Jeff Sarli

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Quotables


Keith Richards
in conversation with Levon Helm
"There are so many people that you'd like to do projects with... then you have guys like this -Jeff Sarli- crawling out of the woodwork that you'd like to play with too... and there's so little time."

 

City Paper Bass Desires by Charles Cohen
"Sarli's life has interwoven with that of classic rock's biggest dynasty, culminating in his appearance on three tracks on The Rolling Stones' new album, Bridges to Babylon.  Sarli specializes in blues, rockabilly, jump, and swing - the styles of music that inspired '60's bands such as the Stones.  Sarli sits in with bands like the Monuments... Big Joe and the Dynaflows, the Uptown Rhythm Kings, Billy Hancock and the Tennessee Rockets, the Bob Margolin Blues Band, and John Mooney, a white Mississippi Delta musician who learned from Son House."

 

Mojo Keith Richards
"The other thing is that I went back to using upright bass, even on the rockers.  Got this guy from Baltimore, Jeff Sarli, plays like Willie Dixon.  I didn't want that same electric bass texture.  I wanted a little more roll to it, 'cos we've got enough rock.  Whatever did happen to the roll?  Actually it probably lives in the upright bass."

 

Guitar World Keith Richards:
"One idea I had was to use an upright bassist -Jeff Sarli- on three tracks: Flip the Switch, Too Tight, and on How Can I Stop.  I wanted to get away from the dum, dum dum dum electric bass.  I figured, 'Let's try to get some swing'."

"Actually, 'Rip this Joint' was the fastest track the Stones ever cut - until 'Flip the Switch'... There's something about that speed when you cut it in half and the acoustic bass plays that tempo.  I just love the air that you get.  There's a power that you can get from an upright bass if you record it right.  It just has a different feel than electric bass.  There's a wider, fatter bounce to it.  It puts the roll back into the rock.  I want the roll.  Fuck the rock.  I've had enough of it."

 

Blues Review Blues Revue: Harp, Steel and Guts
reviewed by Robert Fontenot

...what was not broken has not been fixed. Harp, Steel and Guts is the second round of acoustic boilermakers you were ordering, with guitarist/vocalist Ben Andrews, harp wailer Mark Wenner (The Nighthawks) and bassist Jeff Sarli (Big Joe & The Dynaflows) serving up the same mixture of jazzy, dark-around-the-edges folk-blues choogle as last time.

It's all shockingly authentic, despite the reverence. These white boys ain't interested in framing roots traditions, or updating them, or even re-creating them. They simply want to live them again, to breathe life into the common clay of ancient blues and make it walk and talk. That they do with the necromancy of wizards.

 

Absolute Sound The Absolute Sound: Harp, Steel and Guts
reviewed by Neil Gader

This recording pushes the limits of technology. Occasionally it sounds as if a mike has approached its dynamic bumper stops, but Sprey dopes not use limiters, EG, or compressors. The purity of recording makes it all worth it. This is as close to live as I've ever heard a recorded trio get. The recording balances intelligibility of the instrument mix with the soundspace of the Mapleshade studio. The sound is up-front but three-dimensional. On a couple of tunes, I thought the vocal mike sounded a bit dry and bright, but never disturbingly so. I dare you not to fall in love with the sheer joy of this uniquely American music and this firecracker performance.

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