Harmonica Thinking

Christmas Jamming in London

The magic of Christmas was in the air last week at Sam Hare's blues jam at Alley Cat in Denmark St, London. People looking forward to making the best of the season's holidays normally help create a festive, if laid back, atmosphere.  After this troubled year though, those feelings were even more amplified.  I took part in two sets, it must be Christmas, and as luck would have it a professional photographer and director Alex Kryszkiewicz happened to be in shooting some footage. 

Here's a song I did with Artie and Jake Zaitz guitars, Jamie Lawrence bass and Ed Green on drums. It's wonderful to capture moments like these so well for prosperity. The diffrence a professional eye makes to a film is obvious here. The footage looks cool but the music isn't too shabby either.  I've known Jake for over 15 years from the Weavers Jam days but had never heard his son Artie play until a couple of weeks ago despite attending similar jams for years and many people remarking how good he is. He didn't disapoint when I did. Fast forward seven days and I get to play some tunes with him, life's funny sometimes.

His farther is a fine player and so is his son. Artie puts a massive slice of tasteful jazz into his blues and for me strikes the perfect balance between making a solo look effortless but at the sametime not emotionally flat.  Oh he plays drums and bass too, one to watch for the future.  I hope 2012 brings all you jammers out there great moments like this! 

Merry Christmas

 

Appearance with Matt Schofield

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure to play again with my ex-guitarist Matt Schofield and his band who have gone onto take the world by storm. Matt played with me for several years and appears on my debut album "My Day Is Just Beginning". He was special then aged only 19 and I'm so so so pleased in the way his career has blossomed. He is such a gifted musician. The awards continue to pile in. Yesterday for example Mojo picked his latest album "Anything But Time" as blues album of the year, something never before achieved by a UK artist. Get in there! 

I appeared as a guest during Matt's show at Dingwalls, Camden which also featured  a 3 piece horn section and Paddy Milner on piano. The concert was filmed, along with several others from his recent European tour, and might be used for a future DVD. In the meantime, here's a lo-fi video from the show.... 

 

Many of you harp players out there will appreciate how difficult and frustrating it can be playing with a loud band. It's a battle we can rarely win, the harmonica is an acoustic instrument after all. As well as not being able to hear yourself, at all, there's also the special gift of nose bleed inducing feedback that you can only get with the insane combination of trying to use a microphone with an amp. What were you thinking Little Walter! Harmonica mic feedback has an uncanny skill for making an appearance at the least opportune moments, normally laying waste to a sensitive passage in someone else's solo or vocal. It knows.Throw into the mix the challenges of being a guest, for instance maybe not being to sound check, and it can be a unsatisfying recipe.

Matt plays with dynamics but when he unleashes everything this is no question a loud band. Even though I was really looking forward to sitting in, the most likely scenario was that I wouldn't be able to hear myself and would be drowned out by the band if the intensity rose, which it was guaranteed to do so. How wrong I was! In the end the sound crew did a phenomenal job both front of house and with the onstage monitors. I could hear and be heard. Why mention this?  Because it transformed what was already a special occasion for me into something I could enjoy musically as well. Anyone who has experienced anything similar will appreciate what a colossal difference it makes when sound crews look after you, especially as a guest. 

What a buzz, it was like old times in many ways as The Lee Sankey Group also used to feature 3 and sometimes even 5 horns. I hope we get to do it again sometime!

www.mattschofield.net

 

New Song "I'm Just Fine, Thanks"

I've been working on this song here and there over the last 3 weeks or so. The tune is a 24 bar head and the second chorus has some overblows and overdraws in it which I generally don't use that much. 

Hope you like it!