Word: harp
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...about 10 years to the South Side of Chicago and some of the original stuff played by the men who made the Blues revival possible. The list of unsung heroes of the Blues is endless; but I have chosen to emphasize 3 of my favorites--keyboard man Otis Spann, Harp man Sonny Boy Williamson, and slide guitar man Elmore Jones...
...Rock-Blues freaks will forgive me for not mentioning the Yardbirds, who were about 4 years ahead of their time) the present Blues Revival started around early 1966 with the release of three albums, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, featuring Mike Bloomfiled on lead guitar, and Paul Butterfield on harp, The Blues Project at the Cafe Au Go Go, with Al Kooper on keyboards, and Danny Kalb on guitar, and from England, John Mayall and His Bluesbreakers, with Eric Clapton on guitar and John Mayall on keyboards...
This song is in the classical Chicago style. Spann sings about his woman who mistreated him and plays lead on the piano, being backed up by Muddy Waters on bottleneck guitar and George Smith's harp, and the rest of the band. The mood created is mournful and sad, but determined. Spann's voice expresses the stoic posture so characteristic of the Blues; and his piano style is slow and shuffling as if expressing the long lonesome journey he is beginning in the song...
There are several great musicians in Boston, people as good as any in the country: Mike Tschudin and Walter Powers of Listening, both among the top in their instruments; Peter Ivers, Harvard graduate and harp virtuoso, if he'd ever get out of the Chinese Anal-Retentive New Orleans Do-Dah Band bag; Richard Shamach of Eden's Children, matched in guitar speed only by Danny Kalb and in virtuosity by Mike Bloomfield; Peter Wolf and J. Geils, who between them have kept blues alive in Boston since Al Wilson left; the old rhythm section of the Bead Game, Lassic...
...group was best on "Tobacco Leaves," a song that Miss Bavan did well. Perfectly-paced musically by Ivers, the song had a near blues-tempo, created by a softly rushing rhythm section and featuring some quivering solos on harp and sax. On "Gentle Jesus," another complex piece that switches from abstract dissonances to a version of swing, Ivers achieved a synthesis of blues and jazz on Paul Butterfield's In My Own Dream model...