Topic: Time/Phrasing--Country Blues Favorites

[Johnm]

Hi all,
A couple of other players come to mind with distinctive senses of time and phrasing who, though hailing from near each other, sounded worlds apart.
   * Libba Cotten.  I think Libba's time was so beautiful, and her phrasing had such a wonderful flow, like a river.  The apparent ease of that flow can make her tunes seem easier to play than they actually are.  That flow, too, is so consistently there, despite the fact that she changed her phrasing quite a lot in the moment.
   * Blind Boy Fuller. Fuller's time had such a great snap and vitality, swinging hard at whatever tempo he chose.  He sounds like his connection to what he was playing was so dependable that he could take it for granted.  He sounds so lively and so relaxed at the same time, a player who definitely got out of his own way and didn't agonize over things.  His fate seems to be perpetually under-rated.
All best,
Johnm

[btasoundsradio]

When I first started listening to Blind Boy Fuller when I was around 15, I thought he was kinda boring. But I've really been getting into him the past year, especially cuts like "Little Woman You're So Sweet", "Step It Up and Go", "Mama Let Me Lay It On You", are some of my favorite blues of all time.

King Solomon Hill's timing blows my mind as well. I think "My Buddy, Blind Papa Lemon" is my favorite Hill song. Possibly the craziest timing of all of them too. He's a madman.

Robert Pete Williams also keeps me on my toes with his free form timing, absolute genius.

[GhostRider]

Howdy:

One CB guy whose timing is distinctive and frustrating to imitate is Frank Stokes. FS is sort of the anti-BL Jefferson. His time is so regular, with such a great swing. It's how he does it that's tough. He doesn't play a lot of treble notes (again the anti-BLJ) but uses the sparse treble to enhance the beat, with the perfect degree of syncopation.

FS's technique is note-brush-note-brush in the alternating bass, but I think he gets a lot of rhythm dynamics by back brushes after the second and 4th beats. So seductive.

Alex

[Johnm]

Hi all,
One player whose sense of time I have particularly come to appreciate over the years is Pink Anderson.  He had an especially deep back-beat, and he just seemed to explode into it, at any tempo.  His playing always has that "snap".
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
One player I've been getting back into lately whose phrasing and rhythmic sense I particularly admire is Herman E. Johnson.  He was original in multi-faceted ways, like lyrics, phrasing, rhythm, and formal innovation, but his grooving was exceptionally sneaky and had a wonderful counter-punching quality to it.  He's coming to be one of my all-time favorites.
All best,
Johnm

[Rivers]

I'll put in a plug for Joseph Spence here. Once you get past immediate impressions of staccato you can hear him rushing the beat, dragging the beat, hanging on the beat, packing the notes, totally not playing the notes, playing pick ups before the the vocal, big strums contrasted with single notes, and so on. All this backgrounded by a big dynamic guitar loudness range. cf Out On The Rolling Sea

Missippippi John Hurt is so regular that the slightest variation is emphasized. I like to think he does it on purpose. Or maybe it's the transfer from 78s. Whatever, I like it. cf Frankie, Stagger Lee

Mance Lipscomb makes me slightly nervous in a good way. I may be wrong but I get the impression he speeds up and slows down slightly throughout a song, like an old record turntable, they used to call it 'wowing'. Once again maybe it was the transfer but every recording I've heard has it. cf, [placeholder for a good example later]

Lemon Jefferson was the master, it goes without saying. There are brilliant players that followed the vocal, brilliant vocalists that followed the instrument, Lemon was the complete balanced artist, the only virtuoso singer and player I can think of. Robert Johnson came close, and it's sad he didn't live longer to fire his latter day self-appointed publicists.

And what about Son House.