Showing posts with label Dave Harris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave Harris. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
What is a One Man Band (for my book purposes)?
What is a ONE MAN BAND?
For my purposes a one man band (OMB) is anyone who plays enough instruments at the same time or creates enough sound to imply more than one musician. This is a very broad definition and opens the door to guitar/harp players (especially if they stomp their feet; John Hammond comes to mind), guitarist/foot drummers, accordion/drums or harp, piano/drums, and anything beyond. I've included simple guitar/foot stompers like John Lee Hooker, even a couple guitarists that play percussion on their guitars while playing. I've also included a few of the OMBs that use looping pedals to generate backing, which they then play to (KT Tunstall of "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" is a good example). Their entries will be shorter, however, as will be entries on a few that use samples, MIDI, backing tracks and even one or two with drum machines (horrors!). The thrust of this book is towards the OMBs that physically (and manually) create all of their sounds live, simultaneously. I have been shocked at how many of these OMBs there are! I have well over 600 names now, with more turning up weekly. I know this isn't as comprehensive as I'd like and if you know of anyone, please let me know.
The "classic" European OMB plays drums on their back with ropes or wires attached to their shoes that operate the drum pedals as they walk. Most play guitar or banjo but some also play accordion. Harp in a rack with kazoo, whistles, duck calls etc are also common and most use battery amps. The European style is also used by a few in North America and Australia. Possibly the biggest name in this style is Don Partridge, a great singer/songwriter, most famous for his 2 Top 5 hits in Britain in the late 60's ("Rosie" and "Blue Eyes"). In recent years he's switched to the sit-down style favoured by
N. Americans. Carrying the drums on your back has it's merits visually and for mobility but it takes its toll on your body! Other memorable stand-up style OMBs include Jimmy Jimmy, who lives in Australia but plays in Europe and used to play a lot in Japan (he's originally from the US!), Slippery Mike (an Englishman who lives in Germany), The Straniero (American in Italy, who is phenomenal!), Paolo Sgallini (he's on Facebook), Otto & Bernelli (famous in Italy), Bernard M Snyder (has onemanband.org and is very involved in festivals), Chucklefoot (fun goodtime Englishman), Bandaloni (from Canada), Professor Paddywhack (child oriented from USA) and too many to list.
The sit-down style is the popular modern style (very few modern OMBs play standing up), as played by the blues OMBs too. The usual set-up is a bass drum and high-hat but some use a snare drum as well (you can play two pedals at once) or sometimes homemade drums (suitcase, bucket, cans, you name it). Most play guitar and often rack harp and/or kazoo, sometimes banjo, accordion, piano, mandolin, ukulele or fiddle. Steel body guitars are common for added volume (for busking anyway). The classic blues OMBs include Jesse Fuller (see the next blog), Dr Ross (great harp),
Joe Hill Louis (what a sound!), Juke Boy Bonner, Blind Joe Hill, Duster Bennett (from England), Wilbert Harrison (often on piano), Ray Stubbs (also English and still going), WC Spencer (USA), Richard Johnston (excellent Hill Country blues), Erik Fingers Ray, more. Other notable names have to include Hasil Adkins 
(father of the modern punk/garage rock OMBs), Abner Jay (interesting sound on electric banjo), Bob Log 111, Xavier Rudd (big name from Australia), Homer Henderson (great blues/rockabilly/roots), O Lendario Chucrobillyman (from Brazil), Becky Lee and Drunkfoot (one of few women), Lonesome Organist (has to be seen to be believed; he's really good), Patrick Hazell (piano OMB), Robert One Man Johnson, Gee Gee Kettel (from Germany, and another who switched from standing to sitting), Venus Fly Trap, BBQ and many, many more!
Some of the most interesting OMBs have designed foot operated instruments. Joe Barrick, the subject of a good piece by Hal Rammel (easily found online) made what he called a piatarbajo (pia-piano, tar-guitar, ba-bass and jo-banjo), a foot operated contraption that housed all of the mentioned instruments except the piano (that reference is to the foot operated keys that pushed bars down on strings to change pitches). Unfortunately there don't seem to be recordings of him readily available but I have a few minutes of video. Others with these types of set-ups include Eric Royer (bluegrass/old time music from Boston), Fate Norris (long dead), Phil Wickendon, Greeley Robertson (can be seen on Youtube and recommended!), Albert Bergerault (France) and Albert Nelson (who took the concept further than anyone in the 1910's!). If I can figure out how, I'll post a musical
selection by Nelson, who used pneumatic pressure to operate up to 30 instruments at once!
Other notable OMBs with unique set-ups include Leonard Solomon and His Bellowphone (on Youtube), Christopher of the Wolves, Winko Ljizz, Charles Kelly, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few...
