[Harp-L] who's blowin' reggae

[Michael Rubin <rubinmichael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

For three years I have been in a reggae band, Mr. Brown.  It features some players who have been in Burning Spear, Cyrille Neville, Ruthie Foster, Papa Mali, Chris Thomas King, Bob Schneider's Ugly Americans and Joe Rockhead.   We are a 9 piece with sax, trumpet, 2 gits, a chanter, drum, bass, keys, 5 man harmony and harp.  You can hear  tunes on both my own myspace or the band's My Space or we're on my compilation album "Call of my Harp" which you can get thru my website.
   
  Anyway, I love being in a reggae band because the music is great and because harp has rarely played an active role in it.  There was a harp player in Bob Marley's band by the way, he focused on flute.  It really frees me up to play my own style without worrying about being untraditional.
   
  I mostly play 2nd and 3rd with overblows (although I have occasionally played an unusual position for fun), a little chromatic.  I double or harmonize some hyorns lines. I use a bassman with a Yamaha Magic Stomp effects box that gives me around 10 usable effects.  I can add delay, volume swell, crunch, faze sounds.  I also play thru the vocal mic for some sweeter tones.  
   
  Although there is certainly lots of minor tunes in reggae, we play plenty of major songs.  I find that just like blues, there are musical handshakes to be found repeatedly in reggae and the more I listen and play it, the quicker I recognize what the band is going to do next.
   
  I think my playing is definitely blues influenced and I unapologetically bring that to the music.
   
  Michael Rubin
  Michaelrubinharmonica.com