Subject: Re: [Harp-L] SPAH 2013

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

You were SO missed, Rob. I heard several people comment disappointedly when 
 they realized you wouldn't be there for this party. Me too, especially 
after I  missed the last 2 SPAHs for reasons which couldn't be helped.
 
 
Smokey's Jazz Jams were, quite literally, unbelievable. He kept them  
running very smoothly. It wasn't his fault that the lounge area (of the Bar) was  
a very bad space for acoustics and the drummer of the 3 piece back-up band  
simply refused to tone his levels down, even when asked nicely. Even  from 
only a few feet away I could scarcely hear most of the chromatic players  
over him--and only a few of the really loud diatonic guys during the last Jam. 
 Both SmoJoe and Gary Lehmann tried their best to get the overall sound 
down  while boosting the harmonica players' mics but --with the addition of 
noise from  the numbers of people talking and the high ceilings and weird 
shaped space,  it was far from optimum.
 
 
It still killed, though--I saw Hotel Staff continuously poking their heads  
in to see just WHO was playing. I'd earlier met a couple of guys who seemed 
 particularly interested so told them that AS hotel and  security personnel 
they should stop by/find out about SPAH, and they did.  They were most 
impressed- especially when I told one that the guy playing  at the time was from 
Sweden (Filip Jers). St. Louis people know about music and  blues, what 
they DIDn't know was about the international interest in and level  of such 
excellent harp playing, especially from such disparate people from all  over 
the World. One told me he'd had NO idea at all that 'this' was happening  and 
was excited by it. 
 
 
That's what SPAH does--educate wherever it goes. One young guy at the front 
 desk too tried to hide from me his newly bought (and being played for the 
first  time!) harp as I went by. I laughed and stopped to ask him about it, 
which made  him very happy--so we had a brief discussion about his 
excitement over  his new instrument. He was dying to begin practicing to try to  
duplicate the sounds he was hearing. I know we made some new recruits at the  
Renaissance....'Another 'few' bite the dust'. :)
 
My single (and only quibble because I keep hoping for a less high-powered  
jazz experience for us not-so-high-powered players) is that, especially at 
this  SPAH--the LEVEL of Jazz Jam playing was just so far beyond anything the 
average  person has ever heard before, even some excellent diatonic players 
who'd usually  join in at a jam, demurred. The 'young guns' for the most 
part were showing  their stuff--and they came from everywhere. The intensity 
was beyond  amazing. Anyone who still might think there's a dearth of young 
players  'coming up' and/or with no jazz chops needed to be there to hear the 
future of  harp playing. And I KNOW there were equal numbers at the Blues 
and Country Jams. 
 
 
We ended up at the 'New York' table for the Banquet (which was very cool).  
Sammy Friedman (we'd met before at GSHC), Conor Frontera (from Brooklyn),  
another young player whose name I missed and a young guy named Garrison with 
his  Dad; Wendell (a recent Jason Ricci interviewee) and a young lady whose 
name I  also didn't get rounded us out. We felt like the parents, but what 
fun to be  with them! Very cool dinner companions. I somehow missed Conor's 
playing but he  shone during the raffle. What a great voice--personality 
galore and enunciating  perfectly so everyone could check their ticket numbers. 
What a pleasure to meet  these young people. I have ZERO worries about the 
'future of the harmonica' with  this latest group, along with Jay Gaunt, LD 
Miller and their entire  'class' who came before. They're out there--one 
simply has to pay attention. (I  know you were personally involved with some of 
these kids so thought you'd enjoy  seeing a video I stumbled across of 
Joshua King (believe it or not he's TWELVE,  now) participating in the Martin 
Luther King observance in NYC earlier this  year. Blew ME away.) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI8DHJ3hfJo
 
 
With so many amazing players from all over the World in one place it was  
overwhelming..YOU would have been in 7th Heaven there. I really missed what 
you,  Phil and MadCat would have brought to those jams and sure would have 
loved  hearing Take 5 the way I've heard you all play it before. No one took 
it on this  time. So--next year--same town, same same hotel. Meet us in St. 
Louis,  and SOMEbody make sure to play Take 5 for me, please? :)
 
Best,
 
Elizabeth
 
"Message: 11
> Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 17:56:55 -0400
> From:  Rob Paparozzi <chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] SPAH  2013
> To: Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc:  "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> 
> Yes, I  agree Bobâ.hats off to Winslow and the tireless staff at SPAH and 
The St. Louis  Club. I have only seen spectacular reports from the US and 
abroad.
>  
> Very sorry I couldn't make it and a belated HAPPY 50 years (and many  
more) to my favorite Harmonica Organization in the world!
> 
> all  the best,
> Rob Paparozzi