One Man Band gear of note. Most OMBs make their own rigs, especially the stand up types. However, a guy named Pete Farmer builds great portable foot drums. These have a kick drum (bass), snare, high-hat, shakers and tambourine (with a pedal operated stick to hit the high-hat). For sitting OMBs, I highly recommend
them (easily found at farmerfootdrums.com). Recently he's been working on a back rig too and has talked of a foot bass. I use them, as do Molly Gene, Paolo Sgallini, Fabio Fedra and a few others.
Well, if you find this interesting, watch for my book! I hope to have it finished around Christmas but it may be next year, depending on editing, layout, printing and if I keep finding names! Please comment, if you have anything to share!
I've added a video bar to my site, which should get you to my channel DslimHarris, where there are many videos of me (and other buskers and performers I've filmed) and over 500 OMB clips in my favourites. Enjoy!
For my purposes a one man band (OMB) is anyone who plays enough instruments at the same time or creates enough sound to imply more than one musician. This is a very broad definition and opens the door to guitar/harp players (especially if they stomp their feet; John Hammond comes to mind), guitarist/foot drummers, accordion/drums or harp, piano/drums, and anything beyond. I've included simple guitar/foot stompers like John Lee Hooker, even a couple guitarists that play percussion on their guitars while playing. I've also included a few of the OMBs that use looping pedals to generate backing, which they then play to (KT Tunstall of "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" is a good example). Their entries will be shorter, however, as will be entries on a few that use samples, MIDI, backing tracks and even one or two with drum machines (horrors!). The thrust of this book is towards the OMBs that physically (and manually) create all of their sounds live, simultaneously. I have been shocked at how many of these OMBs there are! I have well over 600 names now, with more turning up weekly. I know this isn't as comprehensive as I'd like and if you know of anyone, please let me know.
The "classic" European OMB plays drums on their back with ropes or wires attached to their shoes that operate the drum pedals as they walk. Most play guitar or banjo but some also play accordion. Harp in a rack with kazoo, whistles, duck calls etc are also common and most use battery amps. The European style is also used by a few in North America and Australia. Possibly the biggest name in this style is Don Partridge, a great singer/songwriter, most famous for his 2 Top 5 hits in Britain in the late 60's ("Rosie" and "Blue Eyes"). In recent years he's switched to the sit-down style favoured by
N. Americans. Carrying the drums on your back has it's merits visually and for mobility but it takes its toll on your body! Other memorable stand-up style OMBs include Jimmy Jimmy, who lives in Australia but plays in Europe and used to play a lot in Japan (he's originally from the US!), Slippery Mike (an Englishman who lives in Germany), The Straniero (American in Italy, who is phenomenal!), Paolo Sgallini (he's on Facebook), Otto & Bernelli (famous in Italy), Bernard M Snyder (has onemanband.org and is very involved in festivals), Chucklefoot (fun goodtime Englishman), Bandaloni (from Canada), Professor Paddywhack (child oriented from USA) and too many to list.The sit-down style is the popular modern style (very few modern OMBs play standing up), as played by the blues OMBs too. The usual set-up is a bass drum and high-hat but some use a snare drum as well (you can play two pedals at once) or sometimes homemade drums (suitcase, bucket, cans, you name it). Most play guitar and often rack harp and/or kazoo, sometimes banjo, accordion, piano, mandolin, ukulele or fiddle. Steel body guitars are common for added volume (for busking anyway). The classic blues OMBs include Jesse Fuller (see the next blog), Dr Ross (great harp),
Joe Hill Louis (what a sound!), Juke Boy Bonner, Blind Joe Hill, Duster Bennett (from England), Wilbert Harrison (often on piano), Ray Stubbs (also English and still going), WC Spencer (USA), Richard Johnston (excellent Hill Country blues), Erik Fingers Ray, more. Other notable names have to include Hasil Adkins 
(father of the modern punk/garage rock OMBs), Abner Jay (interesting sound on electric banjo), Bob Log 111, Xavier Rudd (big name from Australia), Homer Henderson (great blues/rockabilly/roots), O Lendario Chucrobillyman (from Brazil), Becky Lee and Drunkfoot (one of few women), Lonesome Organist (has to be seen to be believed; he's really good), Patrick Hazell (piano OMB), Robert One Man Johnson, Gee Gee Kettel (from Germany, and another who switched from standing to sitting), Venus Fly Trap, BBQ and many, many more!Some of the most interesting OMBs have designed foot operated instruments. Joe Barrick, the subject of a good piece by Hal Rammel (easily found online) made what he called a piatarbajo (pia-piano, tar-guitar, ba-bass and jo-banjo), a foot operated contraption that housed all of the mentioned instruments except the piano (that reference is to the foot operated keys that pushed bars down on strings to change pitches). Unfortunately there don't seem to be recordings of him readily available but I have a few minutes of video. Others with these types of set-ups include Eric Royer (bluegrass/old time music from Boston), Fate Norris (long dead), Phil Wickendon, Greeley Robertson (can be seen on Youtube and recommended!), Albert Bergerault (France) and Albert Nelson (who took the concept further than anyone in the 1910's!). If I can figure out how, I'll post a musical
selection by Nelson, who used pneumatic pressure to operate up to 30 instruments at once!Other notable OMBs with unique set-ups include Leonard Solomon and His Bellowphone (on Youtube), Christopher of the Wolves, Winko Ljizz, Charles Kelly, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few...
