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From: "Richard W. Rinn"
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 22:05:16 +0100
Subject: Re: Mick Jagger Harmonica: Who can resist? (LONG RETORT TO MANY REPLIES)

Subject: Re: Mick Jagger Harmonica: Who can resist?

Holy cheese! More replies than you can shake a stick at! Let's see now...

>>
>>GARY WARREN WROTE:
>>
>>Didn't Sugar Blue play on Exile?
>>(As well as on Miss You, of course).
>>


I don't proclaim to be any expert on Stones records' personnel, but Exile
has got to be one of their most informative in the who-played-what details
stakes, and any time 'harmonica' or 'harp' appears, it's got Mick Jagger's
name or initials next to it (as far as I can see, anyway)... Sugar Blue did
play on Miss You, though.

>>
>>Living in the USA is a great harp tune.
>>That's Steve Miller on harp (innit?)
>>though Norton Buffalo did play with the
>>Steve Miller Band.
>>

I was thinking more of Fanny Mae on Children of the Future... I only have
that one, and Sailor (which has Living in the U.S.A., incidentally). It
only came to mind because I'd been listening to it recently, and noticing
that the standard of harp playing on it was far above what I term 'rock
harp'.

>>
>>I think there's lots of tasteful harp on lots of popular
>>music that you just don't notice until you become a
>>harpoholic and then you notice all of it. I'm beginning
>>to notice lots of music of my youth some 20, uh 25,
>>uh 30 years ago that had/(has) fine harp in it.
>>

Well, I've been aware of and enjoyed the harmonica in music by bands such as
Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, New York Dolls (Pills, the Bo Diddley cover on
their first album), Black Sabbath (The Wizard, on their first album), Deep
Purple (Lazy) etc. etc.

It's only since I started progressing myself on harp that I noticed the
differences in ability of the players. For example, the playing on the Deep
Purple track is really very basic, and now it sounds kinda funny to me, as
I'm used to hearing Junior Wells quality playing. When I hear that track
now, it's lost something, as I used to think of that as the track with the
'nice harmonica', and 'why doesn't he play more?'......

The old Stones stuff isn't affected so much for me though, and I still think
Jagger came up with some nice ideas, and good sounds. By the way, I have
heard that cover of Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' they did more recently,
and thought the harp was abysmal.


>>
>>Not that I'm really into where they are now, but didn't ZZTop
>>have some very nice harp spread through some of their music.
>>

I dunno. All I have by them is Tres Hombres, and I don't really like the
whole sound on that album, so I never listen to it. Having said that, I do
like a couple of the tracks on Fandango. Didn't notice if there was any
harp there tho'...


>>
>>Supertramp had some great harp.
>>

I had Breakfast In America years ago, but Supertramp really doesn't do much
for me these days (please note: I'm Scottish, and twenty-five years old. I
don't know why, but it seems important to mention (in eager anticipation of
any sarcasm y'all care to issue), I guess just because music like J. Geils
is, to me 'American' music, and you NEVER hear of it here. In fact, you
pretty much never hear things like Led Zeppelin or Humble Pie (some not bad
harp from S.M. at times!) here either....or....ANYTHING AT ALL except top
forty manufactured pop....and don't get me started about lack of blues
exposure on this island! Honestly, I'm trying! I listen to folk, blues,
rock, funk, psychedelia, weird music, reggae....lots of stuff to get
through!)


>
>STEVEN J MESSICK WROTE:
>
>i concur. i don't think jagger is any kind of harp genius, but what he
plays
>works well, to these ears. he plays harp probably as well as he plays
guitar
>or piano, and he probably doesn't practice on any of 'em much.
>brian jones was much better, though...
>

Give me an example of what you think is some good Brian Jones playing... I
know he was the harp player in the band before Jagger learned, just like
Keith Richards had to learn to play a bit of slide when he was gone (and I'm
not crediting Mick Taylor or Ry Cooder's slide work to Richards).

I'm just a bit confused as to why Brian Jones and also Keith Relf of The
Yardbirds seem to be remembered fondly for their harp playing, as to me they
just sound...umm...slightly better than generic British Invasion harmonica.


>
>RICHARD HUNTER WROTE:
>
>We could add Steve Tyler of Aerosmith to the above list. I enjoy his
>work on a number of their pieces, both recent and ancient.
>

Well.. I know their stuff pretty well, from the beginning up until Pump,
and I associate his harp mostly with their debut album, and the odd bit of
blowing on some of the other seventies albums... Well, he's okay on
harmonica, but I don't think his harmonica stuff sits as nicely as Jagger's.
I'd put him on the next level down. I haven't seen the Gap advert, by the
way. I love Steven Tyler. Imagine my surprise when I got Taj Mahal's 'De
Ole Folks At Home'!


