Who was the first blues harp player to = record?

From: Subject: Who was the first blues harp player to record? Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 17:10:55 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q5.html X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 Who was the first blues harp player to = record? =A9 2002 P.Missin

Who was the first blues harp player to record?

That = depends on=20 what you mean by "blues harp player".=20

If you mean the first African-American harmonica player to make a = record,=20 that is probably Pete Hampton. He was born in Kentucky in 1871 and made = a string=20 of recordings between 1903 and 1911, mostly done in Britain and Germany. = His=20 harmonica playing was featured on "Mouth Organ Coon", which he recorded = as an=20 Edison cylinder in 1904. The piece starts out as a typical vaudeville = song, then=20 Hampton goes into a harmonica solo. His harp playing cannot be = considered blues=20 in the strictest sense of the word, although it does have many elements = of the=20 blues in it, including a short fox chase section and a finale which = appears to=20 have Hampton playing harp with his nose whilst simultaneously whistling! = The=20 Edison recording (he also recorded the same piece for at least one other = company) has recently been issued on the CD "The Navvy's Motor Ride" = (Cylidisc=20 CD 510), available from Music Hall=20 Magazine.=20

If you mean the first African American harmonica player to appear on = a blues=20 record, then it was a somewhat obscure player called Herbert Leonard. He = appeared on Clara Smith's "My Doggone Lazy Man" recorded on January 31st = 1924=20 (re-issued on Document DOCD-5365, "Clara Smith Vol 2"), a couple of = months=20 before the harp and guitar-playing songsters Daddy Stovepipe and = Stovepipe No.1=20 made their first recordings. Although later recordings showed he was = familiar=20 with cross or second position harp, most of his work concentrated on = straight=20 harp played in the instrument's upper register. (For available = recordings of=20 Leonard and other artists mentioned on this page, see FFAQ18.)=20

On the other hand, if you mean second position harp played with lots = of bent=20 notes and other typical blues stylings, then the first recorded examples = of this=20 were by a white musician named Henry Whitter. In early December 1923, = Whitter=20 recorded several tunes for the Okeh label, the first of which was his = cross harp=20 classic "Rain Crow Bill Blues" (a piece which seems to draw heavily from = the=20 African American tradition). Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any = current=20 CD reissues of Whitter's solo recordings.=20

Just for the record, here are some other "firsts".=20

The first recorded example of third position harp seems to have come = along=20 comparitively late in the history of bues harp. Although probably the = most=20 common minor position these days, it wasn't featured in a recording = until=20 December 1951 when Little Walter played an E harp in the key of F# on = Muddy=20 Waters' "Lonesome Day", reissued on "Rollin' Stone - Golden Anniversary" = (Chess=20 112301). The same album also features another tune with Walter in third = position=20 on an E harp, "Please Have Mercy", recorded a few months later.=20

Fourth and fifth positions turn up on record a little earlier. Rhythm = Willie's "Breathtakin' Blues" (reissued on RST Jazz Perspectives = JPCD1505-2) is=20 in fourth position, Gm on a Bb harp. Recorded in 1940, as far as I know = it's the=20 only pre-war recording in this position.=20

There is also to my knowledge, only one pre-war recording of fifth = position=20 by a blues player. This was done by William McCoy in 1928 and is called = "Central=20 Tacks Blues". It is available on "Texas: Black Country Dance Music = (Document=20 DOCD 5162). He's playing an A harp in the key of C#. The next recorded = example=20 of fifth of which I am aware, was by the legendary "?" Turner (legendary = for=20 never having her first name noted, but remembered for being = cross-eyed!), who=20 accompanied Guitar Slim (one of many musicians with the same nickname), = using=20 fifth position on a track called "Alla Blues" (although I think that = should=20 actually be "L.A. Blues"). It was recorded in late 1947, or early 1948, = in Los=20 Angeles, although the guitar playing is pure Texas. Ms Turner is playing = a G=20 harp in the key of B. It has been reissued on the British ABM label, ABM = 1089=20 "West Coast Down Home Blues". Later still, Percy Randolph plays a G harp = in the=20 key of B on "Jack Of Diamonds". Recorded in 1958, this was issued on = Snook's=20 Eaglin's album "Country Boy Down In New Orleans", Arhoolie 348.=20

I'm grateful to Joe Filisko for alerting me to a pre-war recording of = sixth=20 position. Eddie Mapp plays an E harp in the key of Eb to accompany = guitarist=20 Curley Weaver on his 1929 recording of "No No Blues", reissued on = "Georgia Blues=20 1928 - 1933 (Document DOCD-5110). Actually, it sounds as though Weaver = is using=20 voicings on the guitar normally associated with the key of E, so either = he tuned=20 his guitar a semitone flat, or the recording has been slowed down and = Mapp was=20 actually playing an F harp in the key of E. Either way, it is still = sixth=20 position and quite a unique performance.=20

Twelfth position is used by contemporary players such as Howard Levy = (who=20 refers to it as "first flat position"), Will Scarlett, Carlos Del Junco, = Charlie=20 McCoy and others, but was never really common amongst traditional blues = players.=20 It was used by Daddy Stovepipe on a couple of tunes, the earliest being=20 "Stovepipe Blues" recorded in 1924 and reissued on Document DOCD-5166, = "Alabama=20 Black Country Dance Bands 1924 - 1949". The song begins in the key of C, = with a=20 C harp played in first position (the recording plays almost in C#, but = as C#=20 harps were not available in the twenties, I assume he's playing in C and = the=20 recording has been speeded up) and then modulates to the key of F, = Stovepipe=20 shifting to twelfth position on the same harp. Reissued on the same CD = is a=20 another performance from Stovepipe using twelfth position - "Greenville = Strut",=20 recorded 1931, also features a C harp played in the key of F. Another = early=20 twelfth position recording in a very different style, was made by Alvin=20 Gautreaux with the New Orleans jazz group John Hyman's Bayou Stompers, = back in=20 March 1927. "Ain't Love Grand" was played in the key of Eb using a Bb = harmonica=20 and is reissued on "The Owls Hoot" (Frog Records DFG2).=20

Finally, the honour of being the first blues player to record with = the=20 chromatic harmonica goes to Little Walter, with the track "That's It", = recorded=20 in July 1953. Unfortunately, it is not the best of debuts, as he swaps = from=20 diatonic to chromatic and seems to forget what key he is supposed to be = in,=20 noodles around for a while, then swaps back to diatonic! Not = surprisingly, this=20 track was not issued at the time, but has since been made available on = the 2CD=20 collection "Blues With A Feeling: Chess Collectibles Vol 3" (MCA Chess=20 CHD2-9357). Later in that same session, he turned in a somewhat more = competent=20 performance on "Fast Large One". It was was also unreleased at the time, = but is=20 currently available on "The Essential Little Walter" (MCA Chess = CHD2-9342).=20

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