Transcription of Interview from

A study of perhaps the only truly American forms of Art

By Thomas Langan

World Music Cultures - Brown University:  Professor J. Tito

Julian Rollins:  November 17^th, 2003

 

Q:  What was your first musical experience as a musician?

 

A:  First time as a musician…I wanted to learn to play guitar because I thought it was something cool to do, it was the cool thing then.  But I liked rock, and I’m self taught, so I started out with rock.  I was playing guitar and singing in a rock band as a teenager in Panama.

 

Q:  When did you pick up the harmonica, was that later in life?

 

A:  Very recently, in fact the mid 90’s.  I always had harmonicas but I never really learned to play it.  Then I decided that if I was playing blues, it was a good thing to do, to add the harmonica. I learn to play it listening to a John Hammond CD.             

 

Q:  When and where was your first exposure to the blues?

 

A:  My first exposure to the blues really was through rock.  To me blues was the slow songs that rocked by…Zeppelin was playing slow blues songs…a,  Jimi Hendrix…that was blues to me, what they were playing. I also heard some blues on  (US) Armed Forces Radio in Panama.

 

Q:  When and where was your first performance for an audience?

 

A:  It was at the YMCA…wow, no one ever asks me that…it was at the YMCA, the audience was the American Serviceman’s Dance…It was also in Panama, on the American side, you know.  That had to be back in 1969 maybe…or 1970.

 

Q:  Do you find significant differences between playing in a band for an audience and playing as a solo blues performer for an audience?

 

A:  Playing in a band is a lot of work, actually…you gotta make sure you have the right guys so you won’t have a problem.  Playing solo has a different quality, you don’t have the backing of a band so you have to make up for it with more rhythm and a lot of bass added while your playing.  I play harmonica and I can get more out of my harmonica alone.  The only things is now I have to really think about what I’m doing…the best way to play harmonica alone is on a holder.  But I enjoy the solo thing more, because it’s more me, you know, it’s like you’re getting only me.  Yes, there is a greater amount of personal expression involved.

 

Q:  When and how did you learn to improvise?

 

A:  That came naturally…I believe that all of us have music in our hearts.  Some of us have no way of expressing this, but it’s there.  You can feel it and I can feel it.  I’ve had a love for music since I was a little kid, so, shortly after playing in a band I realized that improvisation came pretty easy to me.  I don’t know for all of us, but this was the case for me.  It got better over the years, you know.

 

Q:  Roughly how much of a typical show is improvised?

 

A:  The whole thing now…I’m not a structured musician that will sit down and play…let’s say I’m playing harmonica, I won’t play “Little Walter” note for note, I can’t do that.  I’m more of a Street musician.  When I played harmonica for the first time, it was in New York.  I used to play in the subways with different guys, you learn to just go along with the flow of whoever you are playing with.  So, a lot of what I do is being improvised.  I can keep a rhythm going as I’m playing, but I don’t have anything memorized.  I don’t think I ever play anything twice the same.  I try to keep an aspect of spontaneity, and it’s one of the things that distinguishes me from a lot of musicians.  I like to entertain,  I’m not some guy who will sit down and play the most technically arranged piece.  I want to keep it hopping’.

 

Q:  Blues traditionally embraces the practice of borrowing from other players.  How much of your music is originally composed, how much is borrowed?

 

A:  At this point, usually I’m playing some song that somebody wrote.  But, you know, I rarely ever play it the way they play it anyway.  I might change the tempo…maybe I’m borrowing their stuff, but I’m working on it and giving it my personal touches.  There’s not so much more you can do with blues, now it’s only a matter of giving it personal touches I guess.  Blues has been played and over-played…all I can do is take what’s there and personalize it.  I am working on writing songs but that’s taking a while…it’s not gonna be as traditional, though…I’ll see what the results are.

 

Q:  By some, blues is referred to as a music of truth, can you comment on this and how it reflects what you perform?

 

A:  That’s all true…for me, I find the blues to be a very soothing music, especially traditional acoustic blues.  A very, very soothing music.  And I believe that the soothing effect that blues has on me and other people is because when it was originally written, it was supposed to do this.  These were tired people, over worked, not paid or underpaid…And so, they found comfort in this music and the people who went to these joints found comfort in this music.  I mean it’s a complaint, it’s a lament, it’s a you know…a lot of those guys back then had a lot of bad marriages and bad situations that were left over from slavery.  They were singing to all these bad experiences. 

 

Q:  So do you think the music you play is an expression of your troubles?

 

A:  Sometimes, Sometimes…a lot of times I just simply love it for its value.

 

Q:  Blues was traditionally characterized by oppressed individuals expressing lament, do you think the new developments in blues rock preserve the truth of the music despite the absence of a feeling of oppression?

 

A:  I think that everybody who plays blues, whether they speed it up, rock to it, make it harder, or whatever they did to it…I think it’s all good.  I believe also that if it weren’t for the white players, this music would have died.  It was the British that brought it back.  You know a lot of the blues musicians were leaving it and playing jazz and other stuff because they weren’t getting money anymore.  The British musicians brought it back to life.  I don’t care which direction it goes, today it’s very alive again.  It’s the preferred music of most grown-ups, and a lot of young people are getting into it too.  Whatever they do to it doesn’t have a stipulation.  I don’t care if they play Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” the original slow tune, or the Clapton speed up version.  Ah yea…and I like Elvis too, I’m not against Elvis…I think he was a plus to the blues.  He sold it to a different audience…it was necessary.

 

Q:  Where is the blues scene in Providence?

 

A:  Im still kinda new around here, I was living in New York City. The ones I know best  are in East Providence, but there is a lot of blues all around.

 

Q:  Can you give me a personal definition of the blues?

 

A:  I said it before anyway, to me it’s a very simple music usually played on three simple chords. A music that was born from the working man, an expression of his feelings pain, anger, frustrations, love& dreams put into a simple music form.

 It’s repetitive, it’s not something you need to think about too much to get into, it’s easy to follow.  But the manner of singing and playing of the older guys, and even some modern stuff, is a music that is soothing to me, it has such a soothing effect that its like a music that’s medicine…it can heal you, it can heal the soul, it can relax you, it’s dance music.  I’ve been to the festivals, and the feeling’s the same.  It has the same effect on all of us…it’s relaxing, maybe we are overworked or something and this is the cure.