On Aug 9, 2007, at 5:01 AM, J Compton wrote:
Randy,
Man, every bone in my body is telling me to not reply, so I reached a compromise and decided I'd reply, but only to you and not all of harp-l.
I watched the vid just now and...okay, first, a quick aside. Damn, man, you can really play. I'm relatively new to the harp world having started just ten short months ago (but wow, what a ride that's been already), so I'm no authority on harp-related matters...and especially chromatic as it takes everything I have to just play the ten holes i have, but that was an impressive display. I just made a note to find more of your recorded material tomorrow...but enough distractions, back to my point.
I just watched the vid and I can see how a viewer without any of the background information could interpret it negatively. I can even see how some might reach that interpretation even hearing your side of the story. However, having heard your explanation and watching it a second time, I am convinced your interpretation is the right one. (Duh, you were there.) What may be throwing some people off is that there were a few in the audience that wanted Toots to play more...to join you more....probably because when he did, it was absolutely beautiful.
The other thing that viewers don't get, even if they read it, they still may not quite get it, is the two hours of Toots playing earlier in the evening. You didn't barge on stage before some guy's set at an open mike night and keep him from playing, you weren't depriving the audience of Toots, you were an invited guest of Toots at the very end of a long set by an old man who wasn't feeling well who doesn't have anything he needs to prove to anybody (and I can confidently say that without having heard a lot of his stuff. There's another note for me to do tomorrow....find more of Toots' material.)
Anyhow, I wanted to somewhat defend the position from which the naysayers are throwing rocks at you...even if they're clearly wrong and ill-informed. Maybe just doing my very small part to bring closure to this...(which is why I kept this off-list...but given my track record of ending threads just by posting, perhaps I should have sent it to the group. =P )
Jonathan "nobody" Compton
> From: randy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 22:23:38 -0400
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> CC: chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; jensjuel@xxxxxxxxxxxx; tstryker@xxxxxxx;jason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] open letter to those criticizing the video performance of randy singer and toots thielemans
>
> A few years ago, one of the highlights of my life actually happened.
> I performed a duet with the great TOOTS THIELEMANS.
>
> This was a dream come true and happened when the master came to
> perform in miami beach at the van dyke cafe.
>
> Due to my friendship with him, he invited me, via email, to play his
> composition BLUESETTE with him.
>
> I was extraordinarily honored to receive this invitation from my
> idol, the master of jazz harmonica, toots thielemans.
>
> That evening (which also happened to be his birthday) at the very end
> of his show, I was called up to perform this song.
>
> I was extremely nervous, quite visible in my sound check (where I
> played the same jazz run twice to see if my mike was on). In fact, on
> the video, the first thing I said into the mike was "THANK GOD FOR
> TOOTS THIELEMANS" and I meant that. It was all I could think about
> and that statement completely summed up my emotions.
>
> A friend of mine was in the audience and recorded this duet on video
> which is on youtube (with the kind permission of toots, of course)
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bjB0AU5X_0
>
> In these years, I have received about a dozen extremely negative
> reviews of this video. They have accused me of trying to overplay
> toots and other attacks.
>
> At first, I did not feel that it did not deserve a response, but the
> recent posting from jens on Harp-L has stirred me to defend my
> innocent actions that evening.
>
> Let me be clear here to anyone who may feel that I was trying to
> disrespect him by over playing must keep this in mind. Toots was
> feeling ill that night, it was his birthday, it was late in the
> evening and he had just finished playing two nights and our song was
> the last song of the evening for the two nights. He encouraged me to
> play more solos than he during the performance.
> >
>
> > Watch the video again -Every time I finish a solo, I stop playing
> > (so he can play) and he points at me TO CONTINUE PLAYING!!.!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Look at toots' right hand. You will see him indicating over and over
> to me to continue to play. You can see me stopping to let him play
> and he simply points back to me to play instead of him playing
> himself. Toots seemed to enjoy just playing counterpoint to my
> playing! You can see it in his facial expressions and body language
> and by his choice of lower harmony notes.
> >
> >> This continues to the end. where he encourages me to trade lines
> >> playfully even after the band has stopped.
>
>
> >> I love toots too much to want to try to outplay him, besides, he
> >> is the master. I played WITH him, not OVER HIM.
>
> >> I respect him to the highest.
>
> LONG LIVE TOOTS!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Randy Singer
> http://www.randysinger.com
>
> >
> > Randysinger (il y a 11 mois)
> > Randy ,
> > >
> > > i have to apologize, sorry , you are right , thats probably what
> > it is, i saw the video again, and he is pointing at you all the
> > time, sorry again, i will never ever give any comments again, but i
> > did and i have to deal with it. Best Regards Thomas
> >
>
> > harmonicajazzcm (il y a 4 mois)
> > Thank you for that excellent vidéo Randy.
> > Thank you for your very good playing.
> > Thank you for that playing of you both with Toots.
> > For me, all is perfect for yours playing of you two. You have
> > played according with Tootsn, there is no problem.
> > BRAVO RANDY and... of course... BRAVO TOOTS !
> >
> >
> >
> >
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