Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sunday Baroque Guitar & Harmonica

After a week of frayed PorkObamics nerves how about a little relaxation?
Every rock guitarist secretly wishes they were a classical guitar master.
Oh yes they do.

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Pachelbel's "Loose" Canon




Pastorius says: I hope Midnight Rider doesn't mind me cutting in here, but since we're celebrating "Loose" cannon versions of Pachebel's Canon, how about celebrating the great John Popper from Blues Traveller.

MR says: Don't mind a'tall. Love Blues Traveler Runaround one of my favorites. But wait till you see what I got at 8:00 EST tonight :)

(Baroque harmonica?)

14 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Nice!

christian soldier said...

I'm sending this to my classical guitar playing friend-maybe it'll get us practicing together again!
I may just 'swipe' this - MR :-)
C-CS

midnight rider said...

Swipe away, CS. Enjoy!

heroyalwhyness said...

I don't play any musical instruments but it's apparent that Pachebel's canon is not a particular favorite of many musicians - yet remarkably, Pachebel's Canon in D appears in many many musical pieces.

Here's comedian/musician, Rob Paravonian loosely explaining it all.

Pastorius said...

I'm a drummer. YOu can't imagine how boring most percussion parts are for orchestral music.

heroyalwhyness said...

Three of my kids refused percussion for that very reason. All of my children are talented musicians but they chose to play trumpet and trombone . . .no keyboard, no percussion or strings . . .sigh.

Pastorius said...

I have a lot of fun playing jazz, funk, and rock music.

:)

midnight rider said...

We have a noisy house. Flute Saxophone Violin viola guitar bass piccolo piano harmonica clarinet all spread between me and my three daughters. All comes through my braches of the family tree going way back.

Me lovely wife, though she dearly wants to, couldn't carry a tune in a paper sack.

kevin said...

(Baroque harmonica?)

No it still works ;)

Actually I play guitar, and yes, I do wish I could play like those classical masters.

Pastorius said...

Kevin,
His harmonica playing is not quite baroque in style, but it us definitely a take on Vivaldi.

I've never heard Popper talk about his harmonica playing, but he clearly owes a debt to Toots Thielsman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfKcnonrbGM&feature=related

midnight rider said...

Toots is fantastic. Couple three years ago he put out a great "duet" album, Toots playing and someone else -- Lizz Wright, Jamie Cullem, Beth Hart, Madeline Peyroux among others -- singing. Called One More For the Road. Really stunning.

Also a ton of fun is Live in the Netherlands with Joe Pass doing some really sweet guitar work and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass.

midnight rider said...

Hey Pasto -- I was looking for a Popper interview about his harp influences and hit this: Popper was also arrested on March 6, 2007 near Ritzville, Washington by the Washington State Patrol.[27] He was the passenger in his own vehicle, which was stopped for speeding, and was found to be in the possession of a small amount of marijuana and weapons. Popper was released the same night. The vehicle had a stash of hidden compartments which contained four rifles, nine handguns, a switchblade knife, a Taser, a set of brass knuckles, and night vision goggles. Officers also recovered a small amount of marijuana and a marijuana pipe. The vehicle was temporarily seized.[28][29]

No charges were filed for the weapons, as they were all registered and securely locked away, and Popper was licensed to carry them, with the exception of the brass knuckles and switchblade knife which Popper agreed to surrender.

Now that's my kind of harp player! Although they might have had to fight me to surrender the knife. . .

(source: http://www.answers.com/topic/john-popper)

Pastorius said...

Did they give him his car back?

midnight rider said...

Yes, everything was legal except the switchblade and knuckles.