Re: [Harp-L] Re: Jazz on Diatonic



Thanks for your concurrence, Joe.  Now that you mention it, I do remember that rendition of "Little Sunflower" - so I know you know what I'm talking about.   If, as individuals, we are the least bit good in our own minds, we can always play to get ourselves off - this is bigger than that!  It's the difference between selling a steak or selling its sizzle. 
 
I love to hear people in an audience tell me how good a particular jazz peice sounded on the harp - not just that they liked what I was playing (the latter suggests they couldn't identify it because of the way I played it).  That, for me, is the difference between a compliment and a conversion.

 
Here's another way to demonstrate where we are now:  As I peruse the Jazz Store catalog for yet another christmas, what do I see?  Sax ties, Bass posters, trumpet t-shirts, piano ties, drum t-shirts and a myriad of instrument lapel pins - ever notice there is no jazz harmonica paraphenalia.  There is only what we generate in our own little egocentric instrument community?
 
More to the point, just last month, when Downbeat's reader poll came out, I looked at the categories like I do every year - vocal, keyboards, sax, trumpet, guitar - everything you'd expect - except harmonica.  Oh sure, Toots is listed as #1 in the Miscellaneous category right above Bela Fleck - but that's not good enough for me.  I want us to have our own category!
 
If we don't perform jazz with the long-term goal of making some conversions in the listener world, we're likely to remain "miscellaneous" in the jazz genre.

Mark Russillo
(a.k.a. The Rhode Island Kid)






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