Anyone who thinks Butterfield wasn't adept at tongue blocking should take another listen to his work on Fathers & Sons. There is a lot of tongue work there, beyond just the typical split chord/octave work heard before. I held a seminar at SPAH on this very subject last year, and my conclusions after years of studying his playing are that he could probably tongue block as well as lip play. However tongue blocking didn't suit him because he was obviously looking for another sound, something distinct from what he heard from the great players he surrounded himself with in the early sixties/late fifties.
An interesting aspect of this would be Butter's ability to play the low notes with a different type of facility, since he would tongue block out of the right side of his mouth but be playing all the low notes on the right side of the harp since he held it upside down. There are a few moments on the solo in "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" where he slaps down on the three blow hole, using it as a rest, that also reveal tongue block techniques; elsewhere in the song he moves with great facility from single notes to chords in a way much easier and more exacting with tongue blocking tchniques than with lipping.
James Harman verified this as well, relating a story to me about visiting with Butterfield backstage at a gig in California during the early eighties. Harman related how, after mentioning his admiration of Big Walter, Butterfield proceeded to lay down a slew of Big Walter licks and playing, all from the tongue block perspective. According to James it was all "dead on."
Certainly any great player masters and knows both styles, and how he opts to use them in his own playing are what contribute to his greatness. Tom Ellis/Tom's Mics
