Nuthin But The Blues + Musician in San Francisco, CA

SEEKING

ABOUT

Blues harp, basically Chicago style (amplified, small vintage tube amp for tone, mic'd to P.A. onstage if needed). Not into playing for ego trippin bs and how great everyone is. Just love the music, speaks right directly to my heart.

And I play bluesy-jazzy kind of keyboard. I'm not nearly as good yet as I want to keep getting with it, nowhere near the legendary Jimmy Smith, for instance, but I can definitely keep my part in any 12-bar blues and other things like that, add my share.

I used to have a Hammond M-3, but due to constraints of no space for it to practice in, had to give it up. Was so sad to let that go. Roommate I sublet from needed the space, and I needed money for moving all at same time. Some day I'll get another. I have an ok, MUCH more portable (and thus practical) keyboard for now, which does the job ok. Not a friggin Hammond, but hey... we do what we can afford and find ways to do.

I was in one blues band for awhile, which later broke up as people moved away, but gained the very important experience from it that isn't always obvious to people at first: working with others, dealing with musical style differences and ability differences, all agreeing on musical sound wanted, everyone showing up reliably, having good sound system and mixers, good personality mesh, everyone being serious about it. I put down 'committed' as my level of commitment, which seems honest as at the moment am not in a band, have been dealing with moving and housing stuff, but when and if in a band, I do make it a high priority, cuz I love the music and want to make it really good. Haven't been a studio musician so far, have had an offer or two in past, but turned them down so far, wasn't familiar enough with how it works, and was picky about playing in the right mix. Someone wanted, for instance, blues harp samples for some project where they really didn't seem to care about the blues, but just wanted a little background filler and didn't respect the blues genre at all. So, I passed, figured I wouldn't get behind it. I want to play my heart out with some people who also REALLY LOVE the freakin' blues, and jazzy blues, etc.

People who have taken a litle time to collect and listen to and enjoy blues over the years, compare this and that influence, who know the blues and feel it inside, and pay respect to those who have come before... Not just SRV soundalikes, but those who go back before him, to the roots he and all of us learn from and build upon. Look at the list of some of the names below, under "Influences." Are there some you know? Some you don't yet know? Let me know your favorites and stuff like that. I've had people say they wanna play the blues, and they turned out to be primarily into pop, and really didn't know the blues much, and it was disappointing, so just wanna pick well and get a good mesh with others into similar tastes. I mean, pop is ok, and I listen to lotsa kinds of music, but.... it ain't the blues, man, it just doesn't have that feel. That's what I'm talking about, is that feelin.

Look at those names and if you know some of them, that's what I'm talkin about. If we agree on those influences, the rest will work, most likely. That's probably why that other band sorta dissolved over time. Some of the members are, by the way, still playin' blues together, too far away from where I am now, so definitely good came of it, both from what I learned, as well as what they gained too.

OK, that should give you a sense. I'm also, by the way, mid-age, but young-looking, a nonsmoker, live pretty healthfully. I use ear plugs in loud bars to protect my hearing, take good care of myself. I wanna live well and long so I can enjoy all the great music I've collected over the years, old LPs, huge collection of CDs, and so forth. One of these days I'll get it together to do a college radio station blues show with all the music I have.

Later... hope to hear from some good people who hear and agree with some of what I'm sayin.

Screen name:

Nuthin But The Blues

Member since:

Apr 08 2006

Active over 1 month ago

Level of commitment:

Committed

Years playing music:

45

Influences

Mostly Blues, with some Jazz, Zydeco, Country, Gospel, old Soul, Rockabilly, Cubano, and lots more. I love those moments where it's kind of a genre mix between blues and jazz a lot.

So very many... incomplete list... can't remember all, always discovering new ones and remembering older ones I'd forgotten years ago... but some that come to mind right now as important (from blues, but also from many other genres) are:

