Re: Playing other than blues, and talk about positions

[Luc Robert <Luc.Robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<<<
Are there
particular pieces of his thatyou would recommend? The one I have has lots
of whistling and singing on it and less Harp than I would like.
>>>

Toots' style has changed a lot along the years.
It is really interesting to compare some old stuff (e.g. _Man Bites Harmonica_
with Pepper Adams -- harmonica & baritone sax  is a funny combination),
with some more recent stuff: fast (e.g. _Live in the netherlands_, with
NHOP & Joe Pass, or _Life in The Hague_, with NHOP, J.Pass & Oscar Peterson) or
soft (Toots' last record with brasilian musicians, _???_). The sound is
completely different, the phrasing also, but of course there are a lot of common
points, in particular Toots' great knowledge and feeling of harmony.
I have not mentioned some other -- famous -- records, like _Affinity_ with
B.Evans, or _Footprints_ with Mulgrew Miller and other musicians. Another one I
have not mentioned is ``Ne me quitte pas'', its first track is a beautiful versi
of this song composed by the french singer Jacques Brel. In the ``recent&soft''
category, I think that this piece is one of his best.

Sorry I don't have the complete references of the records here in my office.

On his records, Toots plays three ``instruments'': chromatic harp, guitar and
whistle. I agree with the fact that if you are only interested in harmonica
performance, then you have to skip half of the tracks. However, I believe that
guitar and whistle pieces help characterizing Toots' style. Indeed, on the guita
Toots is forced to be more distant from the instrument. And when he whistles, he
even closer to the sound than with a harp (maybe whistling is the only way to do
this...). So he does not face the same constraints in the three cases.
Comparing all this stuff helped me understanding some of Toots' harmonic
ideas, and how they can be realized under different playing conditions.

Certain sentences of this message might look a bit pretentious or pedant, I'm
sorry for that, but finding the exact English words is not always easy for
a native French speaker...

See you later on this group !

        Luc