Saturday, August 13, 2005
What Am I Doing Here?
I've seen Brandon Sprague play before. Brandon is based out of RC and plays around the area quite a bit. He plays blues which I absolutely love. The first time I saw him, though was a couple of years ago when I saw him open for blues legend B.B. King. As far as I'm concerned it doesn't get much better than that. He played acoustic that night but I've seen him plugged in a number of times since and have never left unimpressed. Last night he closed with an Albert Collins tune. If I closed my eyes during his solo, I'd have sworn that is wasAlbert Collins playing. I'm not sure if it's possible for me to give a guitar player much higher praise.
I've more than likely seen Russell Jackson play before as well since he played with B.B. King around the time that I first saw the king of the blues while I was a college sophomore. If I somehow have my years wrong and I didn't see him live, I know I've heard him since I have a couple of albums by B.B. and another by blues pianist Katie Webster that he played on.
Mike and I played at Dunn Bros. in Keystone last night, less than 100 yards from Uncle Tom's Rib Shack where Brandon and Russell where playing. Mike had a dead mic cable and we walked over to Uncle Tom's to see if they had one we could borrow. Brandon and Russell had gotten a little bit of an early start and were absolutely tearing through their first set when we arrived. Between songs, Mike approached the stage. He'd played with both of them before so it wasn't like two strangers were asking to borrow equipment. Still, I thought it was pretty neighborly of them to lend us what we needed.
As we walked back to Dunn Bros. I began to figure that the only way anyone was going to come over to see us with a hot blues band playing 100 yards away was if Uncle Tom's filled to capacity and the overflow crowd, absolutely desperate for music, accidentally stumbled into Dunn Bros. It wasn't quite that bad. Eric showed and played with us, his parents in tow, they were our only audience for most of the night. Some people came in to use the free internet. Being a rainy night, some folks came in for coffee. A foursome stumbled in and sat for a while, enjoyed some brew and told us we were awesome when we left. The compliment was appreciated, but I couldn't help but think that they either hadn't been next door or had an intense hatred for the blues. But I'll take a compliment anywhere I can. They tossed a few bucks in Mike's guitar case as they left so no complaints here.
Tear down was pretty quick as we're playing the same location tonight, we were just able to pack some stuff away and leave it on the stage. We took the guitars and harps out to the car and headed over to Uncle Tom's to hear a little more of Russell and Brandon. They were just finishing up a set as we arrived and we took their chord back to them. We talked a little while, Mike introducting me around. Russell asked me what I played, I told him harp and he asked me if I had one with me. I always carry a "walking around" harp with me so I told him, yeah, I had a C on me. He said they did a lot of stuff in C (long discussion followed about cross keys and what key they would have to play in, my explanation that I played 'straight' as crossing requires me to use my brain - I won't go into it, whoops, I already have.....). He asked if Mike wanted to play as well and we decided to do two tunes in their final set.
I finished my beer and contemplated what was happening. I had just finished playing with Mike, mostly sort of folky stuff, some mellower classic rock, the most challenging harp work, some Bob Dylan, and I always put down Dylan's harp playing. Blues is a different animal. Now I love blues, I don't listen to it exclusively any more, but it's still the majority of my music collection. I started playing harmonica because of my love for the blues. I've never tried to sound like anyone else though and my harmonica style developed completely independently of my love of the blues. I love Little Walter, but to paraphrase Willy Grigg, I'm not Little Walter and I'm never gonna be Little Walter. Plus, he's dead, has been for 40 years, he and I only sharing a couple of months on this planet. Now I was going to have to play in this style, admittedly a style that I love but don't have a lot of experience improvising in. The blues that Andy and I do are great songs, but what I do on them is completely pat, I'm not making anything up.
Russell invited us to the stage, introduced us (passed on my last name - good choice) and launched into Bo Diddley's Before You Accuse Me, yeah, you'll know it from that Eric Clapton album of about 10 years ago. That's the way Mike plays it as well. I found my groove and jumped in. Mike sang, I played, Brandon soloed magnificently. I offered fills, took my turn at an unimagnative solo,though I offered a lot of bends and hand effects, the packed house seemed to enjoy it though I felt terribly out of place.
Mike played electric on the next song, Russell sang. I didn't know the song, can't even remember what it was now. All I remember is that it was in the key of C. Just tell the harp player the key, don't change keys and something good (or at least acceptable) will happen. Mike took a solo, but Russell is a very full bass player, providing a lot of sound and Mike was able to lay out for extended periods. I was awfully happy with my fills and a lot happier with my second solo, playing much more of the harp then I normally do. Again the crowd seemed pretty pleased. Actually I've never played in front of a crowd that looked so pleased, I take very little credit for that, but it was awfully fun to be a part of.
The club owner actually came up to me and thanked me afterward. OK, that's a first, but I'm getting better at taking compliments but heaped as much praise on the band as possible, it wasn't tough to do either, they had laid down a groove that was easy for me to fall into, providing just enough space for me to do what I do, but ready to jump in if I started to fall. That they let me, a completely unknow quantity play with them is amazing to me. Yeah they know Mike and figured Mike wouldn't play with someone with no talent, but still....
