Re: [Harp-L] Harmonica Challenge

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I listened to Jason Rosenblatt's take on "Night on Tunisia."  The
improvisation sounded very good to me -- strong tone, nice lines, very
much jazz lines instead of blues lines.  At most jam sessions, the other
players would be nodding and smiling. I certainly was. 

The head was kind of shaky, with the usual sorts of pitch and
articulation problems that come with overblowing and bending. If the
head was being played in unison with other players, those problems would
be even more obvious.

The strengths and challenges in Jason's takes are similar to those I
hear in the other diatonic recordings so far.  A fixed melody tends to
expose problems that you don't hear in improvisation, because in
improvisation the player can work around those problems.  That's one of
the reasons why a challenge like this is worthwhile -- it forces the
players to confront issues that they may have learned, unconsciously or
otherwise, to work around.  

I appreciate that the head is being played, in all the diatonic examples
so far, by people who have just learned it.  As per my previous
comments, I tend to think that the problems are inherent to the
technique, not to the players.  

Thanks and regards, Richard Hunter