[Harp-L] LW, clones

["Glenn Weiser" <celticguitar1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Phil said-

Everytime I suggest that the harmonica world is not looking for Little 
Walter
clones and harmonica players that sound like everybody else, I get attacked
for being disloyal to the instrument and a traitor to the harp tradition.

But I think   harp players could take a good lesson from Mike Peloquin --  
and
his use of horn lines on the harp. (Witness his horn line seminar at SPAH.)

Just playing sax doesn't make him a better harp player -- for one thing the
fingering is different. But the same phrasing and articulation that works on
the sax can be translated to the harp.

Phil-

I've always considered Little Walter the greatest blues harp player ever, 
but by the same token you have avoid being too imitative. Walter started out 
as a Sonny Boy I mimic but somewhere in between 1950 and 1952 found his own 
incredible voice. Harp players today would be wise to follow his example. 
Learn to play any riff harp you hear, and then forget it all and be your own 
musician, copying no one. It's not easy.
And yes, horn lines have been a inspiration for musicians on many 
instruments for decades. Remember, Little Walter was hugely influenced by 
Louis Jordan.

-Glenn Weiser