[Harp-L] re: Rick Dempster, Respectfully Contextualizing Michalek's opinins on blah, blah

[Roscoharp@xxxxxxx]

Rick Dempster writes:
"The overblow thing seems to be an important ingredient; damn
things  sound so awkward and ugly that it's easier to get away with it in
freak-out  type material, or takes on eastern scales that most westerners 
expect
to  sound weird anyhow. The day I hear someone play - on a diatonic - a  
credible
version of, say, 'Body and Soul' perhaps, with good improvisation a  la 
Lester,
perhaps, and with the tone of Charlie McCoy playing 'Ruby', that  will be the 
day
when I can feel that all this messing around with overblows  has amounted to 
more
than an outlet for idle curiosity. Somehow I doubt that  day will come. (I'm 
sure
I won't be the blowing at its dawn either)"
 
Hey List, 
 I guess Rick doesn't like the sound of overbends??
 That's okay, anybody can like or not like anything they want.
 
 But...um... Rick, FY I -  improvising over the chords to  Body & Soul (I 
think it's Eb,D,Dm,-just about the hardest modulation  to play  on diatonic!) is 
not why I play overbends. It's easy to  set up that kind of  straw horse 
argument to try to make a point, a  la: "The day I hear Toots play a convincing 
version of Roller Coaster on  chromatic is the day I'll accept it as a blues 
instrument."
 
You'd have to listen very carefully to tell where the overbends are on  my 
recordings, which are plain old rock/pop. (Not " freak-out type  material".) No 
one has ever said they sounded awkward & ugly, but it's true  I can't play the 
changes in B&S. (Yet.) So what? How did using  overbends get intrinsically 
mixed up with playing jazz or playing in all  twelve keys? I can play pretty 
comfortably in seven or eight positions  (depending on the tunes,) & overbends 
are necessary to make the scale &  interval ideas I want to use in the music I 
play. I have way more trouble  getting half step bends to sound right than I do 
overbends.  
 
 When you say you haven't heard Michalek yet, well, then, you haven't  heard 
him. Like the other poster who slammed Michalek the other day, how can you  
criticize something you haven't heard? (See my long post #45003, near the end)  
Next to Howard Levy, I would say Chris is the best OB player out  there. His 
overbends don't stick out to me. 
 
 Incidently, I've personally heard  Levy play the s**t out of  Body & Soul. 
Raised the hair on my arms.  Rick, maybe you wouldn't dig  it, but I sure did! 
There are probably a few others who can play B&S. Maybe  even Chris. Maybe 
George Brooks. Maybe one of those South American whiz kids.  Maybe a bunch of 
folks. .
 
 BTW, I've been enjoying harp-l a lot lately. Thanks to all the  posters & 
especially to the administrators (you sexy boys).
Later,
Rosco
_may.be  au.gust_ (http://www.maybeaugust.com/) 

download or stream live recordings: _may.be au.gust_ 
(http://www.maybeaugust.com/Live.aspx)