Re: Re: TB Question for Winslow[or anybody,really]

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

- --- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, RHartt1234@xxxx wrote:
In a message dated 6/24/2003 7:22:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
UnknownSender@UnknownDomain writes:

I'm in the middle of the Little Walter bio and Louis Myers claims 
that 
he had never heard anyone before Walter do a 2 note "shake" or trill 
ala 3 
and 4 draw. Offhand I can't think of anyone doing it before Walter 
either but it 
seems like such a simple thing that someone must have done it before 
him. 
Anyone?
       Ryan
- --- End forwarded message ---

Well, Sonny Boy I (John Lee Williamson) used to alternate Draw 4 and 
5 several times in a row (like maybe 4 or 5 times), but not at the 
speed of a shake. The leap from doing this to doing it for a longer 
time and speeding it up is not a big leap - at least in hindsight.

There is precedent for rapidly alternating two non-adjacent notes. 
Gwyn (or Gwen) Foster used to do a version of the shimmer I 
described, but with only one hole blocked out in the middle with 
rapid alternation of the notes to the right and left. This was 
sometime in the 1930s with groups like the Carolina Tarheels. I have 
no idea if Little Walter ever heard this.

Certainly some of the swing and R&B sax players Walter listened to 
must have done it - maybe this is a cross-species virus.

Winslow

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