Actually, I've yet to hear anyone mention a time when they heard someone playing too slow or not enough notes--any examples of this?
With regards to playing jazz - which is not the only style represented here I know - I find it difficult if not impossible to NOT get into playing fast at some point. I am on board with wanting to play tastefully and soulfully. But even if one can be extremely clever about using half time, over-the-beat poly rhythms, or a soulful moan a la Ray Charles, it's tough to get away from playing fast at some point.
If you play all kind of wonderful rhythmic jabs, bends with incredible tone, etc, but you never play lines, show that you can play the changes, or just plain swing (this could mean different things to different people) at some point during the evening, it just won't be jazz (at least to my ears). Maybe I am over simplifying the definition of jazz here to make a point, but...
So if tone is sacrificed at the moment of playing fast during a solo (fast for me, anyway), well, it's just gonna happen because it has to at certain points in the music.
Sometimes the inventiveness of the moment comes before perfect technique, even with players who already have mastered phenomenal technique. (For example, John Coltrane)
That said, I am always trying to produce a better tone. :)
-- See the website I put together for Bill Romel: http://harmonica-workshop.com <a href="http://harmonica-workshop.com/index.html";>Bill Romel's Harmonica Workshop</a>
http://myspace.com/jasonharmonica
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