Low Rider by the band 'War' featuring Lee Oskar on Harmonica

Low Rider by the band 'War' featuring Lee Oskar on Harmonica free download

Learn to play this funky latin/fusion tune on harmonica and other instruments to increase you repertoire and have fun

Great song to learn. What we will do here is to begin by learning how to play and recognise the chords in the music on our C diatonic Harmonicas and then apply some rhythm to those chords.

In other words, we will be taking on the role of a rhythm guitarist, listening to the players' tracks, and isolating each one to find out what we want to use to play rhythm, harmonica, or comping, we might call it.

We will play along with the band in many different versions of their performance.

And finally, we will learn the tunes and melodies, the baseline, and use a G blues scale and a D minor pentatonic scale to improvise with.

So the end result should be a fantastic workout, and it's an easy song to play, so you should be able to play this live with bands, as it's a well-known piece. Good luck and have fun!

• Lee Oskar (born 24 March 1948)[1] is a Danish harmonica player,[2] notable for his contributions to the sound of the rock-funk fusion group War, which was formed by Howard E. Scott and Harold Brown,[3] his solo work, and as a harmonica manufacturer.[4] He continues to play with 3 other original War band members, Harold Brown, Howard Scott and B.B. Dickerson, under the name LowRider Band.

  Early life and career[edit]

  Born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1948, Oskar was six years old when a family friend gave him his first harmonica.[5] "I came from an area where every kid on the block had a harmonica", he remembers.[6] He grew up listening to Danish radio, enjoying all types of music and cites Ray Charles as the biggest influence from that period.[7] When he was 17, Oskar decided that the United States was where a harmonica player should make his career.[6] So he moved to New York at the age of 18 with little more than a harmonica in his pocket.[5] With no money, Oskar played harmonica in the streets of New York.[6] Eventually arriving in Los Angeles, via Toronto and San Francisco, Oskar soon met and joined forces with Eric Burdon who had recently disbanded The Animals and was searching for new collaborators.[8] Together, the harmonica-playing Dane (born Lee Oskar Levitin[9]) and the British blues-rock singer made the rounds of the L.A. clubs, eventually hooking up with the soon-to-be members of War.[10] Burdon agreed to the novel idea of pairing up Oskar's harmonica with Charles Miller's saxophone to form a horn section. This team-up set War apart from the start, giving Oskar room to display the full spectrum of his improvisational prowess. Oskar's harmonica magic was always a vital element in War's music and performances. Oskar continued with War for 24 years non-stop. At the end of 1992, during the time of dispute over the WAR trademark, Oskar took a few years to continue his solo career and to focus on his Lee Oskar Harmonica manufacturing.[10]

  War[edit]

  Oskar has been described as "a virtuoso", "the harmonica whiz",[11] "a war hero",[12] "legendary",[5] a master of "musical wizardry",[13] and considered "...among the best rock-blues-soul harmonica players".[14] His role as a founding member and former lead harmonica player of the pioneer funk-jazz group War won him international renown for over two and a half decades (1969–1993). Oskar's signature solos helped to define the War sound from the band's beginning in 1969, adding dashes of color to its R&B, jazz, rock, and Latin influences.[13] Oskar's position with War was a prominent one from its early days with singer Eric Burdon onward.[15] "My playing has become more aggressive over the years", he says. "In the beginning, my role was playing horn lines. Today, it's evolved to the point where I'm playing a lead instrument. If I'm not doing a solo, I'm playing counterlines — I try to paint within certain spaces in the music to help create the overall picture."[16]

  Solo career[edit]

  The eclectic, multicultural nature of War's music is also evident in Oskar's solo projects.[17] Three well regarded albums released between 1976 and 1981 brought critical and popular acclaim[18] including being voted No. 1 Instrumental Artist of the Year for 1976 in Billboard, Cashbox and Record World.[19] The albums, like Oskar's live performances, show the diverse influences of his musicality. A composer, his compositions have been featured on movie sound tracks and television commercials. He has been the recipient of many Gold and Platinum recordings and honored with special ASCAP Writing Awards.

  His music has more recently influenced the song "Timber", which was performed by rapper Pitbull and Kesha; which was inspired by Oskar's melodic harmonica playing within his song "San Francisco Bay".

  Lee Oskar harmonica[edit]

  In 1983, Oskar formed a company to manufacture high-quality harmonicas. His company, Lee Oskar Harmonica, sells harmonicas suited to many different styles of music, including the most common blues, folk, rock, R&B and country but Oskar's altered tunings also allows players to explore other genres such as Tango, Clave, Hip Hop, Reggae, Ska, Latin, Gypsy, Yiddish, Eastern European, Asian, and many other types of music. The harmonicas themselves are manufactured by Tombo of Japan.[1][20] Oskar's harmonica company celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008 at the NAMM Show.[21] and has now surpassed his 35th anniversary. Lee Oskar harmonicas are praised because of replacement parts which allow changing reed plates when they become fatigued by normal use. This also allows mixing different tunings.

