Re: Re: Re: [Harp-L] feasible goals

["Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Having a personal style is so important in the music industry.  I recently downloaded, from iTunes, Harry Belafonte's "Midnight Special", which has a very young Bob Dylan playing harp as a session player.  What's surprising about the song is that, although Dylan was and is capable of some technical prowess on the harp (though it is rarely heard), Belafonte put him on this record playing the stereotypical, sloppy Dylan harp sound.  That's his style and that's what was requested for the song.

I imagine that studio musicians are a different breed after 45 years since that Belafonte track was recorded, but it's still an interesting example.  I do know that even today, guys like Popper and G.Love and even bluesmen like Charlie Musselwhite are invited to play on tons of other people's albums, not because they're the best harmonica players and can play anything, but because they have a recognizable style that other musicians desire to include in their own music.

Jonathan