[Harp-L] Alan Wilson

[the_ju...@juno.com]

There have been few references to Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson's harp playing in recent postings, so I thought I would take this opportunity to reintroduce his legacy to the forum. While not as much of a household name as Paul Butterfield, Rod Piazza, or other younger players who first came to prominence in the "blues revival" days of the Sixties, Alan was one of the most soulful harp players of this era. In addition to having great tone, a wide vocabulary of licks, and extraordinary arranging ability, he was also an accomplished guitarist and piano player. A real scholar of the blues, he was extremely knowledgeable about a musical form that was unknown to most people of his age and cultural background. When interviewed by Pete Welding for Down Beat magazine in the late Sixties, he proved to be extremely well versed in the historical development of the blues and the range of styles by the artists who performed it, dating back to the earliest days of blues recording.
He was a founding member of Canned Heat and was a major factor in the rediscovery and subsequent revitalized career of Son House, and is credited with helping House re-learn the guitar parts to tunes he first recorded in the 1930s. He contributed some amazing harp work both to Canned Heat's recordings and to the band's collaboration with John Lee Hooker on the "Hooker 'n Heat" double album, recorded in May of 1970. This recording stands up well today as an affirmation of both men's talents and musical empathy - Hooker was moved to exclaim "I really like this kid's harmonica playing. I can't lose him. I don't know how he stays with me, but he do!" Side Two of the four-side double album is especially outstanding, with just Hooker and Wilson in the mix, a fine example of guitar and harp feeding off each other with superb results.
Unfortunately, Alan Wilson died, a possible suicide, shortly after the recording was completed. It was a great loss to the blues community and to the field of blues harp in particular. As with many talented individuals, he had personal demons to combat that made his life a tortured one, in a number of areas. The music hopefully helped him survive as long as he did, but in the end it may not have been enough.
For examples of some of Alan's fine harp and guitar work, the following are recommended:
1) Hooker 'n Heat
2) Future Blues
3) Hallelujah
4) Boogie With Canned Heat
5) Canned Heat (1st album)
All these were originally issued as LPs on the Liberty label. I haven't checked, but I'm guessing that most of them are now available on CD.
Pete Sheridan
www.petesheridan.net



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[Zack]

A bunch of those are on CD and I have heard them. He wasn't like an old
style player. In my opinion he was a big innovator because he was trying
stuff that wasn't done yet. I have always like his tone, and his intonation
is pretty good, I think. I don't listen to him much, but I think he was
pretty much a blues genius.

[Richard Hunter]

Pete Sheridan wrote:
There have been few references to Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson's harp playing in recent postings, so I thought I would take this opportunity to reintroduce his legacy to the forum.

Thanks for the concise summary Pete. Alan Wilson was indeed a great player. Some time ago on this list someone--I think Tom Ellis of Tom's Mics?--posted the URL for a YouTube clip of Wilson playing "On The Road Again" live with Canned Heat. The clip was recorded in the late 1960s, and everything about Wilson's playing on that clip is as modern, original, and inspiring now as it was then.

Regards, Richard Hunter

author, "Jazz Harp"
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: lightninrick

[Rob Paparozzi]

Thank You Pete,

This was nice to read and terrific to spend some time on harp-l talking
about such a monumental Blues Figure from the sixties that never got enough
attention.

There is much to be learned from listening to to Alan's work and I own all
those LP's and always enjoyed playing along as I was coming up on years ago
on the harp.

My favorite Owl song I loved to play on gigs years ago was
"Parthenogenesis"...like Butterfield & Musselwhite, Owl was always looking
for ways to present a classic art form in some new 'wrappings' for a Rock
Generation to listen to...it worked!