>
>I do think that both Robert Plant and John Fogerty play harp a lot
>better than Jagger. Fogerty in particular sounds like a real harp
>player on late '60s Creedence stuff, with a good sound and well-played
>blues licks.
>

Mmm.. I dunno... I still think the three are about level, but maybe it's
just because they're three of my favourite bands, whose music I'm too busy
enjoying to analyse with any seriousness... I think the thing they all had
in common was good ideas.

>
>Jagger's harp work actually seems to have deteriorated in
>recent years; perhaps, like Dylan, he just wants the sound and doesn't
>much care where the notes go.
>

See my above comment re: Stones Dylan cover... I think it's funny that you
get people who obviously have gotten past the first barriers, and discovered
a couple of the secrets of the harmonica, and don't get hooked. I mean,
listening to Jagger's playing Midnight Rambler (not amazing or anything, but
good at least) in 1969, you'd think that he'd be pretty good by now, not
crap!


>
>Final note: Ian Anderson, the lead singer/composer for Jethro Tull,
>played very nice harp on a couple of cuts on their first CD ("This
>Was"), sometime around 1969-70 (listen to "New Day Yesterday" in
>particular). He dropped the instrument soon after in favor of flute, to
>my regret if no one else's.
>

'This Was' was their debut album from 1968. A Song For Jeffrey is a
wonderful little riff, and yes, there are a couple of other nice harp bits
on the album.


>
>JIMBEAU WROTE:
>
>As some other folks have pointed out, Miller is a pretty good harp
>player in his own right. I saw him around '71 at the Fillmore East,
>and he played excellent harp on "Livin' in the USA" (and people threw
>cheeseburgers on stage :-)
>
>But the best harp playing on a Miller record was Charlie McCoy on the
>Steve Miller V album.
>

So you would suggest Steve Miller V as the next enhancement to my meagre
Miller collection?! What year was it recorded?!


>
>STEVEN LEVINE WROTE:
>
>What about Blues Traveler?
>

Don't like the sound of the music, or the sound of his harp.


>
>ROB PAPAROZZI WROTE:
>
> Uh.......? I think we better remove Magic Dick from the "reasonbaly"
>accomplished category, this man is a Professional Harmonica player
>unlike the dabblers you mention him with. He deserves a better report
>card,(Highly accomplished!) after all he's done his "Homework".
>

No, sorry, I don't think he's that great. By that I mean that he's great,
but he's not the bee's knees for me. For me, soul is a more important
element of harmonica playing than technique or speed. It's a hard thing to
explain... Lester Butler's playing gets to me. Junior Wells. I'm
personally very influenced by the production of the music also. I prefer
more live, ambient sounding records, and detest polished stuff. I don't
think 'Whammer Jammer' is better than 'Train Time' on Cream's 'Wheels Of
Fire', a track that I dearly loved well before ever picking up a harp
myself. I hope I'm not coming across as saying that Magic Dick has no soul,
I just don't dig his playing more than Jack Bruce's - they're different
styles, and do different things to me.


>Let's not forget Huey Lewis too, quite a good player.

To me, being a U.K. resident of 25 years old, Huey Lewis is an EXTREMELY
DODGY GEEZER. Now, don't flip your wig just yet. All I associate with that
name is one track : The Power of Love, as do most people over here. J.
Geils was the same. Centrefold. Oh dear! Then I got 'The Morning After',
and I really like it, and find myself having to explain to people why I own
a record by the band who done 'Centrefold'... Did Huey Lewis make a record
of similar, rootsy quality? I'm prepared to give him a chance. Most people
my age wouldn't.


>
>CRAIG WROTE:
>
>Yes!
>
> Not bad for some Brits ... especially given the markedly different
>direction they took later! Hmmm, I wonder whether Ian used Marine Bands or
>Blues Harps? (obligatory harp content!)
>

Dontcha like Fleetwood Mac?

Incidentally, I just picked up the 30th Anniversary reissue of their (Mac's)
Blues Jam in Chicago, which has some very nice harp from Big Walter.

Some of John Mayall's harp playing ain't bad either...

Okay, 'nuff said.





Richard.

R_W_RI~IGFOOT.COM