[Harp-L] Roadhouse blues and other rock standards

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Bands that do more R&B material than straight ahead rock material (or  
a mix of R&B and rock) are usually more receptive to harmonica than  
straight ahead rock bands.  And, although i like to rock out well  
enough, i prefer an R&B groove anyway. Or reggae.  One gets tired of  
just playing blues all the time, not that there's anything wrong w/ 
blues.  Rock music is fun to play because it's so free stylistically  
(there are no conventions that must be adhered to in order to play  
rock).  On the other hand, there's nothing worse than a pure rock  
band pretending to play blues.

R&B style jazz (certain material by Cannonball Adderley, Eddie  
Harris,  Miles Davis. etc.) is cool and can be played on diatonic  
without overblows IF the band is receptive to harp and promises not  
to modulate all over the place (which shouldn't be necessary playing  
this type of jazz material anyway).  But that's a big IF.   I've been  
lucky.  A guitar player i used to play R&B and rock with years ago  
graduated to playing jazz, He likes my playing and understands my  
capabilities on diatonic harmonica.  So he invited me to sit in with  
his jazz band. His bass player liked my playing and also plays with a  
different jazz band, So he invited me to sit in with that band. So  
now i get to play with a couple of jazz groups who are receptive to  
harp and sympathetic to selecting harp  playable material, which  
stretches me and is good for my development, as well as being fun.   
But I suspect the real reason they keep asking me back is that the  
crowd seems to really like it, possibly because they don't  
ordinarily  hear harmonica played on that type of material.

As far as rock material is concerned, I think Sunshine Of Your Love  
(Cream) is a great tune to jam on with harmonica. Harp also works on   
Doctor My Eyes (Jackson Browne). A terrific (and often overlooked)  
tune for harmonica is Dear Mr. Fantasy by Traffic. I also really like  
to play harp on Wild Night  by Van Morrison, but I'm sure what  
position sounds best on Wild Night. Any suggestions?

JP