Diatonic Innovators

["Rick B" <rick@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,
A while back I started a thread concerning technical innovators on diatonic
harp.  I thought I would expand that thought and also summarize what we all
have come up with so far.  Some of the new categories now have no entries!

Here is the general criteria of what I'm looking for:
Innovators on Diatonic Harmonica, including technical innovators,  anyone
pushing the diatonic somewhere new, or people who have an extreme skill in
some way relevant to diatonic harp playing

My criteria has gotten pretty general.  Hopefully, this list will still have
a meaning  ...  I know a guy who skateboards  while playing harp and guitar,
but I'm not including him.

Achieving Chromaticity with Altered Tuning
- -----------------------------------------
 Eric Chafer
Richard Hunter

Achieving Chromaticity with Overblows
- ------------------------------------
Howard Levy  -- evangelising, pioneering   www.levyland.com/audioclips.htm
Carlos Del Junco --effectively using overblows in a bluescontext


Achieving Chromaticity on a "diatonic" by playing a Chromatic tuned like a
diatonic
- ------------------------------------
Brendan Power  --for making the Richter tuned CX10 www.brendan-power.com/
 Mitch Weiss  --for playing the CX10
artists.mp3s.com/artists/61/mitch_weiss.html?lang=eng


Achieving Chromaticity by Changing Harps in the same song
- -------------------------------------------------------
Norton Buffalo  Bonnie Raitt's cover of Runnaway


Achieving Chromaticity by using valved harp
- ------------------------------------------
Iron Man Mike Curtis


Diatonic Harp Design & Customization
- ---------------------
Rick Epping
Joe Filisko
Lee Oscar


Speed
- -------
John Popper


Counterpoint (mult. melodies)
- ------------
Richard Hunter   www.hunterharp.com/


Tongue Switching (Use of tongue switching to play octave
jumps quickly, sort of like Eddie Van Halen's guitar tapping.)
- -----------------
Dave Gage   --  www.davegage.com/
Johnny Mars
Andy J. Forest
Jerry Portnoy is probably not as fast, but is equally as impressive. On
'Down in the Mood Room" he plays an intro to 'Money' that uses tongue
 switching and alternating bends.


Great use and improvement of that fluttering octave sound
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- --------
Dennis Gruenling    --Up All Night  (Actually, he uses a chromatic, but he
could have used a diatonic)


Innovative Use of Electronics
- -----------------------------
Magic Dick
Johnny Mars His recordings really don't do this side of his playing
 justice - you need to hear this stuff live to appreciate it.


Harp players who are exceptional vocalists
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
(The test is that if you removed the harp playing from their album,
would the album still be worthwhile?)
(Singing helps your harp playing, why not think about those who take it to
the extreme?
- ----------------------------------------
Curtis Salgado
Roland van Straaten


Harp players who who make up new lyrics or songs on the spot
- ---------------------------------------------------------
??? I just made this category up!


Harp Players who are great song writers
- ---------------------------------------------------------
Gary Primach   ex: "Cold Hand in Mine", "Big Daddys Coming Home" on "Company
Man" CD

Harp Players who play multipe instruments at once
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iron Man Mike Curtis

Taking diatonic into genres other than blues
- ----------------------------------------------
xxxx Irish
xxxx jazz
Dennis Gruenling   Big Band


Approached Diatonic with a different mindset from most
(I'm not sure what this means)  Maybe Richard Hunter can
elucidate?
- ------------------------------------------------------
Lee Oskar
Roland Van Straaten


Unknown Category
- -----------------
Clint Hoover

    Eventually, I may use this list to create a themed list of CD's to use
as prizes for my Online Jam.

    --Rick B
      www.bluesharp.org