Albert Collins,
Luther Allison,
Freddie King,
Otis Rush,
Little Milton,
Son Seals,
Aretha Franklin,
Robert Jr. Lockwood,
Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown,
Jimmie Vaughn (early years B4 SRV's fame),
Little Johnny Taylor,
Bobby 'Blue' Bland,
Ray Charles,
Paul Butterfield,
The Staple Singers,
Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band,
Irma Thomas,
Tower of Power,
Canned Heat,
John Lee Hooker,
Little Walter,
Muddy Waters,
Lightnin' Hopkins,
Percy Mayfield,
The Nighthawks,
Junior Wells,
Dr. Lonnie Smith,
Hubert Sumlin,
Jimmy Smith,
Ruth Brown,
Charles Brown,
Buddy Guy,
Big Mama Thornton,
Joss Stone's vintage soul efforts (note: yeah, amazingly great, really surprised me first time I heard this little white girl, while lookin' at her photo, saying, wow, never prejudge anyone, ya never know who can do what - a good lesson 4 me),
Lonnie Brooks,
Long John Hunter,
Philip Walker,
Etta James,
Al Green,
Willie Nelson,
Debbie Davies,
Aaron Neville,
Mighty Joe Turner,
John Contrane,
Queen Ida,
Hank Williams, Jr.,
Miles Davis,
Shirley Brown,
Johnny 'Guitar' Watson,
Rev. James Cleveland,
Shirley Caesar,
Charlie Musselwhite,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Marvin Gaye,
Booker T & The MGs,
Exene Cervenka,
Angela Strehli,
Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vincent,
Lucinda Williams,
Delbert McClinton,
Willie Dixon,
Jimi Hendrix (his earlier blues roots),
Bob Marley & The Wailers,
Andrew 'Jr. Boy' Jones,
Sonny Boy Williamson,
Jimmy Cliff,
Freddie Hubbard,
Charlie Haden,
The Melodians,
The Meters,
Procol Harem,
Aswad,
Buena Vista Social Club,
Clifton Chenier,
Siegal-Schwall Blues Band,
Bill Withers,
Link Wray,
India Arie,
Kenny Neal,
Sade,
Joe Tex,
James Brown,
? and The Mysterians,
Candye Kane,
Keb' Mo',
Parliament,
Cameo,
Kool & The Gang,
Curtis Mayfield,
Magic Sam,
Toni Price,
Toni Braxton,
Dirty Dozen Brass Band,
The Kinks,
The Yardbirds,
Eddie Palmieri,
Tab Benoit,
The Doors,
The Ventures,
Johnny Copeland,
Pharoah Saunders,
Dr. John,
Prof. Longhair,
Ramsey Lewis Trio,
Toni Price,
Toni Braxton,
Lou Reed,
Marilou Williams,
Ricki Lee Jones,
Tab Benoit,
Jerry Portnoy,
Lou Reed,
Albert King,
Stevie Wonder,
Boz Scaggs,
Jimmy McGriff,
E. Power Biggs,
The Velvet Underground,
Country Joe & The Fish,
John Fahey,
Sandy Bull,
Koko Taylor,
The Ramones,
Johnny Lang,
Randy Newman,
John Hammond,
David Allan Coe,
Johnny Cash,
Led Jaxson,
Dr. Loco's Rockin' Jalapeno Band,
Robben Ford,
Elmore James,
Joan Jett,
Bob Dylan,
Steel Pulse,
k.d. Lang,
Otis Rush,
Norah Jones,
The Brand New Heavies,
The Band,
Burning Spear,
Creedence Clearwater Revival,
The Ohio Players,
Marcia Ball,
David Cohen (bluesy-jazzy Hammond B3),
The Chambers Brothers,
Watts 103th Street Rhythm Band,
Albert Collins,
Barry White,
Prince,
Chick Corea,
Bo Diddley,
Oliver Lake,
Safire - The Uppity Blues Women,
The Ramones,
Frankie Beverly & Maze,
Paul Wood,
Hubert Laws,
Eddie Landsberg (Hammond B3 organ),
David Bennett Cohen (Hammond B3),
and...

that's about all I can think of for the moment... I know there are a zillion more, really glaring omissions they'll turn out to be when I think of 'em, but this gives an idea for now.

If you start out with about the first 15 or so on the list, you'll have a pretty good idea. If you don't know who they are, look 'em up & listen to some of their wonderfully bluesy work that moves me and brings an involuntary smile to my face (at the least, and sometimes goosebumps up and down my arms, when it's just sublimely great blues...

I do love the blues, when they come from true feeling, and are done really well, with a tight band, and they know how to do a 12-bar and do chord changes at just the right moments, and they have horns arrangements, and do dramatic rests and great tempo change-ups mid-song, and have dynamics goin' on with their volume levels, and use tasty chords, and hit those blue notes at the right moments, then go back to a natural, just so ya feel and taste that difference and love it.

If you have any idea what I'm talkin about and agree, cuz you feel that about this music too, if ya play the music and are somewhere not too terribly far from the San Francisco area, we oughta talk, don't ya think?

EQUIPMENT

Lotsa blues harps, some keyboards, various amps (including vintage tube ones for harp tone), several mics (Green Bullet through Shaker Madcat, Harp Honker, Labtec, Shure SM58, etc. -- and my homemade custom one I like best), portable small mixer board, etc. I depend on buses and BART, etc., so I fit it all in a cart and usually don't take my giant beast of a Delta Blues heavy amp with the 15" speaker. It pushes a ton of air, but is sorta overkill, when I can just mic my beautiful vintage Silvertone blues amp if need more volume. Main thing is the right tone, ya know? Can always add volume. If some venue doesn't have a P.A. I can consider bringing the big beast amp to project better. What do you have, what's your transportation mode, and range, and how open are you to sharing gas cost to get to some remote places up in North Bay, East Bay, South Bay, up or down the coast, etc.? What are your soundproofed studio options for practice and so forth?

Recent update: I'm going to be staying in East Bay about half the time, so even tho I don't have a car, might have easier time getting to some jams, etc. there. Downside is my work usually allows only about 1 or at most 2 nights a week for playing nowadays. But that's enuf to get some of that music in there outa me and keep me (n those around me) blues-therapi-cized.