Re: the blues......

["Air Hero's Studio" <airhero@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Great thread guys.

I love chatting with living breathing harp players (have you any idea 
how hard it is to talk to dead ones?) and have had the pleasure to 
meet and pick the brains of some greats. I've  found harmonica 
players to be friendly and willing to talk freely about what they do 
and how they do it... this group is a shining example of that. I've 
only made it once to SPAH but it has some of my fondest memories and 
I picked up a wealth of knowledge there including some tips from Kim 
Wilson, Jerry Portnoy and Steve Baker. Then there was the 
conversations with some of the great players from Harp-L that helped 
me figure out a lot of things... I had only been playing for 18 
months then. I may never cause Kim Wilson much worry but I learned 
how to fit the harp around the band and how to shine a bit when 
soloing. THat advice has served me well and many a jam session and 
with a few local bands as well.

If you hear anyone playing the harp well I'm sure you can learn 
something and never pass up a chance to see the Wilsons, Piazzas, 
Harmons, Bells, Cottons or any of the legion of other living greats 
(sorry if I can't name them all... got deadlines)

Get out and play, play with other musicians and see/hear/talk too 
other harp players. You can figure out a lot just watching them play. 
The old masters deserve their props for sure and built the whole 
blues harp genre... and we learn what we can by listening... but what 
made them great was each finding his/her own voice in the harp.

That being said... Kim Wilson was in the area in Bufallo on 
Tuesday... I found out today. That REALLY sucks!

Steve


>Glad to hear that!! Myself, I always finish my masterclass with a 
>chapter I called " Necrophily", where I explain that most of us love 
>and try to get harmonica player who are died since decades, 
>meanwhile, there are some "killers" like Rod Piazza, Dennis 
>Gruenling, Doug Randall, MadCat... who are still living and 
>performing and willing and pleased to chat you up after a gig and to 
>explain to you what and how they do.
>I think it is not a good thing to keep our mind back in the 60's, 
>that make us ignorants and repeating what we already know, while 
>other people, some pretty young are making the stuff living and 
>still remain unknown until they will be died and that maybe, in few 
>decades, everybody will want to play like them.
>So, go for any performance, don't be effraid to talk to the people 
>and to ask them your questions. Do it until it's too late!
>
>
>Froggy

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