That is why Muddy & Hooker had tremendous respect for these men who carried
the torch to keep the Blues alive for the next generation

Long Live his Music and Spirit,
Rob Paparozzi
www.robpaparozzi.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <the_ju...@juno.com>
To: <har...@harp-l.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 11:41 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Alan Wilson

There have been few references to Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson's harp
playing in recent postings, so I thought I would take this opportunity to
reintroduce his legacy to the forum. While not as much of a household name
as Paul Butterfield, Rod Piazza, or other younger players who first came to
prominence in the "blues revival" days of the Sixties, Alan was one of the
most soulful harp players of this era. In addition to having great tone, a
wide vocabulary of licks, and extraordinary arranging ability, he was also
an accomplished guitarist and piano player. A real scholar of the blues, he
was extremely knowledgeable about a musical form that was unknown to most
people of his age and cultural background. When interviewed by Pete Welding
for Down Beat magazine in the late Sixties, he proved to be extremely well
versed in the historical development of the blues and the range of styles by
the artists who performed it, dating back to the earliest days of blues

recording........<snip>

[tacop...@comcast.net]

I have to concur on Alan Wilson. He is arguably (in my mind) my
favorite blues harmonica player this side of Little Walter. His tone,
phrasing and technique is above reproach. He died at the ripe young
age of 27 and it's a shame he didn't have the chance to share with us
his prowess as he became older, more experienced and more musically
aware. Like Rob, I also have all the LP's including a few that Pete
didn't mention including "Living The Blues" and "Live In Europe"
among others. The latter is mostly a throw away but the former is a
jewel. It includes Rob's mentioning of "Parthenogenesis."
Parthenogenesis is a medley that includes "Five Owls" that has Alan
Wilson overdubbing five harmonica parts on one track. Another gem is
"Huautla" from Hallelujah. After more than 35 years I still
appreciate his version of Sonny Boy II's "Help Me." When I was in
college I was in a band that played Canned Heat's version of Jimmy
Rogers' "Walking By Myself" where the bass and the harp play the same
line into the harp solo. I wish there was more.

I had never heard the suicide thing before. I'd always heard the it
was a booze and barbiturates accident.

Taco in Baja

[Patrick Lines]

In case you haven't seen it, there is an authorized Alan Wilson Facebook
page along with pages for the other members of the band. Besides all that
has been said about him musically, there are his inovations also. The much
talked about filing of the 6 draw reed and now you can see in several
pictures his volume control for his mic. He is the reason I started playing.
I saw the Hooker and Heat tour at the Eagles Auditorium in Seattle and it
was weird not having him with the band.

[dmf...@gmail.com]

Just to chime in here, Alan Wilson is absolutely my favorite harp player of
all time, bar none, living or dead. He's not speedy, he's not flashy, he
rarely (maybe never) goes up above hole #7 in 2nd position, he doesn't
overblow, heck I'm not even sure I've ever heard him do a blow bend! But
none of that matters to me. What matters is that his musical ideas are full
of beauty, wisdom and impeccable taste. What matters to me is that every
single time I listen to one of his recordings, even if I've heard it 10,000
times before (and I have), it never fails to make me feel good and I'd be
happy to hear it again, right then, for the 10,001st time.

Now to add a little substance to my tribute - there's been a couple
mentions of "Parthenogenosis" from the "Living the Blues" lp, and
specifically the "Five Owls" section. I must have listened to "Five Owls"
10,000 times and tried to play it myself almost as many times, before I
realized that's another tune where he uses the "Blind Owl" altered tuning
with the raised draw 6 - the same altered tuning he used for "On the Road
Again". He doesn't really draw attention to it until near the end of the
song when one of the overdubbed harps wails on it. Check it out!

[Splash!]

Al Wilson was one of the major reasons I started playing harmonica. Late
1960s I was amazed, and still am today how he did his version of tremolo or
vibratto or whatever you want to call it. That technique of his I still
haven't been able to master.

I wore out those LPs. I think I even used to put a penny on the tone arm to
get them to play without skipping.

That reference to tone arms and pennies is probably gobbldygook to many who
only know of CDs and Ipods. =8^D

Long Live Analog Music!

Splash!

----- Original Message -----
Subject: [Harp-L] Alan Wilson

There have been few references to Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson's harp
playing in recent postings, so I thought I would take this opportunity to
reintroduce his legacy to the forum. While not as much of a household name
as Paul Butterfield, Rod Piazza, or other younger players who first came to
prominence in the "blues revival" days of the Sixties, Alan was one of the
most soulful harp players of this era. In addition to having great tone, a
wide vocabulary of licks, and extraordinary arranging ability, he was also

an accomplished guitarist and piano player. <snip>