[Harp-L] Re: The Chromatic Harmonica Sounds Like A Machine

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

Aaarrgh! For a start, I (who started this discourse - this time anyway) never said: "The Chromatic Harmonica Sounds Like A Machine". In fact I was chucking in my bit of praise to Stevie following an email pointing out what a great piece his 'Alfie' was.
My point was that Stevie is held in high regard because of his soulful playing. In my opinion, it is because, in large part, of the way he shapes, bends and ornaments just about every note he plays. I was saying, or thought I was trying to say, that Stevie was an exemplar in causing the instrument to sound quite un-machine-like.
I might refer to Toot's remark in the interview in Richard Hunter's 'Jazz Harp', which was something along the lines of "It's hard to get past the 'Look Ma! No hands!' stage." - I couldn't have put it more succinctly.
The harmonica did begin life as a novelty, and it's history has been an amazing victory in overcoming this beginning.
I say again, there is a lot of great chromatic harp playing now, and in the past. I like some of the 'novel' stuff as well, and think,when I read people sweating over their concern about making the harmonica accepted as a  'legitimate' instrument, of the old Lester Flatt song "Don't get above your raisin' ."
Frankly, even some of the greats have a tendency to sound 'naff' to my ears at times, and I prefer the 'innocence' of Tommy Reilly's work' (that's how it sounds to me Winslow, no matter how sophisticated he was, which I wouldn't contest) to that of at least some of Larry Adler's, for example L
I play, or attempt to play chromatic. I'm not dagging on the instrument. Settle down!
RD

>>> Sergei <svolkov@xxxxxxxxx> 1/10/2007 9:20 >>>
Always a joy to wander through such impassionate threads. Does Stevie
Wonder sound like a machine?

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