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Wow, this is cool!


UstadKhanAli

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaV-S5ivX3E

 

So on Thanksgiving we were hanging out with this lady who was in Topanga in the 1960s, and was a groupie, hanging out with Neil Young and all these bands and telling all sorts of stories about the scene then.

 

She played the above song, and I was really impressed, having heard of Paul Butterfield before but not being really familiar with this. I especially love the energetic Arabesque guitar break in the middle, but it's all good.

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They were the first of the young blues bands and were pretty well respected both by the record buyers and the established Chicago blues artists of the time like Muddy Waters and Junior Wells. Though a few of the original group are dead, I believe that Elvin Bishop still has a band. One of the several guitarists in the band was Buzz Feiten who, these days, is probably best known for his system for improved intonation of electric guitars.

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Interesting, didn't know that about Buzz Feiten.

I've been listening to this album "East West" on Spotify, and really enjoy it. Diverse collection that includes some rather jazzy approaches to rhythms, some great guitar phrasing, some Chicago blues, and then the song "East West", which is fantastic to my ears. Absolutely love it.

I love how we were introduced to it as well, hearing stories from a former groupie who hung out with a lot of these guys in Topanga and Chicago and Arizona and elsewhere while we were listening to this, Charles Musselwhite, Frank Zappa, and a bunch of other stuff.

And this whole conversation started because I said, "Hey, have you heard the new Neil Young and Crazy Horse album? It coulda been plucked from decades ago." and then played this guitar orgy that is "Driftin' Back". While listening to this 27+ minute song, she began reminiscing because she had hung out with Young quite a bit.

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I have to tell an ego-stroking Mike Bloomfield story because it's one of the proudest moments in my musical life. My band was opening for the Electric Flag (in addition to Bloomfield on guitar, Harvey Brooks was on bass) and I was getting offstage while Mike Bloomfield was coming onstage. He said "Was that you on guitar? Man, it sounded like Coltrane or something!" So not only did I get a compliment from one of my musical heroes, he compared me to another one of my musical heroes. Really, it doesn't get much better than that smile.gif I was floating two feet off the ground for weeks afterward.

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Hell yeah!!!!!!! That's awesome, and an insanely cool comparison. I do really like your guitar playing with Mandrake Memorial, whether it's cool psychedelic stuff, rhythmic things, more "out" sort of stuff, rackety stuff, or odd noises.

I think I mentioned to you before that I had was sharing a bill with Nels Cline. I got off stage, and he came up and said, "I really like your guitar playing." I was momentarily stunned and probably stood their with my mouth open (I'm an inventive guitar player, I'd like to think, but not very technical at all, and no, I'm not being modest biggrin.gif ).

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Quote Originally Posted by Anderton

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I have to tell an ego-stroking Mike Bloomfield story because it's one of the proudest moments in my musical life. My band was opening for the Electric Flag (in addition to Bloomfield on guitar, Harvey Brooks was on bass) and I was getting offstage while Mike Bloomfield was coming onstage. He said "Was that you on guitar? Man, it sounded like Coltrane or something!" So not only did I get a compliment from one of my musical heroes, he compared me to another one of my musical heroes. Really, it doesn't get much better than that smile.gif I was floating two feet off the ground for weeks afterward.

 

Very very groovy story! cool.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by Anderton View Post
I have to tell an ego-stroking Mike Bloomfield story because it's one of the proudest moments in my musical life. My band was opening for the Electric Flag (in addition to Bloomfield on guitar, Harvey Brooks was on bass) and I was getting offstage while Mike Bloomfield was coming onstage. He said "Was that you on guitar? Man, it sounded like Coltrane or something!" So not only did I get a compliment from one of my musical heroes, he compared me to another one of my musical heroes. Really, it doesn't get much better than that smile.gif I was floating two feet off the ground for weeks afterward.
That`s pretty cool. Considering Coltrane... was he referring to Trane`s early years or later... Ascension? eek.gif

Two different animals there mate! icon_lol.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by UstadKhanAli View Post
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaV-S5ivX3E

So on Thanksgiving we were hanging out with this lady who was in Topanga in the 1960s, and was a groupie, hanging out with Neil Young and all these bands and telling all sorts of stories about the scene then.

