Re: [Harp-L] Pop harp and creativity

Hi big Mike. One thing that I have noticed over the last 10 years here is that every time a topic along these lines comes up, it is always attached to diatonic. Now, I realize that most on this list are diatonic players (and damn good ones too), but very few chromatic players ever chime in. The traffic over the years has dictated 2.6% chromo topics, and they are usually either about people or they are adds. Never genres. Not very educational. The pros clutch their secrets close to the chest.

I agree with everything you have said, and here's an example of why I think you are right. Sunday nights 6-10 we do the "Lighthouse" at the Sand Point Marina, Sanibel Is. Causeway Florida. It is the dinner crowd. The menu is such that you need to bring a co-signer. The crowd is 49 avg., generally well heeled and the fact that they will pay the $6.oo causeway toll says something right there. The tip jar exceeds the pay. ( which is nice) :)

The music for this (particular) gig is gentle jazz & jazzified pop. Played at low tones. Stuff like my theme song 'Killer Joe', Green Dolphin, Sept. in the Rain, One Note Samba, Bluesette, Round Midnight, Laura, Harlem Nocturne, Summertime, No More Blues, Song for my Father, Little Sunflower, Angel Eyes. I play diatonic, but can't seem to work it in. Too many key changes. Now, a really accomplished jazz diatonic player (Michalek, Levy) could probably do these tunes, but I think the REAL problem is that to do ANY multiple key change stuff, you need to be very accomplished (OR) a great harp switcher. Trying to do something like 'New Frontier' by Steeley Dan, will leave you with a bloody mouth.

Not disparaging blues in any way shape or form (I'm often misunderstood), the basic structure of blues is straight foreward enough that you can take what the music gives you as a basis and then embellish from THERE. It's the possibilities of reaching out and then using YOUR amazing licks woven into an already fairly simple tune that shows YOUR talent. With technically structured tunes, you may have a tough time just keeping up. Therefore, with diatonic, I feel it comes down to choosing your genre wisely and without taking anything AWAY from the tune, you now are in a position to ADD mystique to the tune. Therefore, the attention goes to you and not so much the tune.

You will leave enough of an impression that people will remember the tune AND the job you did with it. Sometimes (like I remember at Denver 06), I will remember the ARTIST and NOT the tune. Everyone was a master at what they did, but the only song title I remember was 'Spain'.

smokey-joe (I wasn't going to post anymore, but you guys keep dragging me back in) ~(8^')x

On May 29, 2007, at 9:21 AM, Mike Fugazzi wrote:

1.  The harp will probably never be a popular
mainstream insturment.

2. Creativity is the main cause of this.

I will not argue that there hasn't been a lot of
creativity in the blues idiom with harmonica.  In
fact, I feel the opposite.  It has also made some
great strides in jazz.

However, ever since Little Walter laid down a few
successful singles, the harp's popularity in the
mainstream has been on the slide.

Here's my explanation: In the last 50+ years, our
insturment has failed to make the adaptations other
insturments have to find a mainstream audience.

Pop music is popular music for the times.  Right now,
that doesn't have much to do with "traditional" blues
sounds.  Many insturments have been able to find a
role in music that allows them to fit into whatever is
going on.  You still hear guitar, bass, drums, horns,
keys, and vibroslaps on top 40 radio stations today.

I would wager that a large reason, but not the only
one, for the absence of harp is the overall harp
player attitude of staying close to traditional blues.
 That doesn't mean blues is bad (I play blues too),
but it is what it is.  Blues music isn't popular in
the mainstream (this is a whole other topic of
discussion).

There simply weren't the musical gains on harp that
there were on other insturments when music went to a
national pop scene (as opposed to being a local or
regional scene).  For example, who tried to keep up on
diatonic with Chuck Berry?

Fans of Little Walter will point out that Chess and
the gang did try to make him more mainstream and pop
oriented.  However, there were probably ten guitar
players pushing the envelope and making new sounds for
every one harp player.  The odds were against him.

That harp is a hard insturment to master.  Up front,
it is easier to learn to be a good drummer, bassist,
or guitar player.  Not as many people play it and
having a unique voice on the harp is maybe a harder
thing to do.  That being said, IMO, if you're not
trying to rewrite part of the harmonica text book in
you playing, you're not doing the insturment justice.

Every single "master" (even the blues ones) found
their voice and it spoke to a larger audience.  I'll
stop there due to the attitude of the list towards
philosophy and the art of making music, but you
probably know what I mean about finding a connection.



Mike Fugazzi
http://www.myspace.com/mikefugazzi
http://www.niterail.com

"Music should be healing; music should uplift the soul; music should inspire. There is no better way of getting closer to God, of rising higher towards the spirit, of attaining spiritual perfection than music, if only it is rightly understood."
-Hazrat Inayat Khan



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