Addendum to WSP 10/26/08 + harp 101

By the way, Charisse is becoming an accomplished bass player--very solid. She also sings well, though a little softly. She might try leading a song once in a while. I really appreciate her playing on Lay Down Sally, and Dead Flowers.

Red Hook Slim is a good harp player, with a blues background I think. He plays cross harp, which is the blues style.

Harp 101
Harp is slang for harmonica. There are different styles of diatonic harp. A diatonic harp has the notes from the major scale of a single key--ie, the white keys on the piano. This is opposed to a chromatic harp, which lets you play all 12 notes on the chromatic scale--ie, the white keys & black keys on the piano.

The 3 styles of diatonic harp that I know are:
1) Straight harp. If the song is in C, you use a C harp. The C harp has C, E & G as blow notes. (The draw notes are a little more complicated.) In other words, when you blow out playing straight harp you get I, III & V -- the C major triad. So if you blow out randomly on a C harp, you get some random inversion of a C major chord. When you play straight harp, about 3/4 of the notes are blows. Straight harp is good for folk, and for playing melodies. I play straight harp about 70% of the time. It's easy, and I think most people enjoy hearing a solo that incorporates the melody. It can also sound pretty soulful on certain songs. I like it on "On the Road Again", "Salty Dog Blues", "Blue Ridge Mountain Blues." Bob Dylan mainly played straight harp.

2) Cross harp. To play cross, you pick up a harp that is at an interval of IV from the key of the song. So if the song is in C, you pick up an F harp. This is great for twelve-bar blues, and very common in country. In cross harp, about 3/4 of the notes are draws. (When you suck in on the harmonica, it's called a "draw". Harmonicas are double-reed instruments, and the draw makes a different note than the blow). Draws can be more expressive than blows, partly because it's easy to bend a draw note. Draws are good for making train sounds, and playing blue notes. This is why cross harp works well for blues and country. Red Hook plays cross almost exclusively, and Daniel seems to use it most of the time.

3) 3rd position. Use a harp that is a VII interval from the song. So if the song is in E, pick up a D harp. This is good for songs in a minor key. A song in A minor would be very hard to accompany with an A harp--i.e., first position. But a G harp will usually do the trick. I also heard that 3rd position can be used for blues, but haven't had much success with it yet.

WSP 10/26/08

I played for a couple of hours with Pete, Charisse and Red Hook. Dan dropped by just for a couple of songs. I wish I could remember all the songs we did. Some were:

Song, written by -- sung by
For the Good Times, Kristofferson -- Pete
Dead Flowers, Rolling Stones -- Adam
You Ain't Going Nowhere, Dylan -- Dan
Lay Down Sally, Eric Clapton -- Pete and Adam
Rambling Boy, Tom Paxton -- Adam
Don't Think Twice, Dylan -- Adam
The Bottle Let Me Down, Merle Haggard -- Adam
Wagon Wheel, Old Crow Medicine Show -- Pete
You Never Can Tell, Chuck Berry -- Pete
Me & Bobby McGee, Kristofferson -- Adam
City of New Orleans, Steve Goodman -- Pete
On the Road Again, Willie Nelson -- Pete
Weary Blues from Waiting, Hank Williams -- Adam
Omaha, Waylon Jennings -- Adam
It's Good to Be Back Home Again, John Denver -- Pete
Everybody, John Prine -- Pete
Cold Cold Heart, Hank Williams -- Pete
You Better Move On, ?? -- Pete

Washington Square Park 8/31

I must say I had a very nice time in Washington Square Park last Sunday. It's not the same since its under renovation, but Pete and friends have a nice shady spot that they stake out. When I was there last there were a few new faces, and people were joking that there were 4 harmonica players at the same time. I may have been the least skilled, but possibly the loudest, which counts for a lot in WSP. I also learned something very important, which is that the key to success is not to concentrate harder on what you are doing, but to listen more to what everyone else is doing. Keeping your ears open compensates for all kinds of weaknesses.

There was a guy there named Bill who claimed that he met Levon Helm of The Band in Nashville and Levon gave him some charts. I believe it. Bill played slide guitar, harmonica, and could play solos on the mandolin, though he claimed he was still trying to figure out how the strings were tuned. He sang good high harmonies. He said that we were one of the soberest group he had ever played with.

We had a very nice time.

Washington Square Park

Thanks to Pete, Dan and all those who played and sang at WSP yesterday. The park is 2/3 closed due to renovation, but they have found a nice shady spot near the eastern edge of the park. Yesterday it was even quiet.



Here are a couple of photos I found on the internet from last year, before the renovations started.

