Re: [Harp-L] Horns Sounds Like Harp Sounds Like Horns

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for all that Winslow.
                                           Frankly I haven't heard much
growling on the harp, othert than Birdhead. Maybe you can reccomend some
other examples?
                                          I've always assumed that
Blues Birdhead's growl was produced by splitting the harmonic (my
terminology-probably inaccurate) ie speaking strictly of blow notes
8-10;  playing the bent and unbent note at the same time; it's like Gwen
Foster's trill, but holding the trill at it's switching point. 
                                         The difficulty with this is
twofold: if you want to bend the growl (highly desirable!) you have to
weight, or emphasise,  the note produced by the blow reed (the bendable
reed) and it's easy to lose the growl altogether. 
                                         Also, cupping and un-cupping
the growl - which is of course the very thing one wants to do with a
growl - tends to upset the applecart as well, so that, once again, you
lose the delicate balance ebtween the two notes. 
                                         Sometimes I can make it work a
treat, other times not. Maybe it's to do with reed adjustment.
                                         The other things you mention,
the "guttural gargling in the throat, and the actual note that is
hummed" as outlined by Mercer Ellinton in relation to brass players, I
can only relate to harmonica by way of Gwen Foster's playing again,
though I can think of no recorded examples of singinf through the harp
to produce a growl.
                                         As you are probably aware,
Foster does a kind of 'gurgle' or 'snore' as I think Filisko described
it in an article in 'Bluegrass Unlimited' some years, along with the
tongue roll combined with a bend. 
                                        I can do the 'snore' but find
it rather uncomfortable. I am trying to use the tongue roll (ie'
Drrrrrrrrrrr' with a Latin accent) to produce growls on the lower notes,
but it's a work in progress.
                                        Does Filisko demonstrate the
growl techniques you mention on his CD? If so I'll order a copy; sounds
very interesting.
                                        Bubber Miley is 'my man' when
it comes to growling; the stuff he recorded with vocalist Adelaide Hall
almost defies efforts to distinguish where the Bubber's trumpet stops
and Adelaide's scatting begins. Magic stuff!

Regards,
Rick Dempster



>>> Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 5/06/2007 1:00:25 >>>

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

> I would have thought Filisko would have got the initial shove 
> from Blues Birdhead, going by his espoused tastes and history of 
> listening. Birdhead was the first I ever heard do a decent growl 
> on the diatonic. Growling on the diatonic could take up a decent 
> chapter in a harp 'how to'; it's a subtle and difficult art. 

I never heard Filisko do it until I exposed him to the early Ellington
orchestra and asked him to play some of the specific parts and solos
from those records. When he did, it sounded specifically like those
growlers and not like any harmonica growling I've ever heard.

> Bubber Miley was the man who established the wah-wah thing 
> in the Ellington orchestra as far as I know. 

Re-reading, after a long interval, the memoir of Mercer Ellington,
Duke's son, you're right, it was Bubber Miley, though Mercer makes a
point of describing how Tricky Sam made a science of it. He doesn't
mention Whetsol in this regard, stating that the chief exponents in
the
band of growling over the years had been Bubber Miley, Cootie Williams
and Ray Nance on trumpet, and Tricky Sam (Joe Nanton) and Tyree Glenn
on trombone.

He also gives this analysis:

"There are three basic elements in the growl: the sound of the horn, a
guttural gargling in the throat, and the actual note that is hummed.
The mouth has to be shaped to make the different vowel sounds, and
above the singing from the throat, manipulation of the plunger adds
the
wa-wa accents that give the horn a language."

So both gargling and singing are part of it on brass instrument.
Throat
gargling is difficult on the inhaled breath unless a note is being
bent, while singing a note presents similar difficulties while
inhaling.

Filisko has managed to make a consistent throat growl on blow, unbent
draw, and bent draw notes, allowing him to play entire passages in
growl (I don't think he used any sung notes). This sounds different
from anything I've ever heard another harmonica player do.

Winslow


     
____________________________________________________________________________________
Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles.
Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center.
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ 
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org 
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx 
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l