Paul Oscher retrospective, with Jerry Portnoy, Steve Guyger and Louis Erlanger

01:25 - Jerry Portnoy, Steve Guyger and Louis Erlanger join the podcast for a retrospective on Paul Oscher

01:46 - Jerry was the second white harmonica player in the Muddy Waters band, after Paul Oscher

02:16 - Jerry and Steve knew Paul very well

02:27 - Louis Erlanger knew Paul from New York and produced several of his albums

03:17 - Louis is a non-harmonica playing guitarist who played with the band Mink DeVille, which Paul helped Louis join via an introduction

04:17 - Paul was born in Brooklyn in 1947 and played various types of harmonica as well as piano and guitar

04:49 - Paul first heard harmonica when he worked at a grocery store, from Jimmy Johnson, a southern medicine show harp player

05:26 - Jerry first got to know Paul when he was playing in Muddy’s band

05:59 - Paul was living at Muddy Waters house in Chicago

06:14 - Steve first became aware of Paul from the album he recorded with Muddy Waters: Live At Mr Kellys and started seeing him around New York

07:03 - Steve sat in with Paul and his band, where Paul played a lot of piano

07:19 - Jerry was at the gig at Mr Kelly’s almost every night

07:25 - Paul also played guitar at the gig Steve attended, with Paul playing guitar and harmonica when younger, attracting girls

08:37 - Paul foretold that he would play with Muddy Waters

08:49 - Paul’s first band was from age 15 with Little Jimmy Mae, and how the blues scene impressed him

09:44 - Paul was the first white player to play in a major black blues band, and the first white harmonica player with Muddy Waters

10:01 - Paul joined Muddy’s band after going to see Muddy at the Apollo Theatre in New York, sat in with the band when Big Walter didn’t show up

10:30 - When asking to join his band, Muddy said to Paul: “Can you travel” (asking Jerry the same thing when Jerry later joined Muddy’s band)

10:37 - First day touring with Muddy’s band there was guns and liquor and Paul knew he had arrived on the blues scene

11:20 - As the first white harmonica player in the Muddy Water’s band made Paul a trailblazer for white harmonica players

12:03 - Jerry says Paul was unique as a musician: with great touch, feel and time on every instrument he played

13:38 - Picked up the real authentic Chicago blues from being in the Muddy Waters band

14:00 - Time was a critical element to Paul, which is something he picked up from Otis Spann

14:53 - Jerry talks of how he regretted never having played with Otis Spann, who trained the harmonica players in Muddy’s band

15:36 - Joined Muddy’s band in 1967, age 19, stayed in Muddy’s basement in Chicago, sharing it with Otis Spann

16:24 - Was in Muddy’s band from 1968-70, and then for another short stint

16:36 - Paul and Jerry both went to Muddy’s funeral

16:45 - Was on Board of Director’s working on turning Muddy’s Chicago South Side into a museum, The Muddy Water’s Mojo Museum

18:26 - Paul did a concert later with Muddy, but as the piano player, and Bob Dylan showed up, with Muddy calling him John Dylan

19:39 - Dylan asked Jerry to join his band for the Rolling Thunder tour but Jerry decided to stay with Muddy’s band

21:26 - Paul left Muddy’s band due to ill health

21:55 - Steve got to know Paul when he moved to New York after leaving Muddy’s band

22:44 - Was playing under the name Brooklyn Slim when he moved back to New York, and played harmonica, guitar and piano, and even vibes. He could play any instrument and was a natural

24:22 - Paul had great time

25:10 - Paul brought a white audience to the black clubs of the New York blues scene

26:50 - Steve regularly drove from Philadelphia to New York to see Paul play

27:51 - Toured Europe with Louisiana Red in 1976

28:02 - Steve also did some shows with Louisiana Red

28:37 - Through the 1980s and early 1990s Paul got a degree in Criminal Justice, got married and got a day job

29:34 - Also had a degree in graphic design and created his own album covers, and was a good painter

30:30 - Released an album in 1993: Rough Stuff, which Louis helped put together

32:18 - Paul brought in Pinetop Perkins and Willie Smith for the Rough Stuff album

33:11 - 1995 released The Deep Blues of Paul Oscher album

33:25 - Knockin’ On The Devil’s Door album came after Rough Stuff

35:42 - 1999 did an album with Big Bill Morganfield (Muddy’s Waters son)

36:14 - Steve recorded with Paul, including the album from 2000: Deep In The Blues

36:49 - Louis has some more recordings of Steve and Paul which he plans to release soon

37:29 - Steve learnt how to play some songs from Jerry playing with Muddy

38:31 - Have Mercy song has Steve and Paul playing harmonica together

39:19 - Steve pays tribute to John Lee Williamson

40:55 - In 2001 married Suzan-Lori Parks, who is a playwright, with Paul influencing one of her plays which went on to win a Pulitzer Prize

41:32 - Paul knew some great card tricks

43:40 - Louis was working on a book about Paul called Alone With The Blues, but it may not get finished

45:08 - 2003 album with Hubert Sumlin: About Them Shoes, was nominated for a Grammy

45:59 - 2004 album Alone With The Blues: a solo album, as was the 2005 Down In The Delta album

46:52 - Was doing more one man shows at this time, and played Juke on a rack, and probably made his own mic for that

48:14 - Also used a foot pedal and was very particular about his sound set-up

50:14 - Paul was a big influence on a lot of musicians, including Steve and Jerry

51:03 - Down In The Delta album won an Acoustic Artist of the Year award and an Acoustic Album of the Year award at the 2006 Blues Music Awards

52:45 - The need to always leave the tape running during a recording session

54:16 - Moved to Austin, Texas, in 2011, where he inadvertently became neighbours with James Cotton

55:17 - Last album was Cool Cat in 2018, which was quite jazzy

58:38 - Paul always had a strong interest in jazzy blues

59:58 - Paul died in 2021 from the Coronavirus

01:01:25 - 2024 album release: Live At The Tombs Detention Center, NYC - from 1980s, which Louis released, really shows what Paul was all about live

01:03:34 - Jerry had to leave the interview before the end, so final words about Paul from him, and how Paul will feature heavily in the book he has coming out in 2025

01:04:51 - Paul didn’t consider himself a singer but kept on singing after trying it in a club once

01:06:07 - Some of the awards Paul received for his music

01:06:24 - Recorded plenty of chromatic harmonica, which he started early in his career

01:07:04 - Co-wrote a tune with famous rapper Mos Def, and Paul thought rap music was modern equivalent of the blues

01:08:44 - Played Hohner harmonicas

01:09:01 - Paul claimed to have come up with the idea of the low F harmonica after suggesting it to Hohner

01:10:01 - Gotta Go Now song which Steve and Paul recorded together

01:10:35 - Embouchre was mainly tongue block

01:11:02 - Amps and mics: had numerous, one of which was Gibson Skylark

01:12:05 - Made extensive use of the bass harp

01:13:18 - Every note he played was intended

01:14:19 - Last thoughts on Paul from Steve and Louis