The Last Waltz

The Band: Manuel, Helm, Danko, Hudson, Robertson

Last weekend I watched Martin Scorcese’s The Last Waltz. In case you don’t know, this may be the greatest concert movie of all time. This is “The Band’s” final concert, filmed in 1976 (though most of the members got together again in the 1980’s). The film was mainly the brain-child of Robbie Robertson, lead guitarist and song-writer.

I first saw this movie in a theatre in Port Washington when it was released in 1978, together with my mother and my Uncle Joe—a huge fan of The Band in the 70’s. It impressed me then, mainly by the parade of guest singers / musicians who The Band invited up on the stage. Seeing it again, I liked it even more, especially for the masterful way that Scorcese mixed behind-the-scenes vignets with concert scenes to give a clear and strong characterization of each member of the group.

The members of the Band are: J. Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson.

Robertson, the ostensible front man of the group though he does no lead singing, talented guitarist (Dylan’s favorite), Scorcese’s buddy, mugging for the camera; Danko also up front, a tall enthusiastic Canadian never missing a trick on the bass and singing with a compelling, slightly broken tenor; Manuel behind the piano, behind a big beard, the best singer in the group with an impressive high falsetto harmony, shy and drunk in the interviews; Hudson, the musical guru of the group, revered by all, tranquil and business-like behind the organ, then stepping forward to upstage Robertson with an effortless solo on the soprano sax. (Everytime I hear a sax, fiddle or even harmonica it leaves me wondering why rock and roll saw fit to crown the guitar the king of solo instruments—it always pales by comparison.) But my favorite is the drummer, Levon Helm.
Helm is the only authentic southerner in a group of Canadians and is the founding member. In the early sixties he came up to Toronto with rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins and helped him put together a group called Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks by hiring a group of local Canadian musicians. A few years later, after parting ways with Hawkins, the band was renamed Levon and the Hawks. Then, after a few years of touring as Dylan’s backing band, they were renamed The Band, and played original songs, all of which were credited to J. Robbie Robertson. Helm and others asserted that most of the songs were collaborative efforts, but Robertson ended up with all of the rights. Levon Helm is shorter than the other members of the Band; he speaks with a drawl, looks scrappy and driven. He is an awesome drummer with a strong voice, and his singing is featured on some of the Band’s best tunes, including “The Weight.”

If you watch The Last Waltz, you will see this group of accomplished musicians playing their own music, and accompanying Hawkins, Dylan, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris and others, all without missing a beat. This band is tight and seasoned.

Some of my favorite scenes:
· Neil Young lumbering onto the stage with a big smile on his face, looking like some kind of half-hippy, half-bear down from Canada (though I’m not a big fan of the song he did: “Helpless”);
· the acoustic song they did with EmmyLou Harris: Helm plays mandolin and Manuel takes over on drums; Danko plays fiddle and Hudson fills in on bass; Robertson picks up an acoustic guitar—the whole thing sounds terrific.
· Danko and Manuel clowning around backstage, sounding like two kids from small-town Canada—shades of Bob and Doug Mackenzie.
· Dylan ending one song and beginning another on the acoustic guitar without giving as much as a glance to the band, as if throwing down a challenge. Danko gives a nod of recognition as he recognizes the chords of “Baby Let Me Carry You Down” and the entire Band comes in right on queue.

After seeing the Last Waltz I felt compelled to do some research to find out what had become of the various members. (My main sources are Wikipedia and my work-mate Gerry.)

Garth Hudson has been working and touring continuously since the 1970s and is still a respected session and studio musician.

J. Robbie Robertson has had a solo career as performer and songwriter, and also worked as musical director on several Martin Scorcese films.

Rick Danko continued working as a musician until his death of a heart attack in 1999.

Richard Manuel continued making music with some of his old Band-mates, as well as with Eric Clapton, but was never able to kick an addiction to alcohol and cocaine. In 1986 he committed suicide by hanging himself in a motel room in Florida.

Levon Helm continues performing to this day, and has also acted in several movies. In the late 1990’s he was diagnosed with throat cancer, but refused to get a laryngectomy. Instead, he was cured of the disease through radiation treatments, which caused significant damage to his vocal chords. Late last year (2007) Helm released the album “Dirt Farmer” which was awarded a Grammy. I would highly recommend this album for any lover of old-fashioned roots music, suffused with the energy of rock and roll. Even Helm’s singing sounds good, especially when redeemed by the sweet harmonies of his daughter.

I see a poignant and instructive contrast between Richard Manuel who committed suicide at the age of 42, writing that things would never be as good as they once were, and Levon Helm who continues to create superior music despite daunting set-backs. It is not up to us to decide when the good times are over—until we are buried there is always more to come. So try not to mix Gran Marnier and cocaine. And go out and buy “Dirt Farmer”.