Re: [Harp-L] Michalek Blues

[Matthew Smart <matthewsmart@xxxxxxxxx>]

It's no excuse, but I don't think Chris was a very happy person and actually quite insecure. It was very obvious to me. That is usually a sign of people being outwardly arrogant

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On Oct 19, 2012, at 10:55 AM, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Bears witness to what people generally observed about Chris; that his true
>> nature belied the rather belicose exterior he often displayed.
> 
> Chris's "rather bellicose exterior" was his "true nature," as much as, or more than, any other aspect of his personality.  His arrogance and narcissism were prominent parts of his demeanor, not a clever disguise. How many people choose a nickname that designates them as a god?  Chris did. He loudly and frequently anointed himself the most important harmonica player of his generation, and made a point of denigrating his peers and contemporaries--anybody remember Chris's casual assertions to the effect that chromatic harmonica players all sucked?--but in the end he didn't produce much to back up his claims.  I can't think of any harmonica-related innovation, technical or compositional, that originated with Chris, and his recorded output is astonishingly meager for a professional who came of age in the last two decades of the 20th century.
> 
> Music is a personal relationship business, and I have no doubt that Chris's narcissism and general abrasiveness damaged his career in music significantly.  Nobody likes to be stuck in a windowless studio for hours on end with a guy who comes on like Napolean.  It's difficult otherwise for me to explain why a player with such strong skills and obvious commitment produced so little recorded output in his 40-plus years, and almost all of that self-produced.   
> 
> Chris played well. But the idea that his "true nature" was angelic is flatly ridiculous.  To put it as concisely as possible, he was a jerk--a talented jerk, but a jerk nonetheless.  And he paid for it with a drastically limited career.  That's the lesson.
> 
> Regards, Richard Hunter
> 
> author, "Jazz Harp" 
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