Re: [Harp-L] video--"amazing grace"- HOWARD LEVY



I am going to be heretical here - Howard Levy has the most amazing diatonic OB harmonica technique of anyone, but this showstopping performance did not move me at all. In fact, I have yet to hear anything played by him that moved me. I realise that this is most likely my problem rather than his, and I am going to keep trying to appreciate his music, but so far I can't get into to it.

Is there anyone one else on harp-l who struggles to enjoy HL, or is this a personal perversion of mine? I like world music and complex jazz, so it is not an issue with his type of material in general. Nor do I fail to hear that he has made the diatonic harmonica a serious, non-novelty, instrument.

It kind of bugs me I cannot enjoy his music, which I feel in one way ticks all the boxes of what I 'should' like, so if anyone has suggestions for what is musically best to listen to (not what is harmonically best) then I would appreciate it. My problem is that in what I have listened to so far, he loses my interest before he has finished soloing. Now, I am a chap who listens to later John Coltrane for pleasure, so it is not my limited attention span that is the problem.

In the past I have found that it sometimes takes me a while, and the right tunes, to 'get' where an artist is coming from musically. Please help me 'get' Howard Levy.

Richard


On 5 Apr 2009, at 19:13, Bradford Trainham wrote:


That's all amazing enough..., but my favorite part of the whole thing was
when..., after those pseudo-orgastic runnings-off into first position, and
that subsequent unbelievable romping into twelfth position... (I'm assuming
he's playing an e-flat harp. I don't know that for a fact.)
He calmed down in second position and played a verse more or less straight
with that drone in the bass and that serious nod-and-wink to the sound of
the bag-pipes.
But yes, that one's "amazing" and it'll certainly take 10,000 years to get
over all that amazement.
Thanks for posting that one,
Brad Trainham



-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Randy Singer
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 10:57 AM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] video--"amazing grace"- HOWARD LEVY


the man with two brains plays amazing grace that sounds like to harmonica
players at the same time.



http://www.videosift.com/video/Howard-Levy-plays-Amazing-Grace-on-harmonica

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