The James Harman article is from Blues Blast magazine done about five years ago. I never could get James cornered to get him to commit to playing our own Blues Blast. He was bogged down with medical problems. R.I.P. There's a few things going on in and around the big city this weekend. Plenty for you to choose from. I've been hearing good things about Westside Blues & jazz. They've been packing them in. Nice to have a place on the west side to hear live music. Looks like we are into the triple digits for the long haul. Best get out and take in all the sights and sounds you can before we have to hibernate. Remember to stay safe and wear the mask, dance 6 feet apart, and this thing will finally be over soon. Your vax is not a guarantee you won't get sick. But it sure as hell helps the brain. Have a week!! Sincerely, Jim Crawford - PBS | |
Out & About Waiting out the virus: Cold Shott & The Hurricane Horns www.coldshott.com The Sugar Thieves www.sugarthieves.com Gary Zak & The Outbacks www.outbackbluesband.com Hans Olson www.hansolson.net Rocket 88s www.rocket88s.net JC& The Rockers www.thejukerockers.com Carvin Jones www.carvinjones.com Hoodoo Casters www.hoodoocasters.com Rhythm Room www.rhythmroom.com Nina Curri www.ninacurri.com Paris James www.parisjames.com Mother Road Trio www.motherroadtrio.com Blues Review Band Reverbnationbluesmanmike Mike Eldred www.mikeeldredtrio.com Big Daddy D & The Dynamites Facebook www.bigdaddyd.com Cadillac Assembly Line Facebook Innocent Joe and the Hostile Witnesses Facebook Chuck Hall Facebook Pop Top Facebook Tommy Grills Band Facebook Sweet Baby Ray SweetBabyRaysBlues.com Acme Blues Band Facebook Thermal Blues Express thermalbluesexpress.com Tuesday, June 1 Wednesday, June 2 Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., Hitching Post Saloon, Apache Junction Thursday, June 3 Carvin Jones, 7 p.m., Living Room, Phoenix Mike Eldred Trio, 8 p.m., Kazimierz, Scottsdale Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Handlebar, Apache Junction Friday, June 4 Mike Eldred (solo), Belle’s Nashville Kitchen, Scottsdale Pop Top, 5 p.m., Mountain View Pub, Cave Creek Leon J, 11 a.m., DA Ranch, Cornville BluZone Duo, 6 p.m., Voodoo Daddy’s, Tempe Saturday, June 5 Mike Eldred Trio, 6 p.m., Kazimierz, Scottsdale Cros, 8 p.m., Westside Blues & Jazz, Glendale Blues Review Band, 6 p.m., Voodoo Daddy’s, Tempe Harry McGraw Band, 9 p.m., Lucie’s Sage & Sand, Glendale Leon J, 11 a.m., DA Ranch, Cornville Carvin Jones, 4 p.m., Mecca Bar, Wickenburg Monday, May 31 Monday Night Blues Jam (w/Big Daddy D & The Dynamites), 7 p.m., Bourbon Jacks, Chandler | | James Harman Pt. II by Terry Mullens “I guess it’s like everything else. When you move to a new location, you bring with you all the spices from every place you have already been. When I moved to Chicago I brought a lot of Alabama/Florida with me, as I learned Chicago. When I moved to southern California, I met and worked with all the old blues guys who were still living there, so a lot of that Texas/Oklahoma thing people like to call ‘West coast’ certainly came into more use,” he said. “When you’re backing Big Joe Turner or Cleanhead Vinson you can’t help sounding a bit Kansas City, and when you’re working with T-Bone Walker, Lloyd Glenn and Lowell Fulsom, you can’t help gettin’ some of that Texas/Oklahoma stuff into the sound. I was a very lucky guy to get to work with all those cats, and even more lucky to become friends with them. About half my stories of those cats are not about music or being on a bandstand, they are about life. Those men shared hotel rooms, women, bottles and cars non-stop and the stories are now sifting down into my stories. The essence of the blues lives through guys like me, Rod Piazza, Kim Wilson and a few others. We didn’t come from just being fans who bought records, we were down in the trenches working with those cats… so that’s why we have stories.” Harman, Piazza and Wilson have all been pillars of the southern California scene, which has always been a thriving and vibrant place to play the blues. But oftentimes, southern California (and the whole west coast, really) has to take a backseat to locales such as Chicago, Texas and the Mississippi Delta when discussing the rich history of the blues. Harman helps to explain why that is. “I suppose it’s because the music that was made in California actually came from Texas and Oklahoma. There was little California in it. Sure, there was a scene everywhere black people gathered, because people are gonna’ dance and carry on, but all your west coast artists were from the south … few were actually from the west coast,” he said. “It’s all about recording studios and labels. Piedmont artists went to New York, Mississippi artists went to Memphis, St. Louis and Chicago and Texas artists went to Los Angeles because that’s where the labels and studios were. Most folks don’t really know anything of the history, or the people who made all this great music. I used to laugh out loud when a hippie radio DJ would play the new Fabulous Thunderbirds’ album on the air and he’d pick a Little Walter tune that they were killin’ dead on, and the radio guy would come back on and say, ‘That was the big Texas sound of the Texas blues from the Fabulous Thunderbirds,’ because he had no idea they were perfectly covering a Louisiana guy who recorded in Chicago! Since the radio guy didn’t really know anything about blues records, all he had to go by was the fact that the album cover told him the band was from Austin, Texas. It’s funny, but not really too funny. Most folks only want to have fun and enjoy themselves… they don’t really want to know where this music comes from.” An old hobby of Harman’s is due credit for him being known as ‘Icepick’ in some circles of the blues world. “I collected old icepicks from the turn-of-the-century that had wooden handles with catch-phrases from ice houses, you know, ‘Take home enough ice,’ or ‘Ice saves food.’ They were at war with that new refrigerator and those old icepicks were interesting to me as an art student in school,” he said. “When the fellas would come for record parties, they would see all those old icepicks and started calling me ‘Icepick James’ as a blues guy nickname. I never used it myself until it seemed it would never go away, so in ’91, I made two songs with it in the title – “Icepick’s Confession” and “Icepicks Advice” … pretty funny. But I still have never promoted myself as Icepick James.” Harman has played with – and had in his band at one time or another – a virtual who’s-who of some of the best guitarists that have ever called California home. Cats like Kirk Fletcher, Nathan James (the guitarist in Harman’s Bamboo Porch Revue), Hollywood Fats, Kid Ramos and Junior Watson, to name just a few, are some of the six-string masters that have helped Harman create his art through the years. And according to the man himself, creating art is what it’s all about. “I have always looked on a guitar as another tube of paint and I only record with guitar players who move me and can understand what I’m trying to say/do/paint. All those cats are that kind of guitar player; they bring two important things to every session: #1 – an understanding of how to hear what the artist is looking for, and #2 – of course, a very special style. Junior Watson signs his name with one note. Kirk Fletcher plays on a few songs on Bonetime, including the song that was nominated for Song of the Year – “Bad Feets/Bad Hair.” And dig him on “Coldfront Woman.” My old bass player, Jeff Turmes is also playing some great guitar on there, that’s him playing slide on “Ain’t It Crazy.” Since he’s best known as a bass player, many people don’t think of him as a guitar player, but trust me, that cat wails. Be sure an catch him in Mavis Staples’ band. Nathan is still my favorite guitar player, he knows exactly what kind of stuff I want to hear as soon as he hears me sing one word … he’s a natural. He was already like that when I met him he was only 19, but he totally had it all down.” Harman’s initial move from the deep south to California in 1970 was jump-started by a friendship that he had struck up with the legendary Canned Heat. “I went to see them in Florida and introduced myself. Bob (The Bear) Hite, being a keen record collector, had a couple of my old singles from that period. We made friends and he and Alan Wilson told me that if I’d move my operation to California, they would help me by letting me open some of their shows,” said Harman. “They also went to Texas and told Albert Collins the same thing. Albert and I both took them up on it. We went to California and played tons of shows with them, as well as doing other gigs together. They were very helpful. We jokingly called me “Little Bear” because I also had long hair and a full beard. But he (Hite) was 400 pounds and I was only half his weight.” Another friendship that Harman struck up with an iconic group was with that little ‘ole band from Texas – ZZ Top. Harman has lent his harmonica playing to several albums by the band, including on the song “Que Lastima” from Mescalero and “Heartache in Blue” from 2012’s La Futura. “Billy F. Gibbons and I met on our hands and knees picking through boxes of old records and have been best friends for all these years. Billy plays some fine harp himself, but likes to use me when a song calls for it,” Harman said. “Watch for their new live album (Live – Greatest Hits from Around the World) coming out soon – I’m on two songs.” Taking piano lessons at age four, Harman soon discovered his father’s Hohner Marine Band harmonicas in the piano bench and very quickly, it was a match made in heaven. So much so, that Harman – who’s been playing so long that he doesn’t ever remember not playing – only blows Hohner Marine Band harps to this very day. “I still only play Hohner Marine Band harmonicas. All my old amps were stolen in two huge burglaries back in 2004 and 2012. Nowadays, I use a Quilter Aviator amp; Pat Quilter is a certified genius. I was playing through a Fender Pro amp until they put out a new amp in 1963 called a Vibroverb. I bought a new one and loved the amp, but not the two 10-inch speakers, so I ran it through my 15-inch Jensen speaker in my Pro and that became my signature sound,” he said. “Through the years I managed to find three more Vibroverbs and modified them all to be one 15-inch Jensens. I used that rig until I was robbed.” He may once have entertained such lofty goals as becoming a painter, or a motorcycle or car drag racer – but ever since he cut his first sides back in 1964, it’s been music, music, music and the blues, blues, blues for James Harman. And it appears that is still his plan for the future, with no eye on retirement from music in sight. “No, then I would have to actually make paintings and might find I stunk… I cannot endure that shame and rejection, so I’ll stick to what I know I can do well and to Hell with the rest of it,” he said. And what he does well is play the real-deal blues. “In my humble opinion, most of what wins awards as blues music is actually pop music done wearing a stingy brim and posing as a blues guy in somebody’s mind. When I see a five- or six-string bass coming, I just leave, because if you can’t play it on four strings, why play it? This form of music has been watered and dumbed down for the public,” he said. “I think most blues artists are thinking, ‘How can I make this into a rock song and still call it blues?’ Real blues music is too complicated and simple at the same time for most audiences. However, I don’t know much and could be wrong. I’m just an old, analog, hillbilly blues singer… livin’ in a digital world.” | |
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