Heavy Hittin' West Coast Harp

Description

William Clarke (1951 - 1996), along with Rod Piazza, is one of the most famous harmonica players from the George 'Harmonica' Smith School of Los Angeles. He is considered a master of the extremely "fat" sound and a playing style that sometimes recalls saxophone virtuosos. This is the first vinyl retrospective that covers almost his entire, far too short career. It includes studio recordings that until now had only been released posthumously on a deleted CD from the small Watch Dog label. It also includes an unreleased studio recording! Compiled by producer and harmonica player Bob Corritore, who also wrote the liner notes. Carefully remastered by Tom Meyer and pressed by Optimal Media, this 180-gram edition comes in a gatefold cover, limited to 1,000 copies. After tough early years during which he kept afloat with mostly poorly paid appearances in small clubs and rarely left Los Angeles or Southern California, William Clarke (21.3.1951 - 2.11.1996) signed with the famous Alligator Records label. With his first album 'Blowin' Like Hell' for the Chicago Blues Factory, the secret West Coast bluesman became an international star on the scene! With 'Heavy Hittin' West Coast Harp', Bear Family pays homage and respect to one of the great harmonica stylists. As an instrumentalist, William Clarke was heavily influenced by George 'Harmonica' Smith, a Chicago colleague of Little Walter or Walter Horton. Smith came to Los Angeles for a recording session in 1956 and settled on the West Coast. Similar to his idol Smith, from whom he learned many tricks in countless joint performances, Clarke was as comfortable on the small harmonica as on the chromatic. The combination of Chicago-style harmonica and the cool West Coast groove and swing met the open ears of blues fans worldwide. On his first album, 'Hittin' Heavy' he is accompanied by Hollywood Fats on guitar; in subsequent recording sessions, Ronnie Earl, Junior Watson, Rick Holmstrom or Alex Schultz are among the musicians. Bob Corritore, first-class blues musician and harp player, producer and blogger, compiled this album for Bear Family and wrote the liner notes.