One Man Band gear of note. Most OMBs make their own rigs, especially the stand up types. However, a guy named Pete Farmer builds great portable foot drums. These have a kick drum (bass), snare, high-hat, shakers and tambourine (with a pedal operated stick to hit the high-hat). For sitting OMBs, I highly recommend
them (easily found at farmerfootdrums.com). Recently he's been working on a back rig too and has talked of a foot bass. I use them, as do Molly Gene, Paolo Sgallini, Fabio Fedra and a few others.Well, if you find this interesting, watch for my book! I hope to have it finished around Christmas but it may be next year, depending on editing, layout, printing and if I keep finding names! Please comment, if you have anything to share!
I've added a video bar to my site, which should get you to my channel DslimHarris, where there are many videos of me (and other buskers and performers I've filmed) and over 500 OMB clips in my favourites. Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Fotdellas
There are a few misconceptions and questions concerning this unique instrument and this blog will hopefully lay most of them to rest. In my research on one man bands, for the book I'm writing, I have been shocked to find there are only three artists that have this strange foot operated bass instrument. There may possibly be more but not so far as I've found. Of course, the first was by its inventor, the late great one man band, Jesse Fuller. The other two artists are Robert 'One Man" Johnson and myself. Each of us has variations in ours but the basic principles are the same.
Fotdella or actually footdella, as it is pronounced, according to blues/folk artist Jesse Cahn. Jesse Cahn was a family friend of Fuller's, as a boy. His parents, folk/blues/jazz artists, Rolf Cahn and Barbara Dane were early supporters of Jesse's, hiring him to play in their clubs and having him over to their house. So, while generally spelled fotdella, it is pronounced footdella. The name was coined by Jesse's wife, Gertrude; fot from foot and della from killer-diller, an old expression used by jazz musicians for something hip or cool. So, a hot foot, which Jesse had, nimbly playing ragtime bass lines with his right foot, high-hat cymbals with his left, while playing deft Piedmont blues inspired 12 string guitar, harp or kazoo, and singing.
There has been speculation that the instrument was a converted upright bass but in fact, Jesse bent the wood himself, to create the instruments body. Jesse had worked for a barrel making company as a boy, learning the skills he put to use on the fotdella. The first prototype lay out flat on the ground (according to Jesse Cahn) and was rather like a grand piano but took up too much space. Jesse figured out a way to stand it up and that is what we see in the various pictures or videos that exist. There is an interesting but unsubstantiated story that Jesse initially built it as a coffin, for his grandson, who was supposedly dying of the flu. The kid recovered and Jesse turned it into a fotdella. Its a fun story but it can't really be likely, although in the famous picture of Jesse with the fotdella sitting next to him, the fotdella does look like a small coffin. Jesse made quite a few versions over the years, as it was quite a temperamental instrument and prone to breakdowns. This is supported by the photos and videos, which definitely show several different models. He would apparently cannibalize the broken model into a new one, reusing some of the parts. Most pictures seem to show six strings, although Robert 'One Man' Johnson remembers only five on the one Jesse had at a 1966 show, that Robert organized. The notes, as best as I can tell, were A, C, D, E, F and G (I'm not positive of the arrangement), the notes needed for "San Francisco Bay Blues" in the key of C. Jesse used piano wire for strings and clamped down the strings with nuts. The pedals were a bunch of piano keys (Jesse had to play barefoot with his big toe, as the notes were quite close together) that were wired to piano hammers that hit the strings, along with a damper that closed off the notes afterwards. Apparently the working mechanisms folded inside the body. I'm not too sure about this. It seems to have worked quite well on the recordings and Jesse truly sounds like a band of simple players (guitar excepted, quite fancy, at times!).
Robert 'One man' Johnson took this a step further, calling his a Foot Piano. I haven't studied his nearly as much, but it is a small full one octave chromatic scale (12 notes, piano arranged) instrument, again played barefoot and I'm guessing, its quiet acoustically, as it's quite small. I'll add more, as I gain the information (still waiting on recordings, for example).
