[Harp-L] re: Stevie Wonder/best harp

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Harri wrote:

"Comment from a friend: Stevie has also played drums on some  
recordings. How many votes for best drummer on the Earth?"

NO SUCH THING.  Read my previous posts.  Just as there is no "best  
harmonica player on Earth" there is no "best drummer on the Earth".   
While some people are obviously better than others (Charles Mingus  
was a better bassist than most people) there is no such thing as "the  
best".

Besides, which, for drummers it would be too hard to even begin  
limiting the field.  Hell, even if you just looked at jazz drummers  
there are too many monsters still going strong to begin to narrow it  
down.  Is Roy Haynes better than Jack DeJohnette?  They are both  
awesomely talented, so it's all about who you like better--and that's  
just two in a genre with a lot of people to choose from, and again,  
that's just one genre.  Last I checked people like Bill Bruford and  
Alex Van Halen were still playing rock professionally...

So, to put it bluntly: there is NO best harmonica player on Earth.   
There are people who are obviously above the average, even above the  
average professional, but even that is subjective, as this shows.   
_I_ would put Stevie above most chromatic players in many ways, and  
high on any list of general harmonica players but, as has been shown,  
others wouldn't.  I'm not right and they aren't wrong--because there  
is no such thing as right and wrong in this context.

BTW, Stevie is a very good drummer, but I have always felt that his  
keyboard and harmonica skills were at a level above his others,  
including drumming.  Still, he could have had a long and successful  
career as a drummer if he'd wanted.  The same is true of many other  
multi-instrumentalists.  Prince could have chosen just about any  
instrument he wanted and had a long career with that, for instance.   
He's still one of my favorite guitarists and synth-players, even  
though his skills on any one instrument tend to get overlooked and  
people just say "he's so talented".  It's the same with Stevie, IMO-- 
he is extremely talented and can play many instruments at a very high  
level, but his harmonica playing is exceptional (IMO, of course).




 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()   & Snuffy, too:)
`----'