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Often called the Jimi Hendrix or John Coltrane of the blues harmonica, Sugar Blue is no ordinary harp player. In addition to an awesomely fluid technique, he also possesses the innate ability to blend jazz, funk, R&B and rock elements with traditional and minor-key blues forms. While Sugar Blue’s hard-to-pin-down style doesn’t always sit well with those who choose to think of themselves as blues purists, the man himself remains unfazed. As he once told an interviewer, "If you define the way you play your instrument only by the players who play your instrument, it limits you."
Born James Whiting in New York City’s Harlem district, Blue adopted his new moniker after finding a 78 rpm disc of Sidney Bechet’s "Sugar Blues" in a garbage bin. By that time, he’d already been exposed to a wide range of musical influences, including Billie Holiday, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and the gospel sounds of his grandmother’s Baptist congregation. But it was the music of Muddy Waters, featuring the harp playing of Little Walter, that really blew his mind.
Determined to make it as a blues harpist, Sugar Blue plied his trade on the streets of New York City, eventually making enough connections to land him session gigs with Brownie McGhee, Roosevelt Sykes and Johnny Shines. Moving to Paris on the advice of ex-pat piano great Memphis Slim, Blue fell in with members of the Rolling Stones, who were then engaged in the creation of their Some Girls LP. Blue’s melodic harp licks on "Miss You" (and his burning solo on the title track) made him something of a star, and led to appearances on records by Stan Getz, Bob Dylan, Willie Dixon and Syl Johnson, as well as other releases by the Rolling Stones.
Of course, Sugar Blue is also capable of creating some damn fine music of his own. He’s recorded several full-length solo works, including two recent releases for Alligator Records, 1994’s Blue Blazes and 1995’s In Your Eyes. "God Bless You Child," a new Sugar Blue original recorded exclusively for MUSICBLITZ, shudders and shakes with the power of vintage Bo Diddley, while adding some timeless funk of its own. Add an impassioned vocal and some searing harmonica playing, and you’ve got the first great blues song of the new millennium.
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