[Harp-L] Being a musician was: Little Walter - Michalek's comment

["Chris Michalek" <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was having this conversation offlist with another member but it good fodder for public discussion. Why is harmonica players in general seem to hold themselves to a lower standard than other musicians? BTW- when I say 99.xx% of harmonica players are crap musicians I put myself in that category. Many people will never realize this until they play with a "real" musician.
In my case there is no doubt that I am talented but that only gets you so far. I have been lucky and talented enough to attract the attention of "real" musicians but in their world talent is only part of the equation. My bass player is a stellar musician, he's been doing professionally for a very long time. He made mention to me the other day that he's not made less than $500 per night for the past 25 years until he met me. That means two things to me, he thinks very highly of my playing and enough so that he is willing to break a personal guideline that he's maintained for 25 years. And he won't be around much longer if I don't raise myself above having a bar band mentality.
Why am I considered a crap musician? Simply because I limited the band. This is especially tragic consider that it's MY band. For a guy like my bassist he literally can play anything. Give him some sheet music and he goes... I can't do that. I bet there are less than 100 harmonica players on earth that can do that. I'm finding myself in a do or die situation. It's clear that I have been given the key to the world of professional musicians. Now it's up to me to keep it. I wish I would have been more serious about my chosen instrument early on because then I wouldn't be faced with such a difficult endeavor.
Is my bass player a unique musician? Nope, there are 100,000's of people on planet that can do that with their instruments. Why is it acceptable for harmonica players to be excluded? The current standard for harmonica players in general is why many of are not respected right off. I don't know about you all but I hate being judged before I even put the harp to my mouth.
Steller musicians like Tommy Morgan, Rob Paparozzi, Robert Bonfiglio, Hendrik Meurkens, Toots Thielemans, Howard Levy etc... are paving the way for us. That path will weed over and close for the rest of if we don't do something.
I know what I need to do.
The question is: What are YOU going to do about it?



>-----Original Message-----
>From: Pierre [mailto:plavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
>Sent: Sunday, April 9, 2006 08:38 AM
>To: chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: Re:[Harp-L]Little Walter - Michalek's comment
>
>
>There's two much shit in this world already, we all need to set an example
>and figure out how to play nice.
>
>I think that sometimes people get offended by other individual "innocuous"
>statements.
>
>When you interpret something, you read it from your own frame of reference.
>
>For example Chris's comment that "99.4% of all harmonica players on earth
>are crap musicians" may offend many people on this list. It seems arrogant
>and is insulting to people who practice daily.
>
>But if Chris had said that 99% of guitar players are crap musicians as all
>they can do is play from tab and know nothing about the art of playing
>guitar, most would agree. (Except guitar players on the list).
>
>When Chris mentions horn players, he's probably thinking of guys like
>Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Stanley
>Turentine, ... then no wonder he thinks that harp players are poor
>musicians.If you want to play like Charlie Parker, you better hunker down.
>
>When you get offended by something, you can post back to the list that the
>comment upsets you and explain why it upsets you. Then the person gets to
>clarify his post. In some cases both parties will learn something.
>
>By the way, I think Chris likes to get a "rise".
>
>Pierre.
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