My own (I have two) were built for me by Glenn Orr and they are both rather quiet, prone to problems, but definitely add to the sound. My first has eight strings with enough spread in the pedals to keep my shoe on. This is good, as it can be cool here in Victoria BC, sometimes, and I'm outdoors. I also switch to drums on some songs. The second, and one I currently use, has 12 strings (the extra four are recessed as a second row (and I seldom use them). I have mine tuned in fifths (or fourths, depending on which way you go), left to right - B,E,A,D,G,C,F,Bb. This allows for simple root five bass patterns with minmal foot movement. I can play most things in C, F or G and blues in D, A and E as well. Mine also have pieces right out of a piano that are removeable, with the hammers to hit the strings and dampers. When removed, I can fold the pedal board up against the strings, and the part that is most vulnerable (the hammers) is stored in a suitcase. Setup is quick, I just place the piano piece into the slots and possibly align a hammer or two. Takes seconds. My pedals push the hammers up to strike the strings, Jesse's pulled down. I use electric bass guitar strings with bass guitar tuning machines. I'll try to post some pictures here eventually.
Fotdella or actually footdella, as it is pronounced, according to blues/folk artist Jesse Cahn. Jesse Cahn was a family friend of Fuller's, as a boy. His parents, folk/blues/jazz artists, Rolf Cahn and Barbara Dane were early supporters of Jesse's, hiring him to play in their clubs and having him over to their house. So, while generally spelled fotdella, it is pronounced footdella. The name was coined by Jesse's wife, Gertrude; fot from foot and della from killer-diller, an old expression used by jazz musicians for something hip or cool. So, a hot foot, which Jesse had, nimbly playing ragtime bass lines with his right foot, high-hat cymbals with his left, while playing deft Piedmont blues inspired 12 string guitar, harp or kazoo, and singing.
There has been speculation that the instrument was a converted upright bass but in fact, Jesse bent the wood himself, to create the instruments body. Jesse had worked for a barrel making company as a boy, learning the skills he put to use on the fotdella. The first prototype lay out flat on the ground (according to Jesse Cahn) and was rather like a grand piano but took up too much space. Jesse figured out a way to stand it up and that is what we see in the various pictures or videos that exist. There is an interesting but unsubstantiated story that Jesse initially built it as a coffin, for his grandson, who was supposedly dying of the flu. The kid recovered and Jesse turned it into a fotdella. Its a fun story but it can't really be likely, although in the famous picture of Jesse with the fotdella sitting next to him, the fotdella does look like a small coffin. Jesse made quite a few versions over the years, as it was quite a temperamental instrument and prone to breakdowns. This is supported by the photos and videos, which definitely show several different models. He would apparently cannibalize the broken model into a new one, reusing some of the parts. Most pictures seem to show six strings, although Robert 'One Man' Johnson remembers only five on the one Jesse had at a 1966 show, that Robert organized. The notes, as best as I can tell, were A, C, D, E, F and G (I'm not positive of the arrangement), the notes needed for "San Francisco Bay Blues" in the key of C. Jesse used piano wire for strings and clamped down the strings with nuts. The pedals were a bunch of piano keys (Jesse had to play barefoot with his big toe, as the notes were quite close together) that were wired to piano hammers that hit the strings, along with a damper that closed off the notes afterwards. Apparently the working mechanisms folded inside the body. I'm not too sure about this. It seems to have worked quite well on the recordings and Jesse truly sounds like a band of simple players (guitar excepted, quite fancy, at times!).
Robert 'One man' Johnson took this a step further, calling his a Foot Piano. I haven't studied his nearly as much, but it is a small full one octave chromatic scale (12 notes, piano arranged) instrument, again played barefoot and I'm guessing, its quiet acoustically, as it's quite small. I'll add more, as I gain the information (still waiting on recordings, for example).
My own (I have two) were built for me by Glenn Orr and they are both rather quiet, prone to problems, but definitely add to the sound. My first has eight strings with enough spread in the pedals to keep my shoe on. This is good, as it can be cool here in Victoria BC, sometimes, and I'm outdoors. I also switch to drums on some songs. The second, and one I currently use, has 12 strings (the extra four are recessed as a second row (and I seldom use them). I have mine tuned in fifths (or fourths, depending on which way you go), left to right - B,E,A,D,G,C,F,Bb. This allows for simple root five bass patterns with minmal foot movement. I can play most things in C, F or G and blues in D, A and E as well. Mine also have pieces right out of a piano that are removeable, with the hammers to hit the strings and dampers. When removed, I can fold the pedal board up against the strings, and the part that is most vulnerable (the hammers) is stored in a suitcase. Setup is quick, I just place the piano piece into the slots and possibly align a hammer or two. Takes seconds. My pedals push the hammers up to strike the strings, Jesse's pulled down. I use electric bass guitar strings with bass guitar tuning machines. I'll try to post some pictures here eventually.
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