Harvey Mandel of Chicago Blues Reunion at Bluesfest 2006

[WELLBRAN]

good solid backing also nice to an oldie that does not look out of date, still got it and playing great

[reefrunner9]

Visceral Etudes, Always welcomed......Go Harvey go....

[ytwojo]

@ aspirepacman1972 and guyglowmore suggest you listen to Harvey's work on Musselwhite's 1st album "Stand Back Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite and the South Side Blues Band" esp. "39th and Indiana", "4p.m.", "Cha Cha the Blues", aw, f**k, just listen to the whole album. it's all on You Tube. And remember, the album came out in 1967! I saw the PFDA in a little club in Berkeley in the early 70's. Believe me, there was NO DOUBT who was the better of the two. W/ Sugarcane and the band smokin'.

[russell5419]

awesome guitar work

[jammin6816]

Nice ear candy- great to hear some kick-ass guitar work!

[Zeezamusic]

Wow!

[guyglowmore1]

i can relate to all comments. heard him play at the whiskey with mayall and ch mussel. at the time it seemed like majic. now that i know minor scales and have played in similar bands i realize it was actually a lot simpler than it seemed

[danielmarkoya]

I lived in Morton Grove and went to school with Nick Fortuna of the Buckinhams who put me in contact with Harvey.

I was 15. My dad arranged for me to go into a bar in Chicago, on Rush Street, where Harvey was playing so I could watch him play.

Harvey took a liking to me and for a season of time came to where I lived once a week to give me guitar lessons:)

It took... I play guitar professionally to this day. Although, I have gravitated to finger pick a classical guitar.

Daniel (Dan) Markoya

[theproff57]

@danielmarkoya Happened to read this and noticed who you know! I worked with the Buckinhams drummer during the 70s but that didnt last. I lived in Bellwood during that time. I played guitar just about all the places that Harvey Mandel played even in Calumet City where I would go and jam with the group he was working with. Have not seen Harvey since the 70s until I started using YOU TUBE. Chicago's Rush Street was a neat place and Old Town area. I also played a lot in the suburbs of Melrose Park.

[yesmon4real]

Go Harvey, always nice to see Harvey jam.

[Cervicconstruction]

If you ever have the chance to hear him on the "Get Off In Chicago" The song Jellyroll will make you twich and squirm.

[jprarch]

Nice to see and hear Harvey Mandel here, saw him one time playing live in switzerland in the mid 70thies with canned heath. As a young guitar player I was deeply and strong impressed about his feeling and his unique one hand style to play. Fine work thanks for posting that.

[teaandtheatre]

im harveys cuz

[reefrunner9]

Just booted up my ancient, yet workable, cornered desktop and voila! Found this video of Harvey in Chicago. Still working strong after 30 plus years in the business. Saw him and Mayall in Minneapolis a long time ago...Cool music for turbulent times. Rock on Saturday morning this September 6, 2008

[yankeeG]

My Favorite Harvey Album was "Games Guitars Play", with the song "Dry Your Eyes" as a fave from that effort, along with "I don't need no Doctor".

[rodrigore]

sera el inventor, pero no tiene la gracia de Eddie Van Halen..

[bibirije]

El inventor de los tapings.

[minookawreslinkid99]

my mom used to be friends with harvey back in the 70's. i live in joliet il. thats a little city an hour outside of chicago. thats where this guy started. (yeah the joliet from the blues brothers)

[lazur1]

Harvey grew up in Morton Grove, IL. Early 1969 he moved to L. A. After a minute back in Chicago c.1980 & a minute in Florida, he settled in San Fransisco.

[toadiebreyer]

The Stones could still use this guy. Man, he is scorching!

[Robkat3751]

Where is Harvey Mandel now. What is he doing? Is there a vid of Cristo Redentor anywhere?

[tundradog]

I saw Sonny Landreth at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn last year with Albert Lee,and in the middle of the set Harvey jumped in for one quick tune..The next day at the Crossroads Festival,Harvey played on the Village Stage...I got a chance to get in a quick hello,and a photo..not quite sure what he's doing on a regular basis though...He can still wail though..

[n7zsd]

I saw Harvey and the rest of the band play in Idaho Falls, Idaho tonight. Man those guy can rip the blues!

[bluesborn]

Harvey actually invented-or at least first made extensive use of-the tapping technique for which Van Halen gives him full credit.I think H.Mandel is one of the most under rated guitarists in rock history."The Snake" is a brilliant album.

[phillij1848]

Harvey Mandel, great to see him here, thanks for posting. My favorite album of his was "Baby Batter".

[vergeharget]

The man can hold and bend a note.

Itzik Basman

[CHIBBINGS]

Superb!! He is the KING Thanks for the posting

[PAULLONDEN]

My GOD, how cool can you get,this is Afuckin'Mazing Look at that basedrum ,,hypnotizing €8~]

[doogleandalix]

Buy " Buried Alive in the Blues "- Chicago Blues Reunion . This is the band on the CD ( comes with DVD too !) . Harvey ,Nick Gravenites, Corky Siegal, Tracy Nelson - great Chicago blues.

