Re: [Harp-L] video--"amazing grace"- HOWARD LEVY

[Richard Hammersley <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am going to be heretical here - Howard Levy has the most amazing  
diatonic OB harmonica technique of anyone, but this showstopping  
performance did not move me at all. In fact, I have yet to hear  
anything played by him that moved me. I realise that this is most  
likely my problem rather than his, and I am going to keep trying to  
appreciate his music, but so far I can't get into to it.

Is there anyone one else on harp-l who struggles to enjoy HL, or is  
this a personal perversion of mine? I like world music and complex  
jazz, so it is not an issue with his type of material in general. Nor  
do I fail to hear that he has made the diatonic harmonica a serious,  
non-novelty, instrument.

It kind of bugs me I cannot enjoy his music, which I feel in one way  
ticks all the boxes of what I 'should' like, so if anyone has  
suggestions for what is musically best to listen to (not what is  
harmonically best) then I would appreciate it. My problem is that in  
what I have listened to so far, he loses my interest before he has  
finished soloing. Now, I am a chap who listens to later John Coltrane  
for pleasure, so it is not my limited attention span that is the  
problem.

In the past I have found that it sometimes takes me a while, and the  
right tunes, to 'get' where an artist is coming from musically. Please  
help me 'get' Howard Levy.

Richard


On 5 Apr 2009, at 19:13, Bradford Trainham wrote:

> That's all amazing enough..., but my favorite part of the whole  
> thing was
> when..., after those pseudo-orgastic runnings-off into first  
> position, and
> that subsequent unbelievable romping into twelfth position...  (I'm  
> assuming
> he's playing an e-flat harp.  I don't know that for a fact.)
> He calmed down in second position and played a verse more or less  
> straight
> with that drone in the bass and that serious nod-and-wink to the  
> sound of
> the bag-pipes.
> But yes, that one's "amazing" and it'll certainly take 10,000 years  
> to get
> over all that amazement.
> Thanks for posting that one,
> Brad Trainham
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx]  
> On Behalf
> Of Randy Singer
> Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 10:57 AM
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] video--"amazing grace"- HOWARD LEVY
>
> the man with two brains plays amazing grace that sounds like to  
> harmonica
> players at the same time.
>
> >
> http://www.videosift.com/video/Howard-Levy-plays-Amazing-Grace-on-harmonica
>
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Richard Hammersley
Grantshouse, Scottish Borders
http://www.last.fm/music/Richard+Hammersley
http://www.myspace.com/rhammersley
http://www.myspace.com/magpiesittingdown