  Several modern musicians, such as Ralph Tetrault, cited Oskar as an important influence. When Junior Wells died, he was buried with a tray of Lee Oskar harmonicas.[22]

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  Low Rider - Wiki says:

  "Low Rider" is a song written by American funk band War and producer Jerry Goldstein, which appeared on their album Why Can't We Be Friends?, released in June 1975. It reached number one on the Billboard R&B singles chart, peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 singles chart on November 29, 1975, and number six in Canada (number 69 in the Canadian year-end chart[6]). The song was also used in the 1978 Cheech and Chong movie “Up In Smoke”, and appeared as track 3 of the associated original sound track album. It was later used in the 1993 Richard Linklater film Dazed and Confused (film).

  AllMusic says of the song: "the lyric takes the cool, laidback image of the lowrider—the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars—and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle". A driving bass line by B. B. Dickerson is present almost throughout, along with an alto saxophone and harmonica riff by Charles Miller, who also provides lead vocals and a saxophone solo towards the end that includes a siren-like sound. Lee Oskar doubles the alto sax line on harmonica.[7]

  The Beastie Boys sampled "Low Rider" on their song "Slow Ride", from 1986's Licensed to Ill.[8] Three years later, thrash metal band, Exodus covered the song, on their third studio album, Fabulous Disaster.[9] and nearly a decade later, the song was covered by nu metal band Korn on their 1996 studio album Life Is Peachy.[10] Beginning in 1996, "Low Rider" featured for several years on British television in adverts for Marmite, as part of their 'Love it or hate it' campaign.[11][12] In 1999, Barry White recorded a version on his album Staying Power. "Low Rider" was later used as the theme song for the George Lopez self-titled ABC sitcom, which ran from 2002 to 2007.[13] The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.[14] In 2018, Dutch-Turkish EDM producer Ummet Ozcan made a remix of it. Canadian rapper bbno$ sampled "Low Rider" on his single, "Check" in 2025.

  Charts[edit]Weekly chart performance for "Low Rider"Chart (1975–1976)Peak
  positionCanada Top Singles (RPM)[15]6UK Singles (OCC)[16]12US Billboard Hot 100[17]7US Hot Soul Singles (Billboard)[18]1Certifications[edit]Certifications and sales for "Low Rider"RegionCertificationCertified units/salesUnited Kingdom (BPI)[19]Silver200,000‡United States (RIAA)[20]Gold500,000‡

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  Wiki says:

  War (originally called Eric Burdon and War) is an American R&B and progressive soul band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1969.

  The band is known for several hit songs in the 1970s (including "Spill the Wine", "The World Is a Ghetto", "The Cisco Kid", "Why Can't We Be Friends?", "Low Rider", and "Summer").[1][2] A musical crossover band, War became known for its eclectic blend of funk,[3] soul,[4] jazz, and rock,[5] an amalgam of the different sounds and styles the band members heard living in the racially diverse ghettos of Los Angeles.

  Their album The World Is a Ghetto was Billboard's best-selling album of 1973.[6] The band transcended racial and cultural barriers with a multi-ethnic lineup. War was subject to many lineup changes over the course of its existence, leaving member Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan as the only original member in the current lineup; four other members created a new group called the Lowrider Band.

  History[edit]1960s: Beginnings[edit]

  In 1962, Howard E. Scott and Harold Brown formed a group called the Creators in Long Beach, California. Within a few years, they had added Charles Miller, Morris "B. B." Dickerson, and Lonnie Jordan to the lineup. Lee Oskar and Papa Dee Allen later joined as well. They all shared a love of diverse styles of music, which they had absorbed living in the racially mixed Los Angeles ghettos. The Creators recorded several singles on Dore Records while working with Tjay Contrelli, a saxophonist from the band Love. In 1968, the Creators became Nightshift (named because Brown worked nights at a steel yard) and started performing with Melvyn “Deacon” Jones from Richmond Indiana, a rhythm and blues artist. Deacon Jones, as he was referred to, is often confused with Deacon Jones, the American football player who was from the same era. The band then changed their name from Nightshift to War.

  Nightshift was conceived by record producer Jerry Goldstein ("My Boyfriend's Back", "Hang on Sloopy", "I Want Candy") and singer Eric Burdon (ex-lead singer of the British band the Animals). In 1969, Goldstein saw musicians who would eventually become War playing at the Rag Doll in North Hollywood, backing Deacon Jones, the blues artist, and he was attracted to the band's sound. Jordan claimed that the band's goal was to spread a message of brotherhood and harmony, using instruments and voices to speak out against racism, hunger, gangs, crimes, and turf wars, and promote hope and the spirit of brotherhood.[citation needed] Eric Burdon and War began playing live shows to audiences throughout Southern California before entering into the studio to record their debut album Eric Burdon Declares "War". The album's best known track, "Spill the Wine", was a hit and launched the band's career.

