RE: [Harp-l] Weekend with Harper [long]



Hello all -

I just had a whirlwind of a weekend surrounding the Telluride Brews and
Blues Festival (TBBF).  What interested me most were the opportunities to
see and learn from Harper, the international touring harmonica pro from
Melbourne, Australia:
http://harper.customer.netspace.net.au/index.html
My former teacher had hung and played with Harper (actually Peter Harper)
when he was traveling "down under".  He related many good experiences and
always spoke very highly of Harper's abilities on the harmonica.  So I was
excited at the opportunity to meet Harper and to hear him blow when I
learned he would be in the area for the TBBF.

I first caught up with him Friday night at a pre-TBBF performance at a
popular bar/dinner club in a nearby city.  He has a three-piece band backing
him up; a guitar player, a bass player, and a drummer, all class
instrumentalists (and all American, interestingly).  The guitar player was
noteworthy if only for his ripe old age of 18 years, though he is a fine
backup guitar player, too.  The bass player and drummer both provided very
steady bottom end and rhythm.  Clearly, the most capable on his instrument
was Harper, who was obviously a seasoned pro, offering up fine banter with
the audience and excellent general showmanship in addition to some
spectacular harping.  The cat can blow, as you'd expect.  Of course, I took
interest in his harps and his rig.  He was playing only Bushman Soul's Voice
diatonic harmonicas and a single Hering Velvet Voice chromatic (for only one
song).  He played through a heavily modified '59 Bassman RI via a directly
wired Astatic crystal mic (more details later).  He uses a Presonus Blue
Tube mic pre-amp, a volume pedal, and occasionally a stomp box device that
simulates a Leslie speaker (can't recall its name).  He also used a stage
mic for a couple acoustic songs.

Harper writes his own material which tends towards funk.  Frankly his
songwriting is one of the things I like about Harper's music the most.  He
has recently learned to play the didgeridoo, and he has penned some fine
songs that feature it.  He weaves stories from his life into his musical
material, which gives you a little insight into the man himself as his show
progresses.  He has clearly enjoyed the lifestyle of a road-hardened
musician, having circled the globe many times playing in venues of all
kinds.  His playing is unique to my ears.  I think its because he developed
his style in Australia far from the heavy influences he might have been
bombarded with stateside.  You can tell his was a hard-fought battle,
learning most everything he knows about blowing the harp all by his
lonesome.  I say this not to denigrate his playing in ~any~ way--far from
it.  I respect his obviously immense talent and tenacity even more knowing
that.  Harper draws from what must be dozens if not hundreds of harp riffs
and licks, some of which you've heard before and some of which you haven't.
At times you think you hear Lee Oskar, then when you're thinking you hear a
little George Smith or Cary Bell, you realize it's neither.  I had a lot of
fun straining to hear each note and trying to put them into the context of
my knowledge of the harp and its seminal player's styles (unfortunately for
the band and the audience, the house sound was definitely substandard, a
complaint dating far back with many musicians including Jason Ricci whom I'd
seen in the same venue a couple moths ago).  Suffice it to say that Harper
draws from a full quiver of licks and tricks on the harp.  I was to learn
more later in the weekend, as you will see.

On Saturday I drove up to Telluride to catch Harper on the acoustic stage (I
was under whelmed with the list of artists at the main stage this year and
didn't buy a ticket).  Harper played pretty much the same songs again.  The
sound was much better and the acoustic format featured his harps and
didgeridoo much more effectively.  Another enjoyable show.

I met up with Harper a third time later that afternoon when I sat in as an
Alumnus on a workshop he presented as part of the TBBF Acoustic Blues Camp.
(You might recall my report on my time with Phil Wiggins at the Camp last
year.)  The hour-long workshop featured his philosophy of playing
(balls-out, you might say  ;) and a tour of his amplified rig.  The thing I
found most interesting was the stress he put on exercising and using the
diaphragm in playing a harmonica.  He demonstrated a technique that I could
only describe as "turbocharged microhuffing" that he used to achieve some
unique effects as he moved up and down the harp.  Took my understanding of
the importance diaphragmatic breathing to a new level!  He spent a good deal
of the time describing his pursuit of the perfect amplified rig, explaining
how he had his Bassman RI rewired with point-to-point wiring, and how he had
gone through many crystals to find "his baby".  e deonstrated the valus of
removing the volume pot and directly wiring the crystal when he compared it
to another player's stock Astatic.  Big difference, but it could also have
been the sickly sounding modern crystal, IMO.  He answered some questions
about his Bushman harps.  He said he likes them for their longevity, which
exceeds that of Lee Oskars in his experience.  He also said something about
the Bushmans having tapered comb channels but I couldn't tell what he was
talking about when I looked at them closely.  He did take some credit in
helping to design the instruments and noted that he is a sponsored player.
Frankly, they sounded a bit "thin" to my ear, but I haven't heard him play a
different harmonica so take that as you will.  I will just say that Annie
Raines' tone it wasn't and leave it at that.

Unfortunately, as I said, I happened to see Harper only a couple months
after having seen Jason Ricci play in the same venue.  And, coincidentally,
in more or less the same funky style of music.  It's very difficult for me
to avoid comparisons for that reason.  I will say that once I became more
accustomed to Harper's unique style, it grew on me and I gained a greater
appreciation of what he was doing.  I'll just close by stating that had I
not seen Jason only a short time ago, I'd be doing back flips.  'Nuf said.
;)

Do catch Harper if you get half a chance, and plan on taking notes.  And
tell him Michelle says hey.  He's a great guy who loves to talk harp.  His
"manager" Bobbie is a nice lady who is also very interesting to chat with.

Cheers,

Michelle







This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.