Re: [Harp-L] Playing in the groove...

["Leonardo Kenji Shikida" <shikida@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 9/25/06, Planet Harmonica <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I didn't want this to turn into an endictment of André's playing. his
> playing is fine, and, honestly, if I could play the tune half as well as he
> does, I'd be happy !

well, me too ;-)

> My point was, if you listen to Soulive's original tune, the groove is very
> different from the groove heard here. I'm not making André into an example,
> but the reality is that many blues players will carry that groove over to
> jazz, rock, funk, yuo name it. When / if you hear Sébastien Charlier's
> Diatonic Revelation, and whether you like it or not, I think you'll
> understand what I mean. The phrasing has nothing in common with blues
> phrasing. It just sounds like a jazz instrument. I don't like his tone, and
> I don't like his lack of expressiveness, but he has a jazz groove (and he
> can't play a blues to save his life ;-)

I agree with your point. I think this specific song of Andre Carlini,
although being some sort of a funk standard, it sounds, at least in
the harmonica part, much like blues, mostly because the blues scale
Carlini decided to use, even if, rhythmically, he was intending to
play something funky.

I've listened to some tunes of Charlier and I understand what you
mean. He has the jazz language in his harmonica. As well as Toots,
Levy or Allen Holmes

And sometimes, we can see jazzy harmonica players trying to play the
blues, and they can play impressive songs, but they don't sound like
"authentic" blues, I don't know why. Maybe they're too precise ;-)
It's a very subjective impression, but I think it's quite the same
you're talking about.

In the same way, I think, James Cotton's "Mr. Superharp" is a big
funky band with a true blues harmonica inside. The result is an
amazing CD, but still are two different influences in the same songs.

Probably, the song I've sent was some sort of unfortunate, as my
choice to illustrate how harp can be a funky instrument...

Anyway, Carlini told me he's working on a new CD, mostly funky, so I
believe soon we'll have more to listen and to discuss here ;-)

best regards

Kenji