  1970s: Height of popularity[edit]

  Eric Burdon and War toured extensively across Europe and the United States. The subtitle of a 1970 review in the New Musical Express of their first UK gig in London's Hyde Park read: "Burdon and War: Best Live Band We've Ever Seen".[7] Their show at Ronnie Scott's Club in London on September 16, 1970, is historically notable for being the last public performance for Jimi Hendrix,[8] who joined them onstage for the last 35 minutes of Burdon and War's second set; a day later he was dead. A second Eric Burdon and War album, a two-disc set titled The Black-Man's Burdon was released in 1970. During the subsequent tour, Burdon collapsed on the stage during a concert, caused by an asthma attack, and the band continued the tour without him[9] before Burdon left the band in the middle of its European tour. They finished the tour without him and returned to record their first album as War.

  War (1971) met with only modest success, but later that year, the band released All Day Music which included the singles "All Day Music" and "Slippin' into Darkness". The latter single sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in June 1972.[10] In 1972, they released The World Is a Ghetto which was even more successful. Its second single, "The Cisco Kid", shipped gold,[11] and the album attained the number one spot on Billboard 200,[12] and was Billboard magazine's Album of the Year as the best-selling album of 1973.

  This band lives up to its name. The powerful, deceptively torpid groove evokes the pace of inner-city pleasures like 'All Day Music' and 'Summer.' But however jokey and off-the-cuff they sound, they're usually singing about conflict, often racial conflict—the real subject of 'The Cisco Kid' and 'Why Can't We Be Friends?,' which many take for novelty songs.

  — Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)[13]

  Deliver the Word (1973), the next album, contained the hits "Gypsy Man" and a studio version of "Me and Baby Brother" (previously issued as a live recording), which peaked at No. 8 and #15 on the Billboard chart. The album went on to sell nearly 2 million copies.[citation needed] The album Why Can't We Be Friends? was released in 1975. It included "Low Rider" and the title track, which were among the band's bigger hits.[11]

  In 1976, War released a greatest hits record that contained one new song "Summer", which, as a single, went gold and peaked at number 7 on the Billboard chart. Also released that year were Love Is All Around by Eric Burdon and War, containing mostly unreleased recordings from 1969 and 1970, and Platinum Jazz, a one-off album for jazz label Blue Note. The latter double album had cover art to match the greatest hits album, and was half new material and half compilation, focusing on (but not restricted to) instrumental music. The group continued to attain success with their next album Galaxy (1977), and its title single was inspired by Star Wars. War's next project was a soundtrack album for the movie Youngblood in 1978.

  1980s: The Music Band[edit]

  In 1979, following the departure of B. B. Dickerson during recording sessions for their next album (replaced by Luther Rabb on bass who completed the album), the band considered changing their name to The Music Band, but decided at the last minute to continue as War, and use "The Music Band" as the title of a series of albums. The series originally consisted of two studio albums (The Music Band, The Music Band 2, both in 1979) and a live album (The Music Band Live, 1980), but after the band left MCA in 1981 and had already made records for other labels, MCA expanded the series with a compilation (The Best of the Music Band, 1982) and a third original album of left-over material (The Music Band – Jazz, 1983).

  The group lost another member when Charles Miller (saxophone) was murdered in 1980. He had already been replaced by Pat Rizzo (ex Sly and the Family Stone) in 1979. Other new members joining at this time were Alice Tweed Smith (credited as "Tweed Smith" and "Alice Tweed Smyth" on various albums) on percussion and vocals (giving the band its first female vocalist), and Ronnie Hammon as a third drummer.

  After making the one-off single "Cinco de Mayo" for LAX Records in 1981 (Jerry Goldstein's own label, which also reissued Eric Burdon Declares "War" under the title Spill the Wine the same year), War signed with RCA Victor Records and recorded Outlaw (1982) which included the single plus additional singles "You Got the Power", "Outlaw", and "Just Because".[11] It was followed by Life (is So Strange) (1983) from which the title track was also a single. War's records from 1979 to 1983 were not as successful as those from the preceding decade, and after the two RCA albums, the band's activities became sporadic. They did not record another full album until a decade later. The 1987 compilation album The Best of War ...and More included two new tracks, "Livin' in the Red" and "Whose Cadillac Is That?", and a remixed version of "Low Rider" (in addition to the original version). On Papa Dee Allen died of a brain aneurysm which struck him onstage in August of 1988. He was 57 years old.

