Fav Harp Players

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

There are a lot of great harmonica players in ROCK & Blues from Dylan to Lee Oskar to Musselwhite.

Some of my favs:

Jack Bruce~TRAINTIME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdxxSBVwRYg&feature=PlayList&p=24AF480A8312D5B6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=26

Magic Dick~Whammer Jammer:



Paul Butterfield~Work Song:

Part 1:
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFctpo7pMoo&feature=related

[rahock]

A couple of years ago when I was in So Cal I went to a small show with some pretty big names. Local band with a pretty good harp player hosted the show and the big names playing were James Cotton, Charlie Musslewhite and Kim Wilson. Great show in a great place that seated about 400 people. The acoustics were so good that Kim Wilson stood right behind me in the 4th row  for one song, sang and played harp with no mic. The boy has got some pipes .

I seldom use the word favorite, but right there are three players that are definately the top of the heap. I used to play a bit of harp myself, but it kind of fell by the wayside. I have been fortunate enough to work with a couple of real strong harp players over the years including a guy that I'm working with right now who can kick some pretty serious ass. He's 59 years old and never played  in a band situation before. Freakin' amazing. He's one of these guys who has just been  blowing a harp sitting in the living room for years. A buddy of mine brought him by for a jam one night about a year ago and he just blew everyone away. He took  almost no time to pick up on the structure of things and really make it work. He could hold his own with just about anybody.
Rick

[uwe]

Doesn't Stevie Wonder deserve honorary mention here? Though his style (or his melodies) are a bit too sweet for me, nobody, absolutely nobody plays like him.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Yeah! Stevie Wonder is amazing!

Rick~ Those other guys are definitely Top o' the Heap like you say tooo
James Cotton~ That's the one I couldn't remember.
Cool that you've got yourself a good harp player!

Me too~ I'm rentin' out a room to a kid who plays harp really well & sings too.
He also plays sax & clarinet. He says Junior Wells is THE MAN!

[Freuds_Cat]

John Popper for me.

[Highlander]

Paul Jones is pretty good...

Neil Young and Bob Dylan deserve honorary mentions here for being long time advocates of the harp...

[nofi]

ok, let's cut the crap. sonny boy williamson. (the real one) also the late, great lester butler of the red devils and the late, great richard newell, aka king biscuit boy.

[Basvarken]

Lester Butler

[Pilgrim]

There are many great ones, but over the past couple of decades, John Popper of Blues Traveler never fails to amaze me.

[luve2fli]

John Popper, Sugar Blue, James Cotton and Charlie Musselwhite .....

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

All Right! Lots of Popper fans!!!! Dig this with him helpin' METALLICA on a Synyrd cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHVMUZ7hHRo&feature=related

Gary Rossington & Pepper Keenan also guest on it!!

Plant did a great Sonny Boy Williamson imitation on Bring It On Home, huh?
Plant is good on harp too. Page plays some too, that's him on CP.

[Basvarken]

I played in a Blues band called Original SIN for as few months.
We had an Aussie harp player called Colin Mack.
There's no original compositions to be found on YouTube, but here's a cover of the Red Devils they recorded a few months before I joined

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

John Mayall ~ Room To Move!

[rahock]

ok, let's cut the crap. sonny boy williamson. (the real one) also the late, great lester butler of the red devils and the late, great richard newell, aka king biscuit boy.

Again you hit the nail on the head Sonny Boy wrote the book.
If you're a fan of good , old school blues, and obviously you are, you would should pick up on some Kim Wilson stuff. He is about as old school as anybody gets these days and his sound is as distinctive as it gets. Raspy , dirty and as  full and thick as a Hammond organ .
I had a harp player many years ago who used a cheap EV mic that I stole from a high school football stadium in about 1966-67 to get that same kind of sound. It sat in a damp fruit cellar for about 20 years mellowing and was worth about two dollars when I gave it to him. He said it was the best mic he'd ever had and he treated like a Stradivariuos violin. He's probably still got it. He was hands down the best I've ever played with

Rick

BTW: Terry, thanks for that Room to Move piece. I've probably seen John Mayall with twenty different bands and the band he did this stuff with was the best. Great piece of work and the only band I've ever seen that could pull off a drum solo without a drummer

[Chris P.]

I hoped Basvarken would call Lester Butler and he did. A big +1!

And of course Elwood Blues!