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

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Nov 23, 2005, at 12:04 PM, Mark Russillo wrote:
> 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 was there. I was the one demonstrating "Little Sunflower" for the 
group. It is a different enough style tune whereas if you don't give 
the audience WHAT it is before you give them what YOU are, they won't 
ever recognize it again the next time they hear it and that would be 
unfair to the composer. Such are the words of the gospel of 
'progressive' jazz. What others were eluding to is modern jazz. In THAT 
idiom, you can do whatever you want to do, BUT (and a very big but), 
this is what killed jazz. Going too far out into orbit before your 
second stage afterburners have fully ignited, can lead to a premature 
loss of altitude and an eventual crash. It doesn't take a rocket 
surgeon to see it.

> 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.

 Right you are, it's a matter of reading the crowd. If you're still 
getting quizzical faces 1/2 way in, do the whole head. If you're 
getting nodding, you can cut loose earlier.
> 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.

 This is precious. THIS is it. Needn't say any more. OUR job is to DO 
the job. THE job is to convert others to OUR sound. OUR sound can only 
convert others if it is a GOOD sound. Playing what one likes for one's 
self is nice, but occasionally one must read the crowd. Of course, if 
one is lucky enough to get a crowd who appreciates what we are doing 
and in out OWN way, this would be perfect.

>   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.

 I like that. I'm going to stick a note on my cork board.
smokey-joe  (mr. cellophane)
> Mark Russillo
> (a.k.a. The Rhode Island Kid)

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