Fwd: [Harp-L] Getting More Harmonica 'Out There'

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Well, tying in another thread, Toots once told me that "Nobody
*doesn't* hire a harmonica player." In other words, people weren't
going out of their way to avoid hiring harmonica players. He felt that
people hired him not so much because of the harmonica but because what
he did musically was something they wanted on their records.

And when I think of the work that Toots and Stevie Wonder have done on
other people's records - and there's been quite a lot of it - none of
it could be called campfire or even blues in the stereotypical sense.

Even when I listen to harmonica on commercials, sure, some of it is
standard blues, but I hear it used subtly in all sorts of other ways.
Less, perhaps than about ten years ago, but everything goes in phases.

Harmonica players will never rule the world, and the instrument will
never be as widely used as some others - guitat, piano, maybe even
saxophone. Can we do things to get it out there more? Sure. The first
thing is to be making good music on it.

Winslow



--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "paul" <paul@...> wrote:

Michael Peloquin and Rosco bring up an all too painfully obvious point:
there just ain't all that much harmonica coming out of the world's
'studio'
output (other than the trademark blues or campfire licks that Producers
occasionally call for) . . . 

 

It's my 'opinion' (which would then have me 'opining' in case Buzzy
wants to
do some more dictionary work) that, if we as a community want to have
Producers call us for more than the occasional blues or campfire
licks, than
we as a community have to give them a reason to 'hear' harmonica in other
contexts . . . 

 

We, as a community, have to begin hearing and recording harmonica
'parts' in
well-written tunes (in contexts other than that which blues or campfire
enthusiast will want to hear) that establish harmonica as an
interesting (or
compelling) 'sound' that will REPLACE the sax or guitar or keyboards that
are getting the 'calls' right now . . . 

 

In short, we've got to get out of our own rut, and we've got to
convince the
musical community (and most importantly the 'Producers' of that music)
that
the harmonica is an instrument that the public will want to 'hear' playing
'lines' and 'flavors' instead of just solos and standard licks; and to do
so, we've got to become better songwriters (in context other than blues or
'campfire), in order to create contexts within which to 'place' these
'lines, 'parts' and 'flavors' . . . 

 

Not to appear as a cheap endorsement of a friend, but I encourage folks to
listen to projects like Maybe August (Roscoe), that start to take those
steps (using harmonica as part of the texture and fabric of a body of
music
rather that the music merely serving a a context for the harp player to
blow), and get to work creating the next generation of what harmonica
should
sound like and in which contexts it can be used . . .

 

Comments???

 

Regards, Paul Messinger/Chapel Hill NC

 

 

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