was on a ton of jump blues sessions in NYC along with Mickey Baker and Panama Francis in the 50`s, including behind Big Maybelle and Ann Cole`s original version of "Got My Mojo Working." If you got a copy of Roomful Of Blues` first album, Greg Piccolo plays a note for note cover of Tab Smith`s "Give It Up."
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Albey
1 post
Dec 13, 2009
11:08 PM
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Actually “Give It Up” is a Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams song with Noble “The Thin Man” Watts doing the Tenor Sax honors. Unlike most of the great Sax instrumentals that were usually in concert Ab or Bb that one was done in the more unorthodox key of C#. Pic nailed it though and Doug’s Baritone parts were right on the money. You are 100% correct about Sam The Man Taylor though. Before King Curtis became the go to guy in NYC, Sam did all of the great session work on the R+B scene. He was a monster player. I still copy most of his solo on the great Big Maybelle song “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show” when we do it with Francine Reed.
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Thanks,
Albey Scholl
The Shadows
Blind Willies Blues Club
Atlanta, GA
http://www.blindwilliesblues.com/
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Micha
42 posts
Dec 14, 2009
1:25 AM
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Are all of the songs in Bb in this book? How can you tell?
Does some of you know which songs it covers?
Last Edited by on Dec 14, 2009 1:26 AM
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barbequebob
213 posts
Dec 14, 2009
12:43 PM
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Albey, many thanks. I was actualy thinking of that other tune covered there, "Red, Hot, And Blue." I love the sound of that brash, ultra macho, bar honker sax players you hear in the jump sax blues sound. David Sanborn is a great player, but for jump blues sound, IMO, he really doesn't do that much for me, but I like him more in a ballad setting.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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rpoe
49 posts
Dec 15, 2009
6:27 PM
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Just got it (Merry Christmas to me from me). cool book/CD.
song keys B, Bb, C, D, Eb, F# and G
Full band in left channel, Tenor Sax part in Right
Interesting bio's on each artist to include influences. Followed by lead-in summary and example of playing style.
More thorough reviews on Amazon.
Great addition to my library.
Rob
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mrdon46
20 posts
Dec 15, 2009
7:08 PM
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Thanks, Adam, for posting this. Like most here apparently, I love horns and try to copy sax licks in particular as a big part of my education.
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MichaelAndrewLo
98 posts
Jan 04, 2010
10:56 PM
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It seems the CD and songs are not based off concert pitch (C), they are of course based of Bflat pitch. Just lower the pitch of the song one whole step (I think) and you have the right key. For example: on the 3rd song in the book by "Maxwell Davis" it lists the key of the song as G, but it really is in F concert pitch. So for a song in the key of "G" I'm using a B-flat harp to play in F. GREAT book. Really works all the overblows and expands phrasing.
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hvyj
71 posts
Jan 05, 2010
9:16 AM
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FWIW, if you are using sheet music to cop licks to play on harmonica, you don't really need to be concerned about what key the music is actually written in. Just convert the written notes to degrees of the scale (1, flat3, 5, etc...) Then, so long as you know where to find the corresponding degrees of the scale on the harmonica, you can play the music in any key or in any position. Obviously, some positions will work better than others.
This may not be what they teach at Julliard or Berklee, but it works.
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barbequebob
297 posts
Jan 05, 2010
12:44 PM
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It's ironic that many times I've seen harp players at jams (even ones that I've hosted) get intimidated on the bandstand by horn players, yet Little Walter had basically played harp more like a sax because he couldn't afford one and I can hear so much stuff that obviously copped from horn players.
Whenever I see my sax playing friend Grodon Beadle AKA Sax Gordon around my bandstand, I get up there with me right away and we do tons of duets together making like we're this big horn section, especially when we're doing uptempo jump blues stuff. He had told me one time that he actually took tons of stuff from harp players and I told him that comes full circle because guys like Little Walter and William Clarke and even myself all have taken stuff from sax players.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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