Obligatory harmonica playing by lead singers

[Quaco]

I'm thinking less of people who can actually play (Paul Butterfield, Stevie Wonder) and more the trend, mainly in the '60s coming out of listening to blues records, of lead singers having that obligatory additional role as occasional harp player, whether they were any good or not.

Mick Jagger
Brian Jones (not lead singer though)
Keith Relf
Robert Plant
Jack Bruce
Roger Daltrey
Ian Anderson
and many more

What are some of your favorite performances? Who did it best?

[bobzilla77]

Ozzy on The Wizard!

[bobzilla77]

I'd say Daltrey learning the Baba O'Riley solo was a good turn on his part. It made it possible to perform that song as a four-piece, making it one of the most crowd pleasing songs by the world's greatest live band.

[Quaco]

I've been listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin lately, and have been surprised by how much I'm enjoying Robert Plant's harp playing. "Bring It On Home", "You Shook Me", "When the Levee Breaks" -- all over and above the pedestrian playing that was common.

Jagger's one great moment was "Midnight Rambler", no?

[Osgood]

Is Ian Gillan the one who plays on Lazy? I like that one

[Charlie O.]

[Carl's Son]

John Lennon probably deserves a mention?

[pcqgod]

I remember a clip of Van Morrison clumsily miming on American Bandstand, where he pulls a harmonica out of his pocket and brings it up to his mouth way after the harmonica part actually starts.

[Bent Fabric]

Arthur Lee
Steven Tyler
Denny Laine

There was some gig recently where I had occasion to want to summon a harmonica sound from the Mellotron, only to realize that no instrument manufactured in the 1960s would have any need for a "fake harmonica" (the theory being that any group of musicians at that time would surely have a capable harmonica player in their ranks).

[BARON CORNY DOG]

My instinct was to come on here and say something snarky and dismissive about the very concept. But on reflection, I don’t mind so much! Hell, I even like the LZ examples!

[Muskrat]

His father was a classical harmonica player.



His probably wasn't

[fange]

Bono.

The best adjective i've ever been able to use to describe his playing is adequate. Something like 'Desire' is the perfect example.

[Rayge]

Van Morrison on Mystic Eyes by Them. Still a career peak for me.

[Rayge]

And while I have no time at all for the bands they became, Paul Jones's harp playing made Manfred Mann seem like a good band at the beginning.
And not trolling, I've said it before, but the harmonica by Lennon, or whoever played it, made Love Me Do stand out for me.

[Jimbo]

Know how you remember compliments you've received? I was a singer in band which played a number of Allman Brothers and J. Geils songs and one member, Billy, a pretty good musician, played the Duane Allman slide guitar parts on our Allman covers and then switched to the harp for the J. Geils songs. I only sang. Now, I'm still not sure how it works and I'll get this wrong but sorta, but if a song in the key of E, for some reason, I was told by Billy, the A harp was called for. You had to be a good harp player to get some harmony out of the two different keys. Anyway, one performance we were doing Midnight Rambler. We usually eliminated the harp part of the song that's on the record. Well, I had learned that the song's key was E (maybe) and just to see if would work, unbeknownst to the other band members I pulled an E harp from my pocket and blew when the harp played on the record and damn if I wasn't on key! Billy gave me a dirty look from his slide guitar post but I blew anyway. Afterwards while Billy gave me shit the bass player said - and i remember his exact words to this day - "I think it sounded pretty good."

[Jimbo]

And while I have no time at all for the bands they became, Paul Jones's harp playing made Manfred Mann seem like a good band at the beginning.
And not trolling, I've said it before, but the harmonica by Lennon, or whoever played it, made Love Me Do stand out for me.

Taught to play, I've heard, by Delbert McClinton.

[take5_d_shorterer]

And then there're the folk prototypes due to Guthrie and Dylan, probably also Henry Thomas also he played pipes.

In blues, Howlin' Wolf is an obvious example of a bandleader who also played harp.

[Charlie O.]

Al Wilson and Bob Hite both sang lead and both played harp in Canned Heat, although Wilson was by far the better at... well, both.

[Moleskin]

Now, I'm still not sure how it works and I'll get this wrong but sorta, but if a song in the key of E, for some reason, I was told by Billy, the A harp was called for. You had to be a good harp player to get some harmony out of the two different keysD

Only a requirement in blues. Play the harp two steps up from the key of the song. Otherwise you can't get the blue notes (iirc).

. Other musics differ.

[Snarfyguy]

My instinct was to come on here and say something snarky and dismissive about the very concept. But on reflection, I don’t mind so much! Hell, I even like the LZ examples!

My knee-jerk reaction is to say I hate it, but on reflection I even don't want to revisit the stuff and find out, having had precipitously diminishing returns with "blues rock."