[Harp-L] Born in Chicago (XB-Melody)

["jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

smo-joe wrote:

  I can't imagine why you haven't gotten any feedback out of that many 
downloads. I would imagine that the listeners fall into two distinct 
groups.
Group #1 feel THEY are better than you and don't want to give an honest 
opinion because they don't know what to say.
Group#2 feel that YOU are better than them and they don't want to give 
an honest opinion because they don't know what to say.

In MY particular case....I don't know WHAT to say....No, seriously, I 
thought that as an "Acapulco" piece, it was really REALLY nice. It is 
obvious that you know your shit on the XB (already), and I would be 
interested to know how long you have been playing it? Also, since I am 
(predominately) a chromatic player (and mostly Jazz, at THAT), I was 
intensely intrigued by your choice of grace notes. These were so tasty 
and I felt as if I knew where you were going next. You ALWAYS made the 
logical choice.

  Good news is: I am FINALLY convinced to buy an XB-40 (or more)..what 
key were you using, cause when I grow up, I wanna be just like you.

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Thanks for writing Smo-Joe.  Although I appreciate the compliments, I really wasn't looking for
comments on how proficient I may or may not be on the XB-Melody.  What I was hoping for was some
discussion about the potential of the harmonica itself.

That's why I chose to try and replicate a Butterfield solo note-for-note: to prove that the
XB-Melody harmonica is capable of doing a reasonable imitation of Chicago Blues - in 6th position!

Oftentimes when I listen to harmonica recordings I find myself wondering whether the player is
playing the harp, or the harp is playing the player.   In other words, I may hear musical choices
that I suspect were chosen because they are convenient and relatively easy to play.  Or conversely
I may hear someone slightly modify a standard melody just to make it easier to play on the harp.

So by choosing to play Butter's solo note-for-note, I was attempting to show exactly what the
XB-Melody can do by providing an objective standard (the original solo) that my recording could be
measured against.   As I said in my original post, I know I can't match Butter's tone or timing,
but at least you can get an idea of whether the NOTES are all there and how they flow.

I could point out the places in the song where it was almost impossible to match what Butter did.
Like one note that Butter hit bent and then relaxed it up but on the XB-Melody that same note is
only available unbent so the best I could do was (rather lamely) hold the unbent note and then
play the next note up separately.  Not too hip sounding!  

SO anyway, I still invite comments on the XB-Melody.  I'm trying to show that its a more than
viable alternative to the XB-40 and to diatonic overblowing.  What do you think?   When I get a
chance I'll try to upload more songs in even more different positions.

(Oh and by the way it wasn't an "Acupulco" piece.  That was my 18 year old son, Dexter, playing
guitar behind me.  You can't get that kind of rhythm out of Band-in-a-Box!)