Re: [Harp-L] Name That Tume.... Please/Harp in Western swing

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>               Chances are that putting a harmonica in an 'authentic
> western swing band'  means that no-one will think it is 'authentic
> western swing' anymore.

Mike Turk played harmonica in the 1970s with a Western Swing band in Boston, Massachusetts, led by John Lincoln Wright.  He recorded a decent cover of "Roly Poly" with that group, which was released as a 45 RPM vinyl single.

But of course you can play the harmonica with anything.  Is it authentic?  No, I guess not, if by "authentic" you mean "exactly what they did in 1940", when harmonicas were not very prominent in Western Swing bands.  On the other hand, I'm very sympathetic to people who argue that music shouldn't be confined to museums, and if you're doing exactly what they did in 1940, then there's some validity to the argument that it's a museum piece.  Not to say that it can't be satisfying--it's still very satisfying to hear people play Beethoven/bebop/Little Walter/whatever in a historically accurate way.  But it's the same thrill you had when the music was new--it's a familiar thrill, not a new thrill.  (But of course familiar thrills are still thrills.)

Western Swing is also a very demanding style technically, and I think you'd have to be a hell of a harp player to fit in. I was in Nashville this spring, and Jelly Roll Johnson took me to a place called the Station to hear their regular Monday night Western Swing band. The players in that band were total monsters.  The pedal steel player was in his 50s or 60s, and he played what amounted to a complete catalog of harmonizations for American popular songs at unbelievably fast speeds.  The rest of the players were equally skilled, if slightly less shockingly amazing.  Very, very few harp players could play that kind of stuff as fast as those guys, let alone execute the kinds of harmonic tricks that those guys were doing.  Jason Ricci on a good night, I guess.  Howard Levy.  

But I suppose that if two guys can do it, then it's not about the instrument--it's about the players.  So yes, I think harp could be made to fit into a Western Swing band, and to sound like it was in the style from the start.  You'd just have to be one hell of a player.

On a different topic, I'm proud to announce that my Chicago-style blues "Kill the Doctor (That Killed My Wife)" has made it to #6 in Broadjam.com's Chicago blues charts.  You can hear it at the Broadjam URL below.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com
latest mp3s always at http://broadjam.com/rhunter