Re: Straight harp albums

[Mike Curtis <wd6ehr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> 
> Hello, folks!
> 	I play both straight and cross harp, but am much more
> proficient in the former.  Can you recommend some good albums/
> CDs featuring lots of straight harp?

The first that comes to mind is Jimmy Reed.  Very simple, yet effective.  
Also, Charlie Musselwhite uses many positions, including first, quite 
effectively.

I use a lot of different positions (mostly 1st thru 6th, and 12th) on 
diatonic, but I use windsavers (I much prefer the mellow sound of bends 
over the to my ear unnatural sound of overblows), and can get all 39 
notes (you can bend the low note down a couple of semitones) on the 
diatonic.  This enables me to make much more effective use of the lower 
octave, especially for first position.  I like being able to bend the 
third down to a minor, etc.

It takes a bit of practice to master a valved harp, because the notes are 
not "controlled" by the other reed and can bend wildly.  However, having 
three plus chromatic octaves (and no hands, Mom! - I play guitar at the 
same time) is well worth the effort.  (I play a lot of jazz, and NEED 
chromatic.)

BTW, if any of you are in the Southern CA area, I do a single every
Tuesday at Perqs, 117 Main St, Huntington Beach, and every Friday and
Saturday (7 pm) at Rockfield Tavern, 23600 Rockfield Blvd, Lake Forest
(near Irvine.) Both places are loud blues-rock clubs featuring some pretty
impressive blues bands, i.e.  Walter Trout, Eric Sardinas, etc.  I play
harp thru a special pickup into a delay pedal, octave divider, and Fender
Champ - I LOVE a dirty sound; guitar, MIDI bass pedals - like a console
organ - and use a drum machine.  I have a sequencer, but rarely use it. 
Too hard remembering where it is - and it won't follow me :-(  these are 
blues places, but I get away with all kinds of music - Take 5, Miles 
Davis tunes, and even the Theme from Moulin Rouge (which I kind of blues 
up as a legato - and I do it either first or second position, depending 
on my mood - with windsavers, bending the G's on a C harp down to F# is a 
piec of cake :-)