  1990s: Reformations[edit]

  War in 1992

  Sampling of War by hip hop artists was prevalent enough to merit the compilation album Rap Declares War in 1992, which was sanctioned by the band. In 1993, War reformed with most surviving previous members (including original members Brown, Jordan, Oskar, and Scott, and later members Hammon and Rizzo), augmented by a large lineup of supporting musicians and still under the management and production of Jerry Goldstein, and released a new album, in 1994.

  In 1996, the group attempted to gain independence from Goldstein, but were unable to do so under the name "War" which remains a trademark owned by Goldstein and Far Out Productions.[14] In response, Brown, Oskar, Scott, and a returning B. B. Dickerson (who had not worked with War since 1979) adopted a name which referenced one of War's biggest hits: Lowrider Band. They have yet to record a studio album.

  Lonnie Jordan opted to remain with Goldstein and create a new version of War with himself as the only original member. Some other musicians who had joined between 1983 and 1993 were also part of the new lineup. Both the "new" War and the Lowrider Band are currently active as live performance acts.

  1996 also saw the release of a double CD compilation, Anthology (1970–1994), later updated in 2003 with a few track substitutions, as The Very Best of War. Another CD compilation from 1999, Grooves and Messages, included a second disc of remixes done by various producers.

  21st century[edit]

  Lonnie Jordan in concert in 2008. Jordan is the only remaining original member of the band

  On April 21, 2008, Eric Burdon performed "Spill the Wine" with War in concert at the London Royal Albert Hall, released as Greatest Hits Live on Avenue / Rhino Records, who also reissued much of War's back catalog that year.

  War were unsuccessfully nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009[15] and 2014.[16]

  In 2014, War released a new studio album, Evolutionary as a double CD, the second disc being a reissue of their Greatest Hits album from 1976.

  Musical style[edit]

  According to music writer Colin Larkin, their "potent fusion of funk, R&B, rock and Latin styles produced a progressive soul sound",[11] while Martin C. Strong calls them "one of the fiercest progressive soul combos of the '70s".[17] The liner notes to the 2003 greatest hits album The Very Best of War described the band's sound as a mix of "rock, jazz, Latin, and R&B",[18] while The Maui News described the band's sound in an October 2024 article as blending "R&B, rock, Latin music, jazz, and blues."[5]

  The band has been described as: progressive soul,[11][17] funk rock,[3] black rock,[19] jazz-rock,[20] Latin rock[21] and Latin jazz.[22]

  Members[edit]Current[edit]

  • Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan – keyboards, lead vocals, occasional guitar (1969–present)

  • James Zota Baker – guitar, vocals (1998–2002, 2023–present)

  • Scott Martin – saxophone, flute (2017–present)

  • Stanley Behrens – harmonica (2011–present)

  • Sal Rodriguez – drums, percussion, vocals (1990–present)

  • Marcos Reyes – percussion (1998–present)

  • Rene Camacho – bass (2014–present)

  
  

  
  

  War lineup in 1976Original[edit]

  • Eric Burdon – vocals (1969–1971, 2008)

  • Howard E. Scott – guitar, vocals (1969–1994)

  • Lee Oskar – harmonica and vocals (1969–1994)

  • Thomas "Papa Dee" Allen – percussion and vocals (1969–1988; died 1988)

  • Charles Miller – saxophone and vocals (1969–1979; died 1980)

  • B. B. Dickerson – bass and vocals (1969–1979; died 2021)[23][24]

  • Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan – keyboards, vocals (1969–present)

  • Harold Ray Brown – drums and vocals (1969–1994)

  Past[edit]

  • Ron Hammon – drums and percussion (1979–1996)

  • Pat Rizzo – saxophone, flute, and vocals (1979–1983, 1993–1995; died 2021)

  • Luther Rabb – bass and vocals (1979–1984; died 2006)

  • Alice Tweed Smith – percussion and vocals (1979–1981)

  • Ricky Green – bass and vocals (1984–1989)

  • Tetsuya "Tex" Nakamura – harmonica and vocals (1993–2006)

  • Rae Valentine – keyboards, percussion, and vocals (1993–2001)

  • Kerry Campbell – saxophone (1993–1998)

  • Charles Green – saxophone and flute (1993–1995)

  • J. B. Eckl – guitar and vocals (1994–1996)

  • Lance Ellis – saxophone and flute (1994–2020)

  • Smoky Greenwell – harmonica (1994–1996)

  • Sandro Alberto – guitar and vocals (1996–1998)

  • Richard Marquez – drums and percussion (1996–1997)

  • Kenny Hudson – percussion (1997–1998)

  • Fernando Harkless – saxophone (1998–2011)

  • Stuart Ziff – guitar, vocals (2002–2023)

  • Pancho Tomaselli – bass, vocals (2003–February 2015)

  • Mitch Kashmar – harmonica, vocals (2006–2011)

  • David Urquidi – saxophone, flute (2011–2017)

  • David "Pug" Rodriguez – percussion and vocals (2011–201?)