[PAULLONDEN]

TANX, YOU GOT TASTE

[lazur1]

Gary Mallaber on drums: Session drummer on most of, if not all of Steve Miller's biggest hits, ( quite a compliment to Gary, as the drummers in Steve's band were -great-). Gary was also the drummer on Van Morrison's classic "Moondance" LP, and taught many of the best players in the San Francisco area.

[reefrunner9]

Thirty five years later, Harvey can still cut the rug unlike any of the kiddies on the block. Rock on,,,,bluewater withdrawal survivor, barely...dig it.

[geschae]

sorry , bad english...

i bought a long time ago a lp,

get off in chicago ,it was very nice music ,

made with h. mandel and friends...

in 2 nights or so... never forgot.

check me out , i think , was one titel,

but the first was the best...hm

[doogleandalix]

Just bought Sweet Home Chicago - a reissue of the music you are talking about , I think. It is from 1964-65 , Kent label ( 2005 reissue). Harvey , Mike Bloomfield,Charlie Musselwhite - insanely good ! Also bought two LPs last week - John Mayall's USA Union with Harvey and Blues from Chicago- Harvey , Barry Goldberg, Musselwhite - 1964-71 ! Hard to beat Harvey .

[lazur1]

As great a guitarist as Harvey is now, more amazing is that he sounded this way in the mid-60s as a teen, when -no one- sounded this way, actually getting a good sustained tone a bit before Beck, Clapton, & Hendrix did.

[microcrubeguy]

I saw him play recentaly and met him, great guy, and a great player

[lazur1]

ron coleman

[musicroomrexis921]

Thanks for posting this!

peace!

[dcguitar7]

Thanks for posting this! Hope the Snake didn't mind...wish his stuff was available for download with Itunes or Napster...my Snake record is mighty crackily by now...

[jg61163]

Thanks!!! The Snake rules!!! New him when he lived in Chicago in the early eighties........  Great teacher!!!

[bkerbis]

I Knew his cousins Norm and Shelly, does that count?

[lazur1]

Let the record show: The late Norm Wagner, (b1945, d2000), guitarist on the Mandel-produced 'Ovation" recording;"Get Off In Chicago", c1970.

[bkerbis]

Nice to see Norm get a little credit some where. I'll have to tell Shelly about it. It will make her happy!

[lazur1]

Norm also ran "Alice's Revisited", 950 W. Wrightwood, Chicago, c.1972-1973. "Alice's" was Chicago's premier alternative club, before the term existed, booking Harvey w/Sugarcane Harris, & now-famed steroid guru Victor Conte as "Pure Food & Drug Act", Jr. Wells, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf,(of which there's a live cd), was the first place in the midwest that "War" ever played, and was the regular Tuesday night gig for "Styx".

[tundradog]

my son has recently moved to the city and I was driving around the area of Lincoln and Wrightwood and wanted to show him where I saw all of the blues greats back in the day...Nothing there now but a car repair shop..but you are right,I was there when Howlin Wolf recorded

"Live and Cookin at Alices Revisted"..also was there to see Freddy King,Albert King,and so many more...what a great place that was...

[lazur1]

Now a big upscale bar, east side where Alice's west side was. Albert King, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Houndog Taylor, Jimmy Dawkins, Otis Rush, Son Seals, Jim Brewer, John Davis, Sunnyland Slim, Homesick James, Harvey Mandel, Sugarcane Harris, War, Tracey Nelson, Styx, Woody Herman, and many more, but no Freddy King.

[tundradog]

I saw most of who you mentioned,and they were always backed by the Bob Reidy Blues Band..the house band..I didn't see any kind of bar there yesterday,but I did see a snazzy new park on Lincoln that wasn't there before..WhatI remember most about Alices is the L tracks,where we shared more than a cocktail or two with the likes of Charie Musslewhite and others and the basement where we crawled out fro about 4 in the morning..some great times there...

[lazur1]

"Grand Central", 950 W. Wrightwood. Reidy played mainly Wise Fools, very few gigs @ Alice's,(w/ Jimmy Rogers, Big Walter). Never the house band. The acts I mentioned , and Charlie, had their own bands. Musselwhite: Heaviest drinker I've ever met . I've been in the business for 40 years. Charlie slept over. Didn't make enough for a hotel room. He awoke 11:30AM. 1st time I saw Charlie sober. Got his head up to start a fresh bottle. Drunk in 1 gulp. 11:32AM.

[lazur1]

Trivia about the Wolf recording: The band played a while without recording. When the tape started rolling, the produer took Wolf's bass player off stage and replaced him with Chicago's finest blues bass man, Dave Myers.

[rexis921]

love Harvey Mandel

thanks for posting this!

[sanaag]

A sublime guitarist. Thanks for uploading.

