[Harp-L] Popping Popper popping

[David Fertig <drfertig@xxxxxxxxx>]

I saw Jon Popper on tv some years ago and he actually played some blues pretty well for a few bars, but his BT stuff does nothing for me, personally.  

Now, a technical question: I saw a fellow once play some fast Popperesque runs and he wasn't using his lungs, but popping or pulsing air with his tongue to actuate the reeds very quickly in and out, is that how Jon Popper sometimes does his super-fast riffs?  

NOTE: I distinguish this from the sort of circular breathing technique where one very briefly tongue- pulses air while working air in or out nasally, something I bet we all do even subconsciously, and only briefly to accommodate breathing rather than to play whole riffs.

A recent screening of Pocketful of Soul "45" (pre-release sneak at 45 min of the eventual 90 min flick) had some comparing Jason and Popper, but to my tin ears I hear Jason play gobs of musicality in each passage, whereas in Popper I hear merely gobs of fast notes...

Of course, it's just my taste and not an objective assessment.  Like a wine I don't like (that's neither corked nor oxidized), it ain't "bad" it's just for someone else's palate.

But, is that tongue-pulsing technique for playing whole riffs at all common and does anyone do it with rich tone?  And anyway why does this technique seem cheap and gimmicky to me?   Am I really that hidebound?

Dave Fertig