[Harp-L] miles/Kind of blue

["Marc Spilka" <marc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for posting this.  I would love to check it out.  As someone pointed 
out my statement was that "I" didn't get the feeling from jazz harp that I 
do from other instruments.  Obviously a lot of people here disagree and have 
other feelings.  I think one of the best performances I have heard is Jason 
Ricci doing Afro Blue on his new CD.  I would ask others to post jazz 
harmonica songs that touch them because I would like to check them out.  I 
wonder if on a trumpet players' forum if someone stated that trumpet is not 
a great blues instrument if others would disagree.  Again my point is that 
unless you are an amazingly rare musician it is very difficult to play Miles 
Davis on harmonica, just as it is to play Little Walter on trumpet.

Marc Spilka
Los Gatos, CA


.
True enough for the overwhelming most part.  But, there is a tune on
the ANGEL HEART movie soundtrack CD called "Right Key, But the Wrong
Keyhole" sung by Lillian Boutte.  On this tune,  Sugar Blue plays
amplified diatonic harmonica and sounds so much like a muted trumpet,
you don't realize it's a harmonica at first.  But, even after you do,
the phrasing is so jazz horn like that it's amazing  and conveys that
precise feel and feeling one gets listening to a good jazz sax or
trumpet player.  Incredible, very sophisticated performance.
Unbelievable tone and phrasing. I've never heard anything else like
it from a harmonica player.

Btw, IMHO, the Miles Davis album "Kind of Blue" is (at least
arguably) the best album ever recorded at any time in any genre.

Best regards,

JP





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