[tundradog]

harveys the baddest...i have been a fan for 35 years

[tundradog]

i have been a fan of the snakes for 35 years, acme thunder band,pure food and drug act,solo..etc..what a legend

[reefrunner9]

Saw Harvey, Larry Taylor and John Mayall Winter of "72" @ Saint Paul Civic Auditorium. Time has only made the recipe sweeter and still full of the spice that makes electric blues, er,nice. Of course...jman Wisconsin

[1969thebestyear]

hey, good to see mandel,and the fact you guy's no whats what.long ago i heard, that harvey was to take the place in the stones, but taylor got it. anyone know the truth? am i right? and christo and baby b r unknow classics.

[Circuit7Active]

Yes, he was invited to join the Stones. Not sure what happened at that point. Just picked up a Harvey Mandel guitar instruction VHS. Excellent views and instruction on how he plays.

[lazur1]

Mick wanted Harvey, Keith did not. The arguent was solved when Ron Wood quit the Faces, as he was both Mick and Keith's first choice.

[mojoelem]

Thanks again for clearing this one up. i've read so many ideas but what you say fits well. I suppose Mick liked Harvey because of his collaboration on Mayalls' "Back To The Roots"(?) Taylor & Harvey have something in common in that they are not flashy and leap about like R. Wood. But they can both sink him into the ground play wise!

[lazur1]

Taylor replaced Brian, 67. Mandel auditioned to replace Taylor, 75. Wayne Perkins, Roy Buchanan, Jeff Beck, and others were asked. Wayne tried, Roy didn't show, Beck walked out when they didn't come to the session and wanted him to play along with tapes. Nils Loftgren wanted the gig, but Keith didn't like him personally.Harvey got the solo on 76 r Black and Blues track "Hot Stuff'.

[lazur1]

Correction on Taylor joining; 1969.

[mojoelem]

Holy crap! Wayne Perkins! What a player. I remember his atmospheric solo on Bob Marleys' "Concrete Jungle". ( a la Hendrix) Solo sort of creeps up on you from behind.

[Elek50]

Harvey Mandel pioneered the fret tapping idea that is so commonplace today. He was doing it back in the early 60s. He has a very distinctive style.

[Circuit7Active]

That's right, unfortunately everybody credits Eddie Van Halen for it. Mandel was finger tapping back when he was with Charlie Musslewhite.

[lazur1]

Well,no: Harvey didn't begin tapping until around 73. Harvey was with Musselwhite in the not-so-late 60s. He didn't tap with Charlie, with Canned Heat, or with John Mayall. After that, he was turned on to tapping by his rhythm guitarist in "Pure Food & Drug Act", Randy Resnick. Harvey has a unique style, and how he does what he does is not so obvious at times, but until 73, it was not via tapping.

[lazur1]

1973 would still pre-date Eddie, who went bigtime with tapping in 1978, and likely was playing it clubs beginning around 76. But I doubt the connection: Eddie and Harvey's tapping styles and riffs are completely different, and there has been tapping at least as far back as 1949, by the late Tal Farlow.

[mojoelem]

lazur1; Yes it was definitely Randy Resnick who tapped for entire solos. Thanks for clearing this up!

[mojoelem]

Elek50; Do your research properly. You'll find it was Randy Resnick who invented tapping and based his whole solos on it.( This must've been around 1967). Harvey was influenced by Resnick because they were both in Sugarcane Harris's band.

[lazur1]

Randy & Harvey played together in PF&DA every nite for at least 2 years. I was at dozens of their gigs, late '72 - early '74. Randy tapped. Harvey didn't tap. Not one note the entire time. He was surely working on it privately, perhaps doing it on his own about to be released projects. But not a note at any of these gigs.

[terebriscoe]

I was friends with the drummer back then, the John Mayall days.. Pure Food & Drug Act (with Sugarcane Harris on violin). Anyone know how to reach him, Paul Lagos?

-Cowboy Lips

[lazur1]

(Are you from Fresno? or Chicago?. That seemed to be where most of Paul's friends were from.) Look for a jazz association in Minneapolis area. I haven't seen Paul since a few years after PF&DA. He'd already moved to MN & was still there recently. Killer player, my favorite in the band.

[aspirepacman1972]

@lazur1. I have only recently got to know Sugarcane Harris' music but I was knocked out by Randy Resnick's solos. He had total mastery of the tapping technique with solos which are still striking even today. It's a shame that Mandel gets all the credit while Resnick doesn't.

[Circuit7Active]

Such a shame that almody nobody knows of HM. Would love to see him play Baby Batter, the Snake and Shangrenade.

[lazur1]

Harvey's doing better now than he has since 1972. The Chicago Blues Reunion is a big hit, at least in blues terms, and will likely tour again soon. Perhaps they'll come to your town. Harvey gets a solo spot on each show, and does one of his old instrumentals.

[yotube314]

Thanks for posting your cool video Harvey is one of the "Greats".

[HerbBurns]

The Snake! A true original..