Re: [Harp-L] Re: Overblowing all done?

[Frank Evers <frank@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

Am Dienstag, 9. Februar 2010 schrieb Paul Routledge:
> "a technique that hadn't yet been discovered in Little Walter's
>  time."
> 
> Well that's not quite true. The first overblow recorded was in 1927
>  by   James "Blues Birdhead" Simons.
> 
> The technique was re-popularised by Howard Levy though and with
>  our   modern lifestyle where we all travel abroad a lot more and
>  in more recent years the power of the internet. It has been
>  brought to a wider audience than ever before. This has resulted in
>  more people using overblows in their everyday playing.

That IMHO doesn't really nail it either. Howard systematized 
overblowing. It was not just playing some extra notes, but playing 
chromatically, making the 10 hole diatonic suitable for more or less 
any music style. Thats what nobody else did before and besides the 
factors you mentioned above (internet, livestyle, music style) is the 
base of the success of overblows. Howard didn't invent overblows, but 
he turned the diatonic harmonica into a full featured instrument.

-- 
Gruß,Frank