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

[Tall Paul <tallpaul14@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think the Groovy Gypsy has posed another interesting discussion here.  I have thought about this often in the past few years, but hadn't really thought twice about why I play blues in the first few years of playing.  

The reason I picked up the instrument was that I heard Westside Andy at a point in my life where I was really getting to blues and jazz and looking for a way to express feelings I had where words weren't necessarily going to do them justice.  Prior to that I had frequented mosh pits and had been listening to angry music through my college years.  I heard the song 'The Healer' by John Lee Hooker with Carlos Santana and the words and sound made a huge impression on me.  The blues really is a healing music--the subject matter of any given song may be melancholy at times, but I always feel better after listening.  The angry music generally made me feel more angry and want to break things.  The harmonica seemed to be the perfect instrument for for expressing emotion and after hearing Westside Andy I went out the next day and bought one.  The Madison public library let you check out 10 cds at a time and I would go through the blues section and pick out every
 cd that had a harp on the cover or harp player listed in the liner notes.  (I think Musselwhite's Ace of Harps had the most harmonicas on one cover) By reading these liner notes I learned a cursory history of blues harmonica. 

At the time, I really didn't think about the black-white issue I've encountered regarding blues and whether white players can ever really play or even have the blues.  I'm not bringing this up to start another inflammatory discussion, merely mentioning it because many of the people on this list and who attend SPAH play blues harmonica and are white. If you've spent time in the clubs, it's an issue that has likely been brought up in some way.

My second mentor, Little Mack Simmons, used to get me up on stage with him at Rosa's in Chicago and I never felt out of place.  When he met my parents before his Chicago Blues Festival performance he told them that I had the same gift from god he did and that he just was trying to help bring it out of me.  That's about when my parents stopped asking why I liked blues music.  

After he died, I made a few (legal) medical trips to Cuba and Charlie Musselwhite put me in touch with a group of musicians in Havana who played blues.  When I first met them and even other non-musicians on the island, they would ask my why I played blues when they had read it's an African American art form.   Regardless of color, everyone feels the blues and I've heard tons of great white blues musicians, but it was sort of difficult to explain this to people outside our culture who only knew some basic things about blues.  It did get me to start thinking about my place in this whole thing.  I am not living the life of a blues musician, especially that of many of the great blues harmonica players, and am I really fooling anyone trying to play blues?

Recently I have tried to put those thoughts aside and embrace my love for blues music and playing blues harmonica while also seeking to learn techniques that allow me to play with the many other types of music that I love, and hopefully along the way will develop my own voice on the instrument.  That may end up as a blues voice or something else.  Thanks to all who have answered this post and to the Groovy Gypsy for making us all think about it.

Paul