I thanked them a lot, probably too much, but I was that kind of appreciative. I played with two guys who have played with B.B. King, for Christ's sake. I don't know if it can get much better than that for a guy of my ability. While I know their praise of my play was a bit overblown, I was aparently acceptable to them. They'll be playing at the Rib Shack again tonight, Mike and I will be a Dunn Bros. again just hoping for some of their overflow crowd. They asked us to drop by again tonight, I know I'll be there.
BOJ
I've more than likely seen Russell Jackson play before as well since he played with B.B. King around the time that I first saw the king of the blues while I was a college sophomore. If I somehow have my years wrong and I didn't see him live, I know I've heard him since I have a couple of albums by B.B. and another by blues pianist Katie Webster that he played on.
Mike and I played at Dunn Bros. in Keystone last night, less than 100 yards from Uncle Tom's Rib Shack where Brandon and Russell where playing. Mike had a dead mic cable and we walked over to Uncle Tom's to see if they had one we could borrow. Brandon and Russell had gotten a little bit of an early start and were absolutely tearing through their first set when we arrived. Between songs, Mike approached the stage. He'd played with both of them before so it wasn't like two strangers were asking to borrow equipment. Still, I thought it was pretty neighborly of them to lend us what we needed.
As we walked back to Dunn Bros. I began to figure that the only way anyone was going to come over to see us with a hot blues band playing 100 yards away was if Uncle Tom's filled to capacity and the overflow crowd, absolutely desperate for music, accidentally stumbled into Dunn Bros. It wasn't quite that bad. Eric showed and played with us, his parents in tow, they were our only audience for most of the night. Some people came in to use the free internet. Being a rainy night, some folks came in for coffee. A foursome stumbled in and sat for a while, enjoyed some brew and told us we were awesome when we left. The compliment was appreciated, but I couldn't help but think that they either hadn't been next door or had an intense hatred for the blues. But I'll take a compliment anywhere I can. They tossed a few bucks in Mike's guitar case as they left so no complaints here.
Tear down was pretty quick as we're playing the same location tonight, we were just able to pack some stuff away and leave it on the stage. We took the guitars and harps out to the car and headed over to Uncle Tom's to hear a little more of Russell and Brandon. They were just finishing up a set as we arrived and we took their chord back to them. We talked a little while, Mike introducting me around. Russell asked me what I played, I told him harp and he asked me if I had one with me. I always carry a "walking around" harp with me so I told him, yeah, I had a C on me. He said they did a lot of stuff in C (long discussion followed about cross keys and what key they would have to play in, my explanation that I played 'straight' as crossing requires me to use my brain - I won't go into it, whoops, I already have.....). He asked if Mike wanted to play as well and we decided to do two tunes in their final set.
I finished my beer and contemplated what was happening. I had just finished playing with Mike, mostly sort of folky stuff, some mellower classic rock, the most challenging harp work, some Bob Dylan, and I always put down Dylan's harp playing. Blues is a different animal. Now I love blues, I don't listen to it exclusively any more, but it's still the majority of my music collection. I started playing harmonica because of my love for the blues. I've never tried to sound like anyone else though and my harmonica style developed completely independently of my love of the blues. I love Little Walter, but to paraphrase Willy Grigg, I'm not Little Walter and I'm never gonna be Little Walter. Plus, he's dead, has been for 40 years, he and I only sharing a couple of months on this planet. Now I was going to have to play in this style, admittedly a style that I love but don't have a lot of experience improvising in. The blues that Andy and I do are great songs, but what I do on them is completely pat, I'm not making anything up.
Russell invited us to the stage, introduced us (passed on my last name - good choice) and launched into Bo Diddley's Before You Accuse Me, yeah, you'll know it from that Eric Clapton album of about 10 years ago. That's the way Mike plays it as well. I found my groove and jumped in. Mike sang, I played, Brandon soloed magnificently. I offered fills, took my turn at an unimagnative solo,though I offered a lot of bends and hand effects, the packed house seemed to enjoy it though I felt terribly out of place.
Mike played electric on the next song, Russell sang. I didn't know the song, can't even remember what it was now. All I remember is that it was in the key of C. Just tell the harp player the key, don't change keys and something good (or at least acceptable) will happen. Mike took a solo, but Russell is a very full bass player, providing a lot of sound and Mike was able to lay out for extended periods. I was awfully happy with my fills and a lot happier with my second solo, playing much more of the harp then I normally do. Again the crowd seemed pretty pleased. Actually I've never played in front of a crowd that looked so pleased, I take very little credit for that, but it was awfully fun to be a part of.
The club owner actually came up to me and thanked me afterward. OK, that's a first, but I'm getting better at taking compliments but heaped as much praise on the band as possible, it wasn't tough to do either, they had laid down a groove that was easy for me to fall into, providing just enough space for me to do what I do, but ready to jump in if I started to fall. That they let me, a completely unknow quantity play with them is amazing to me. Yeah they know Mike and figured Mike wouldn't play with someone with no talent, but still....
I thanked them a lot, probably too much, but I was that kind of appreciative. I played with two guys who have played with B.B. King, for Christ's sake. I don't know if it can get much better than that for a guy of my ability. While I know their praise of my play was a bit overblown, I was aparently acceptable to them. They'll be playing at the Rib Shack again tonight, Mike and I will be a Dunn Bros. again just hoping for some of their overflow crowd. They asked us to drop by again tonight, I know I'll be there.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 9:06 AM 
