[Harp-L] Re: Why do you want to play blues?

[Ken Deifik <ken@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Why do you choose to play blues on the harmonica? Because you love
> blues or because you love the harmonica and it seems to be heavily
> intertwined with blues?

I started to learn blues harp in the 60's as a teenager.  I couldn't figure 
out how Slim Harpo got that opening bend on the front of Baby Scratch My 
Back.  Then Tony Glover's book came out, I got it and became fascinated by 
the blues itself, by the beauty of both country and Chicago blues.

Very quickly, however, I decided I did not want to try to sound like the 
geniuses, so I started learning how to pick blues licks off of guitar 
players, and adapting them.  Lightnin' Hopkins was an early influence.  (I 
didn't want to avoid the influence of the geniuses completely, of course, 
and wouldn't have been able to.  But every time I found a new area of licks 
that sounded like the blues but didn't sound like Jim and Jack and John and 
Gene I'd dump a few more of the classic licks out of my library.  (At this 
point it isn't about licks for me, though I still have a few loaded up and 
ready to go when needed.)

I also avoided listening to Paul Butterfield because every other teenager 
with a harp wanted to sound just like him, and I thought that was most square.

In later years I heard him and liked his playing, but never became consumed 
by it.

As my own music developed I became interested in blues forms that were not 
12 bar blues over and over again, though I still love that form.  I became 
interested in soul music and funk and funky jazz, along with bluesy country 
forms, and rock & roll.

It became clear to me (as to so many others on this list) that "blues" was 
a musical feeling and not a set of scales.  I tried to add in the chromatic 
notes, the way some very, very talented contemporary players have now done, 
but I truly didn't like the way they sounded.

In the end, I love 'bluesiness' on the diatonic harp, and hope I've 
invented my own definition for what that means.  I love diatonic harp 
because it is infinitely deep and I can still find all manner of new magic 
in it 42 years after I ducked down the hole.  I love blues as much as 
blueisness, but mainly play straight blues only when I'm hired to do 
so.  My greatest fun is revealing to myself just how bluesy a piece of 
music can be that you didn't think could be that way.

An amazingly beautiful example of this, with no harp and no Ken Deifik on 
it, is Jay McShann's version of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.

To sum up, I started by loving harp and loving blues, and then loving the 
process and results of inventing new music with those two ingredients.

> So is playing blues an ability issue, "copycat" issue or one of
> passion for the genre? Is there a reason players don't seem to seek an
> original voice on their instrument? A good example of original voice
> is, George Brooks, watch the SPAH jam vids, he sticks out every time
> it's his turn to play, even when he plays 2nd position.  Jason Ricci
> is another person with an original sound as are Little Walter, Lee
> Oskar and Howard Levy etc...

We all start as copycats.  But then, as I mentioned, for a long time I felt 
that trying to sound like someone else was about as square as you could get.

But through Harp-l I have had the pleasure of hearing any number of 
wonderful harp players who clearly started by trying to master the Chicago, 
or Little Walter style, who have really found a personal expression by 
extending that and deepening that feeling, to where they are making their 
own music all over again.

Inventing a style is hard work.  It takes courage to decide to go down that 
path.  I try to encourage players who sound like someone else to try to 
invent their own ideas and slowly evict the ones we inherit.  But I do that 
with singers, songwriters, guitarists, whomever, too.  Most players can 
make the leap to originality beginning with the day they realize that they 
will enjoy their music that much more if it doesn't sound exactly like 
their heroes.

K