Re: Kim Wilson's Momentum Playing

[Ray Beltran <rbeltran@xxxxxxxxxx>]

on 7/8/03 7:30 AM, harp-l-digest at harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

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> In a message dated 7/7/03 11:59:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> s_c_o_r_c_h_e_r@xxxxxxx writes:
> 
> 
>> Kim Wilson's incredible FIRST position (G harp)
>> work on "Trust My Baby" ("Tigerman") is a current favorite
>> of mine. 

Mine, too. Lots of SB stuff there. Gotta have the 10-blow gapped just right
for that nice bend. 'Course, KW ain't using just ANY old harp...

 
> An alternative to studying the classic blues playing of the ODBG's (this is
> what I call the Masters of the Harmonica - ie the Little and Bigs, all the
> Sonny's etc), is to study all facets of Kim's playing. He is a great gathering
> source of all that the masters had to offer rolled up in one living guy.

Kinda what all "we who worship KW" (or "Kimmers") have been saying for
years...

 
> Get the re-releases of his earliest T-bird stuff, solo CD's, guest appearances
> on other CD's (Willie Smith, Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Rogers, etc) and the more
> current T-Bird releases (which have at least one or two good tunes
> w/harmonica).

Willie Smith's is "Bag Full Of Blues. "Ludella", Jimmy Rogers, one of the
finest all around blues, and great example of lead AND supporting harp. Also
with Pinetop Perkins (Cotton, too), on "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie". Another
good one is "Sittin' & Waitin'", a Rusty Zinn recording.
 
> Go see him play live.

As often as possible. It's great to see him play with different cats. About
the only mainstay, for the most part, is his drummer, Richard Innes. The
other players, all accomplished, he knows well and uses all of them at
different gigs. It's refreshing to see (and hear) different combos and the
creative interplay that occurs. I love all the set bands like Little Charlie
and Piazza, but seeing KW pull in this guy and that, and getting to the
essence of the music as it's being created regardless of who he's playing
with shows the mastery of KW and the musicians he performs with.

 
> Get the SPAH Video.

Great example of the prior statement.
 
> Through studying all these resources and in my interviews and just hanging
> with Kim, I find that he has a tremendous momentum approach to the craft. Kim
> has told me that he hasn't "planned out" his solos since he used to learn off
> the old vintage records. He works off the momentum he establishes with his
> inner groove and his ideas spin out, like meteors caught in the gravitational
> pull of a heavenly body that circle and are propelled into outer space.

...across "billions and billions"...oops, sorry...Carl Sagan moment.

Musical instruments are only a tool for the "music speak" that is within.
Once you learn the mechanics of the instrument, the rest is "speaking"
through it in a stream of consciousness way. This is what makes KW so fun to
listen to. Most other cats...I don't want to start a thread war here...you
can hear how their stuff is so "straight up." Crafted ahead of time and
assembled just so, but lacking a sense of spontaneity.

 
> Off course, he has a tremendous quiver full of "idea" arrows that he has
> collected over the course of his professional career from which to draw upon,
> but he shoots them off in constantly new and fresh configurations.


It's always amused me how people can hear his work and say, "so what...I
know this riff and that..." It's how KW puts it all together. So when I
listen, I'm left thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?!" Fact is, KW didn't
think of it. It just came out.

Yes, you do hear plenty of "old master" influence in his playing. You may
have heard a particular riff before, but KW makes it his own. That's where
KW's style shines through. And that's something you can't teach. Style. You
can teach how to get in touch with it, but each has his or her own.

> The center of his creative universe is this strong sense of momentum which
> imparts the motion to the ideas.

That's funny!...Big Walter said 'xactly the same thing!...I think...  ;)

>I've developed a concept based on momentum
> that teaches students to develop their own sense of groove and how to open the
> door that leads to improvisation.

It's like learnin' to talk...with inflection, with emphasis, with pause.
It's in us all. When riffs and pieces are taught, they have a tendency to
sound "robotic", even, at times, when placed inside an idea. When the
concept of using an instrument as a vehicle or device of communication is
taught and understood, it transcends the "I-need-the-tab" mentality.

 
> This is the basis for my upcoming class at Blues Week, if anyone is interested
> in this area of blues harmonica performance.
> 
> The Iceman

Good success with the class.

Ray.
P.S. To those of you who have stuck around to the end of this post
reply...remember what 'ol Icepick once told us...
"It's all about fishin' and pu**y..."