Re: [Harp-L] Buildin' yourself up by tearin' who down?/Note on Overblows

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

 hmmmm, awful lot of "I"s and myself's in this posting - even while crediting others.

too much ego, perhaps?

good luck in your pursuits. let your music speak for you.

 


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Nicholas Lovett <lovett.nicholas@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, Feb 9, 2010 5:02 pm
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Buildin' yourself up by tearin' who down?/Note on Overblows


I don't fell like i've been given a fair assessment.  I did nothing more than 
present my art as a juxtaposition to the current trend in harmonica: overblows.  
I've studied economics, and a rising tide raises all ships.  Including blues 
players.  I don't hate overblows/ers; I just feel that my work is in contrast to 
the trend, and present myself up against it to gain more consideration/reach a 
different audience.  Many overblowers are better than myself at harmonica: Jason 
Ricci, Chris Michalek, Howard Levy, many of you on this list, etc. etc.  But how 
about a nod to the old guard? In my previous posts, especially this summer, I 
showed myself more than willing to give credit where credit is needed.  But no 
kudos for Little Walter from the overblowhards?  Most of you have recognized his 
contributions, but some of you, I honestly feel, don't understand his gravitas.  
The current explosion of innovation(which is great btw) is a ripple in a stream 
compared to
 the tidal wave of the Great Little Walter.  Simply put, the man was a 
motherfucker.  As a dedicated stylist, on my record, I have only done the Sonny 
Boy II nearly note for note(not the subleties though, bwahahahah).  That's 
because no one else is, and there's a market for it, similar to Rick Estrin 
amplifying his technique, or Bharath doing Little Walter.  The rest of the 
record was cut in an hour and a half, and three of the songs were cut in one 
take.  No rehearsals happened. As Muddy Waters once said "there's no rehearsing 
the blues."   I'm not rich, I work a shit job in a cafeteria(about to be fired 
if you must know).  I met all these cats at local jams, I got my start two and 
half years ago at literally the worst jam in the world in the ghetto in 
Lewiston, Maine.  I dropped out of school for this.  Twice.  I would do it a 
third time.  I'm not a nut/weirdo/negative individual, i'm a fun loving kid who 
watches the history channel with his beautiful
 girlfriend/pint glass of Shipyard Prelude Ale. The notes I wrote are tentative 
liner notes: no names are named because that's disrespectful.  I wrote that 
because I see many young harmonica players such as myself playing an 
amalgamation of tradition blues and overblows.  Many are more accomplished than 
myself.  There has to be two sides to the argument, and seeing as I'm the last 
young guy playing this stuff, I feel good about finding a market for my work.  
I've worked hard to present a big picture.  Lovett's Shuffle isn't a style 
piece, a harmonica showcase, or a histrionic cluster fuck of notes.  It's blues, 
the best I can play them, the best I've been taught, up to this point.  I put 
together my favorite cats and my favorite tunes, and threw it at a wall at 
Middleville Studios in North Reading.  I left a lot of space(it's all about the 
rhythm), sang the vocals as best as I could, and wrote a couple of songs that 
show influence.  The record is a
 personal one, because the lack of time that went into it was intentional, I 
wanted it to be a stream of consciousness.  "Lovett's Shuffle" was cut in one 
take, and I wrote the opening riff the day before hand.If I seem like a mean guy 
on this list, know that my exuberance is just a kid psyched to make a 
contribution alongside his heroes.  I used to watch these guys on youtube. 
Finding them and approaching them took wherewithal and testicular fortitude.  I 
am pretty shocked that a group of really intelligent people continue not to 
separate my arguments from my work, and rather attack me rather than the ideas I 
try best to eloquently embody.  For a group so embracing of new ideas, why not 
take mine and think for about them for a minute...there's enough black-balling 
and cliques out there, and I certainly got into harmonica to forget that.

Draw, don't blow,
Nick Lovett

--- On Tue, 2/9/10, Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Buildin' yourself up by tearin' others down - And Blind 
Owl's special note
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 8:30 PM
> As a teenaged harmonica player I
> heard Al Wilson wailing on that note in "On the Road Again"
> and just heard a really good note and never even noticed
> that it wasn't a normal bend. it just seemed organic to the
> tune and to the harmonica.
> 
> Al Wilson heard that note in his head - a good, solid blues
> note. It wasn't built into the harmonica, but he didn't
> hesitate to go beyond the obvious techniques to get it out
> of the harmonica. Yet nobody says, "Well, Blind Owl wasn't a
> real blues musician 'cause he didn't stick with what was
> done before." They say, "Wow, that's cool, how the hell did
> he do that?"
> 
> By the way, there's been extensive discussion and sleuthing
> (via detailed listening) about how Al Wilson got that note.
> The weight of evidence-based opinion was that rather than
> taping off Blow 7 or weighting Draw 7, he tuned Draw 6 up a
> semitone. You can probably find the discussion in the
> archives. It was Pat Missin, as I recall, who came up with a
> convincing argument for that conclusion, based largely on
> the sound of the bend (it sounds like a dual-reed bend) and
> on the fact that he both approaches and leaves the note from
> a slightly lower note with the reed bent down slightly,
> wehihc would be both difficult and stiff sounding using 7
> Draw.
> 
> Winslow Yerxa
> 
> Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
> 
> --- On Tue, 2/9/10, roberttifol@xxxxxxx
> <roberttifol@xxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> 
> From: roberttifol@xxxxxxx
> <roberttifol@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Buildin' yourself up by tearin' others
> down
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 11:13 AM
> 
> al wilson wasnt overblowing , he used to put a piece of
> scotch tape on the 7th hole draw to weight it down from the
> tonic to a flat seventh in first position which was the
> minor third in cross position. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       
>