Re: [Harp-L] Re: Jazz on Diatonic

[Mark Russillo <jruss433@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Iceman is right on here, but I'd like to add a couple of points.  First off, the dictionary definition of improvisation gives you license to do anything you want and call it jazz.  
 
I play jazz on diatonic (just barely eeking anything out a few tunes on chromatic so far) and I also sing jazz.  When I sing, I don't feel I have the same constraints because the voice is an expected sound in jazz - so I will be more liberal in modulations with the head vocally than I might be on the harp.  Some of you might say ability on the harp holds me back, and that is partially true - but it's also about principle and sending the correct message to the listener.
 
A few SPAH conventions back - Dallas, I think - William Gallison led a Jazz Seminar/Critique where he pointed out that you should try to play the head first and then go into your improv, in order to bring the audience along and give them some insight into what it is that you are doing to the tune - so as not to lose them.
 
I would take that a step further.  When I play jazz on any harmonica, I figure I am probably playing for an audience in which half do not know what to expect from my particular jazz interpretation of a familiar song - so I definitely want to show them what I am doing and, depending on the audience, that might not take the entire head.
 
More important and of greater concern to me, however, is that only about a tenth of them will have heard what a Harmonica is capable of in the jazz genre, and I certainly want to convert them to what the possiblilites are.  Those are the main reasons why it would seem important to start out with the head.
 
In short, I'm letting them see a larger portion of the menu before I put anything on their plate for them to actually think about. 
 
Mark Russillo
(a.k.a. The Rhode Island Kid)

IcemanLE@xxxxxxx wrote:
In a message dated 11/23/2005 12:13:50 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
dmf273@xxxxxxxxx writes:
In fact my whole purpose is to AVOID
"harmonica-convenient" licks like the plague.
oh my brother, that is my path as well.

To take diatonic to the next level, it should not be played "harmonically", 
but like any other instrument in which you pick the notes first and then play 
them.

You may also learn how to choose a position or morph and time the ideas so 
that notes produced through OB/OD are minimized in their "weight" within the 
melodic line. Take, for instance, how Miles Davis will change a note or two in 
the head of a tune to create a stunning aural effect while keeping the head 
recognizeable. The same can be done in the heat of improv.

IMO, you don't have to play "note for note" the head as written. Cassandra 
Wilson will sing a standard and make it her own. The same goes for Nnenna 
Freelon and other forward thinking artists.

The Iceman

The Iceman
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l