Re: [Harp-L] harp soul

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The idea that great technique and soul are mutually exclusive is plain
wierd to me.

Sonny Terry had great technique.  Little Walter had great technique,
though I meet a lot of players who would really like to think otherwise,
much as they claim to love his stuff.  (One night in Cambridge,
Massachusetts 30 years ago, I met a harp player who told me that he only
played second position, because he was "a Little Walter fan." 
Apparently not a careful Little Walter listener, though.) Charlie Parker
had great technique.  Miles Davis had great technique.  Charlie Leighton
has great technique.  Carlos Santana has great technique. ANY bluegrass
player with a rep has great technique.  I trust we all agree that these
people have soul?
 
If this was a guitar player's list, or a sax player's list, or a
fiddler's list, we wouldn't be sitting around telling each other that if
you lack soul, it's because your technique is too good.  I'll say it
again: if you ain't got soul, it's not because you've got too much
technique.  It's because you ain't playing from your soul.  Regardless
of how much technique you have or don't have, the audience can tell when
you mean what you're saying.  That's soul.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com