MJEB: Dawayne posted me this recently and I asked his permission to republish. I'll forward any comments to him.

DAWAYNE G:

Ben Webster Soulville http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQkpYzRarkA

Lester Young http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WON5vOK2Qw0

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVLMR3ffNSQ

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaPIyo51cr4

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeqwPX4T4E0

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcM8itcB2eI

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GpQv4GxZJ8

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxUvFBsLkdc

Buster Smith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyrn1Gl1gZw

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks3H3SR7W2c

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K51s5KBDZ9Y

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxM42ylCFfk

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L0eMOo4FIE

Jimmy Smith & Stanley Turrentine  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_6TM2VifwE

How can you separate Blues from Jazz?….you can not….and should not!

All of the great “Blues Harmonica” men that I have personally known told me the same thing…they all learned and pulled from sax players, jazz sax players, piano, organ. Country and western, swing, riffs, grooves, and melody as they saw fit; Little Hatch, Ben Kynard, Snooky Pryor, Mojo Buford, Billy Boy Arnold, Carey Bell, Easy Baby, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Paul Oscher, Jerry Portnoy, Charlie Musslewhite, Little Mack Simmons, Willie Cobb, Arthur Williams, Rod Piazza, Kim Wilson, James Harmon, Jerry “ Boogie’ McCain, Wild Child Butler, and Lazy Lester. I am sure that I have forgot to name some more folks that I have met and worked with. I have been very blessed and extremely lucky to have known these wonderful folks.

My friend Honeyboy Edwards personally carried Little Walter and Big Walter to Chicago for their first times respectively.

All of these guys always told me that Little Walter, Sonny Boy, Big Walter, Wolf, Muddy, Jimmy Rogers, George Smith, and Jimmy Reed all listened and learned from Jazz players….and then some. Robert Johnson stole from the best!

I have learned so much from Piano, Bass, Drum, horn, harp, keyboard, and vocalists through Blues and Jazz. It is really very hard for me to separate the styles in many ways. Any so called “Blues” fan or “Blues” player that thinks that they do not like jazz is being very narrow and closed minded. The best “Blues” has a debt far too many times to “Jazz” or other styles of sound. My new friend Michael Barry who has very nice tone surely understands these thoughts. Please punch the next ignorant so called “Blues” chump who thinks differently.

Champagne or gutter blues??? One is refined and the other is raw. Both can carry their own beauty equally.