Even there, he does really bring the low, middle, and high
registers together; these are some sorry transitions. He is, on the other hand, an excellent blues singer, based on this sample. To be fair, though, this video
is some years old, and it seems that Popper has learned something about blues
phrasing, as in his recording of "Last Night" with Johnny Winter. He
allows space to sculpt his solo. His fleet runs on the high end are not as frantic;
they are shot, sharp bursts, and dead on target. It is a wonderfully chilling
sound. Popper's low-end execution is not the best - when he plays
blues, he often sounds like he's unsure where the second, third or fourth
notes are. He doesn't come to them with the intuitive ease he shows with his
high register riffing. Even so, his high-end escapades don't connect with anything
going around him, or just barely, if at all. The solo is a mess. But he does
great stuff on the Johnny Winter track--there are years between the recordings, and what Popper does throughout the improvisation is show us that he figured
out how to play blues in his own style, with his signature runs, and still have
it be blues. Toward the end of the solo, he gives us a masterful flurry of
notes that speed by yet maintains a blues cadence. He knows what he has to
do. So there is hope for this man to get his share of blues credibility.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
A fine harmonica solo from John Popper
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