Re: [Harp-L] Jazz players....

[G <gigs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

George Brooks wrote
> We have William Galison, Mike Turk, and Gregoire Maret.  Think we 
> could come up with 47 more?

Probably not, but unless you're restricting yourself to the USA, there are
names missing who are serious contenders:
Jens Bunge, Mauricio Einhorn, Laurent Maur, Antonio Serrano... and the
obvious ommission of Toots.

But George re-emphasises his point in a later email
> While the absolute number of chromatic harmonica players in 
> the world who can play jazz at a similar level is miniscule.

Good point.


From: Jp "Pagán" <jpl_pagan@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Jazz players....
To: harp-l harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <20041128165624.17198.qmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Then from Jp "Pagán":
>this comment put me in mind of another player who
>(maybe) fits your description, George, Antonio Serrano
>(antonioserrano.org) (i can't remember now, why did we
>leave Toots off the list?). anyway... Serrano went
>through a great deal of formal musical studies, with
>harmonica as his primary instrument, as i recall.

And Tinus is currently doing a Jazz course in his country. He shared his
experience on Harp On! with his application to two other places - one, said
he simply wasn't up to standard after the audition, so he can go back and
apply again when he's raised the level of his chops - the other was looking
like he was going to get in, until the head of the institute heard about
it, and it turns out he had very narrow view of what "legitimate"
instruments they would teach, harmonica happened to be among them.

My point here, is there are places in Europe which formally teach students
with harmonica as their first instrument - albeit not all.  

>those of you who are pros or at least very
>knowledgeable... if Berklee or a similar school
>offered harmonica (chromatic or diatonic) as an
>instrument for study, could we be on par with the
>legions of sax and piano jazz players out there? or
>are only the insanely driven going to get that
>distinction ;)
>    --Jp

Education for the harmonica is not what it could be, but there are places
around the world who'll accommodate players who show real promise and
commitment.
-- G.