Re: [Harp-L] Unsung stars at Spah

["steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

That's a very good list and I agree wholeheartedly, except you forgot one player.
Every year at SPAH, and formerly when Buckeye was still active, the one player who always stood out at jam sessions was Ben Nathanson.   He always have a different take on things and, without fail, when his turn comes in the blues circle, he puts a smile on everybody's face. 
It's kind of like: "There goes Ben again."   
Want to hear an original player, he is one.
  And let me add, David Naiditch's chromatic playing at the Bluegrass jam, was impeccable. He's the real deal.  I also think Warren Bee's Sat. nite playing at that jam was, like most of Warren's playing, really good. 
 It took me two days to recuperate from the music overload and lack of sleep, but now I'm inspired to get back to harp. I had hardly touched mine in more than a year and that was pretty easy to see when I tried to play at SPAH.  One thing about going to these events is seeing all the different approaches.  People like Cara Cooke, who is the best first-position, note-for-note bluegrass harp player I've heard in person, are so underrated.  
  Some people, I think we just take for granted. And we shouldn't.  I'm thinking specifically of Jimi Lee and Joe Filisko. There are others, of course, who do at lot at these conventions, but the jams these two run are what a lot of players wait for.
  OK.. I'm going to go practice now.
Steve Webb in Minn.

---- Ben J Nathanson <bjnath@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> Every year at Spah an army of great players converges at the jams. Their 
> playing knocks people out, but their names get lost in postgame 
> coverage. The spotlight eludes them.
> 
> Nobody's forgotten how they played, though. With help, I assembled a 
> list of some quiet people at Spah who awed, dazzled, and laid waste, 
> mostly at the blues jam:
> 
> Danny Ruppa, jam guitarist, who through double-digit choruses grooved 
> indestructibly and gave sensitive support to soloist after soloist.
> 
> Cara Cooke and Lonnie Joe Howell, on whose energies the bluegrass jam 
> swelled in size and popularity and who kept it red hot every night.
> 
> Jerry Devillier, eager to spread knowledge of the boisterous and almost 
> forgotten Cajun style.
> 
> Mick Zaklan, as wryly original a player as ever blew a low F, and a 
> master of position playing. You need to listen to hear the low-pitched 
> harp, but his musical message is never subdued, and his overblowing 
> skill ranks with that of the top players.
> 
>  From France, Robert "Sunnyside" Koch, whose playing voice is 
> passionate, dark, rich, traditional, and wholly his.
> 
> Jake Houshmand, and not just for his solid grasp of prewar style but for 
> how musically right he made it on all kinds of material.
> 
> Tom Albanese, owner of a magnificently ferocious, you'd-better-duck, 
> iron-fist-in-velvet-glove style. I suspect he's on a lot of people's 
> favorite-players lists.
> 
> Ronnie Shellist, who possesses electifying timing and command of the 
> instrument. I never fail to be excited by his playing.
> 
> Doug Schroer, who nailed solo after solo on diatonic and chromatic. Also 
> on chromatic, Michael Polesky, who might not call himself
> a bluesman but captured perfectly the blues feel in jazz idiom, and 
> David Naiditch, who soloed beautifully on his night at the blues jam.
> 
> Grant Kessler, a consistently forceful player who has a killer instinct 
> for where a solo needs to go.
> 
> Gino, filling the fast notes with gusto and daring.
> 
> David Barrett, for elegant and intelligent playing, and an amazing 
> first-position performance Wednesday night. And Jelly Roll Johnson, that 
> longtime master of understated eloquence.
> 
> Greg Heumann, who gave the jam great singing and dependably excellent 
> playing.
> 
>  From Brazil, the fierce, snarling, gritty voice of Melk Rocha taking 
> dead aim at the blues language, and next to him Thiago Cerveira, 
> shape-shifting it through cascades of chromaticism.
> 
> Jimi Lee, running a small, spirited afternoon jam with warmth, energy, 
> and great tunes.
> 
> Tony Glover, whose book was a tree of life in the wilderness and taught 
> many, including me.
> 
> Warren Bee, a great player trading the attendee's carefree life for the 
> hard work and sacrifice of a Spah board member.
> 
> And Joe Filisko, for the teach-in, the jam, and quiet contributions 
> everywhere.
>