She played the above song, and I was really impressed, having heard of Paul Butterfield before but not being really familiar with this. I especially love the energetic Arabesque guitar break in the middle, but it's all good.
It's a great track. My favorite from a great band. Bloomfield really blew open a lot of ears back then. But, clearly, it's a full group effort; still, Butterfield's harp and Bloomfield's leads trade back and forth and set the culture clash thing up... the guitar's eastern modalities playing against the blues harp.


PS -- To Craig, that is awesome. thumb.gif
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That track is pretty much the first example of an extended improv by a rock band (even if they called themselves a blues band*). Historically only the Byrds "Eight Miles High" comes close to the level of importance in the history of rock as an improvisational music form. Psychedelic and progressive rock and fusion might never have happened if the Butterfield band (esp Bloomfield) hadn't done such a great job with East-West.

Its a shame Bloomfield never stretched out like that in the latter part of his career.

*and they were as much, or more, of a legitimate blues band as any other white band, before or after their existence

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Quote Originally Posted by UstadKhanAli View Post
Hell yeah!!!!!!! That's awesome, and an insanely cool comparison. I do really like your guitar playing with Mandrake Memorial, whether it's cool psychedelic stuff, rhythmic things, more "out" sort of stuff, rackety stuff, or odd noises.

I think I mentioned to you before that I had was sharing a bill with Nels Cline. I got off stage, and he came up and said, "I really like your guitar playing." I was momentarily stunned and probably stood their with my mouth open (I'm an inventive guitar player, I'd like to think, but not very technical at all, and no, I'm not being modest biggrin.gif ).
No one's ever complimented my guitar-playing

My bass-playing, yes, but never my guitar-playing cry.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by Hard Truth View Post
That track is pretty much the first example of an extended improv by a rock band (even if they called themselves a blues band*). Historically only the Byrds "Eight Miles High" comes close to the level of importance in the history of rock as an improvisational music form. Psychedelic and progressive rock and fusion might never have happened if the Butterfield band (esp Bloomfield) hadn't done such a great job with East-West.

Its a shame Bloomfield never stretched out like that in the latter part of his career.

*and they were as much, or more, of a legitimate blues band as any other white band, before or after their existence
Well, cool, that's very interesting, as I didn't realize what a historical impact "East-West" had.

Are you aware of Bloomfield stretching out with anything other than that album? I listened to Electric Flag, which is very different, and there too, that's apparently ground-breaking, as that is a rock group uses a horn section but pre-dates Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago/CTA, etc.

Thanks!
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Quote Originally Posted by MarkydeSad View Post
No one's ever complimented my guitar-playing

My bass-playing, yes, but never my guitar-playing cry.gif
Well, like I say, the funny thing is that I'm really not much of a guitar player. I'm not very technical at all, and have to practice my guitar parts before shows more than most people who play guitar would. I mean, I like my guitar playing and all, but it's really really really really simple. So to get a compliment from someone who is easily one of the best guitar players I've ever seen live and someone I admire quite a bit, that was flabbergasting.

Someone in the press - I can't remember who, but it was a local paper - said that I was the " best sounding {censored}ty guitar player in Los Angeles" and someone else referred to me as "the King of Delay". biggrin.gif

But generally, I've received a lot of positive comments when playing "within the context of the group", thankfully. Note that I said "within the context of the group". biggrin.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by UstadKhanAli View Post
Well, cool, that's very interesting, as I didn't realize what a historical impact "East-West" had.

Are you aware of Bloomfield stretching out with anything other than that album? I listened to Electric Flag, which is very different, and there too, that's apparently ground-breaking, as that is a rock group uses a horn section but pre-dates Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago/CTA, etc.

Thanks!
I'm no Bloomfield expert, but for examples of him stretching out, the albums he did with Al Kooper were probably the best example besides his work with Butterfield.

Fun fact-they got the real Norman Rockwell to paint this album cover.
61LnIiwmyXL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
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