[Harp-L] re: interview with Kim Wilson

["Bret Littlehales" <blittlehales@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rainbow Jimmy wrote:

There's very little live acoustic harmonica music. Live harmonica is
amplified.
Watch how "acoustic" harp ace Phil Wiggins plays with the proximity
effect of
the vocal mic when he plays live. I saw Paul Butterfield play
"acoustic" at the
Channel in Boston. He had a mic. Can't get much more acoustic than
Sonny Terry
and again he was playing into a mic. Not only are they using the
microphone to
the best advantage, there's a sound man adjusting the eq, there's the
sound of
the microphone itself, and the sound is usually run through a compressor.


Bret replies:

I saw Kim years ago at Wolf Trap and at one point he quited the entire
band and stood on the lip of the stage and played to that enormous
outdoor area w/o any amplification. A stunning moment. 

And there's our fellow list member Mr. Bonfligio who is able to play
w/o amplification over top of entire symphony orchestras. 

I appreciate your point, but there are exceptions.

Best,
Bret