Jazz chromatic

[Winslow Yerxa <76450.3230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TO: internet:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yekkim asks about chromatic jazz and bending.

(by the way, it's not hard to play with the slide with one hand.
It's a little awkward - you have to bend the (right) wrist back
to the right so your index finger can get around the slide. I
drive around playing along one-handed with Aebersold tapes.)

For starters, the thickness of the reeds has nothing to do with
bending characteristics, and they're not all that different
between chromatic and diatonic anyway.

Bending a note on the chromatic is not hard, it's just a lighter
touch than on a diatonic. And contrary to what was said on the
list earlier, you can often bend a note FARTHER on the chromatic
than on the diatonic. And you can bend almost *every* note. But
the sound won't be as biting and ballsy.

Why?

Because when you bend on the diatonic, the blow and the draw reed
interact. Only one of the two reeds can be bent - the higher
pitched one, which can be bent down to within a semitone of the
the lower pitched one. At first the closing reed (the one being
activated normally by your breath) lowers in pitch. But then, as
you bend, the opposite reed starts to *open*, sounding a little
less than a semitone above its normal pitch. This gives diatonic
bending its unique sound.

This doesn't happen on the chromatic because, except for the
top octave, each reed has a plastic valve mounted on the opposite
side of the reedplate from the reed. When you blow, the draw
valve, mounted inside the hole, is pushed flat against the
reedplate, sealing off the draw reed slot, and directing all the
breath to the blow reed. When you draw, the blow valve, mounted
outside the hole, is pulled shut, again directing all the air to
the draw reed.

So each note on the chromatic is played in complete isolation
from its partner reed. This is necessary on the chromatic - if
you pull *all* the valves off, the thing leaks air like a sieve and
becomes unplayable - I know; I've tried it. But it means you can
bend ALL the notes, not just half of them, as on the diatonic.

To get that bluesier sound on the draw notes, you could remove
some of the *blow* (outside) valves. This allows the blow reeds
to interact with the draw reeds during inhaled notes, giving
bluesy draw bends on Holes 1 and 3 (and their counterparts in
other octaves). This gives you draw bends on D, Eb, A and Bb. In
Hole 2, draw F is only a semitone above blow E (or Gb above F with
the slide in), so doesn't yield much in the way of bending. The
same is true of blow C and draw B (or blow Db and draw C) in Hole
4. You can still bend the blow notes in the regular chromatic
way.

It was also posited that valve removal might occasion a loss of
airtightness, tone and power. While this is true with total valve
removal, blow valves removal doesn't seem to cause much of a
problem. I remember knocking the blow valves off a 64 the first
time I tried this. Sounded great, so I knocked off the draw
reeds, and that's when the thing started leaking like the
Titanic.

Brendan Power allowed me to play one of his half-valved harps
when I visited him, and it played just fine - good tone and
volume, no feeling of air loss. But he also claims to work on his
harps to make them more airtight. He plays both Hohner 270's and
12-hole Herings.

For bluesy benders on chromatic, Toots always uses the technique
in a way totally in accord with the character of the instrument,
especially on his more recent work (pick up "Only Trust Your
Heart" if you can find it - one of his very best jazz works, or
his "Brasil Project" albums. His older bebop work on "Man Bites
Harmonica" and "The Sound" (which also includes pop flavor ala
1954-55, when it was recorded) is also outstanding.)

Stevie Wonder does some really great chromatic playing and bends
wonderfully. He's an example of how far you can go in getting a
gutsy sound on chromatic. It helps that he plays the 4-octave
instrument, which can get a thicker sound than the 3-octave
models which tend to have a lighter sound. Check out his intro to
his 60's pop hit "I was Made to Love Her," or "Isn't She
Lovely" or "Do I Do" or dozens of others - his vocabulary is
simple, but his tone, phrasing, harmonic choices and sense of
melody are killer.

Other good jazz chromatic players, bending or not, include Hendrik
Meurkens (3 albums on Concord and counting - they just signed him
to another 2-year contract, and he'll have a new record out in
November); Mike Turk, whose self-produced "Harmonica Salad"
(available from Farrell or Kevin's) includes a wide range of
styles on both chromatic and diatonic; and William Galison, who
doesn't currently have a record available.

Also around is Joe Messina, who used to be a Motown session
guitarist. He later wrote a book about jazz interval studies and
has applied it to the chromatic on his CD "Messina Madness"
(Seminar records, 313-526-3218). He really gets around, and in a
way that seems to owe nothing to Toots (every jazz chromatic
player's big influence). However, I find his tone and emotional
content to be less than affecting.

"Larry Adler" and "jazz" are often mentioned in the same breath,
for some mysterious reason. He categorically states "I am not
now, nor have I ever been, a jazz musician." As he proved with
embarrassing clarity on his 1938 recordings with Django Reinhardt.
His Gershwin and Cole Porter pop records of the same period are
far better representatives of his particular interpretive genius.
(Some of this stuff can be found on British reissues, but they're
not easy to find). One thing about Larry, however - he's the
ballsiest bender the chromatic has ever produced. I don't know if
he alters his harps in any way, but he can really make that thing
snort and wail.

Blues chromatic players usually play in 3rd position dorian (as
in D minor, off the Dm6 draw chord - positions are named via the
cycle of 5ths: 1st is C, 2nd is G and so on (for a C harp)) and
don't bother with the slide much (some take a perverse macho
price in breaking the thing). An exception is Paul deLay, who
plays in a variety of positions and does use the slide. He's the
most original blues chromatic player around these days. You can
get his stuff through Kevin's.

Brendan Power is an excellent player, but his real area lies
somewhere between Celctic music, Country, blues and rock. His
playing just doesn't have the harmonic sophistication or the
right phrasing to be classified as jazz. But his approach is
highly original and his arrangements are colorful and
imaginative. He's definitely worth checking out. His stuf is
available through Kevin's or Farrell - record stores won;t be
able to lay hands on his first three albums, although the Irish
Harmonica one will be distributed in the U.S. by Green Linnet.


F&R Farrell Co. 614-877-3678

Kevin's Harps 1-800-274-2776

These two companies are the primary American sources for
discounted harmonicas and for harmonica-related accessories and
recordings.

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