[Harp-L] Re: Blues Nazis - OBs

[Ev630 <eviltweed@xxxxxxxxx>]

But what "mistake" do they make? It'd help if you could be clearer. What
exactly are you referring to here?

Buddha wrote:

    The biggest mistake I see in people when making claims about OBers is
>     it's usually from a Blues Player perspective. OBs are useful in Blues
>     but most of the OB guys are simply into other forms of music.
>


Did I perpetrate this mistake at any point in my own observations? I'd be
keen to know.

        I don't get "het up" about overblows but I've noticed a lot of
> overblow
>         practitioners get het up when I observe that a) the tone of OBs
> can't yet
>         match the tone of traditional blues harp and b) that it is usually
> the case
>         that OBs are frequently approximate in pitch, especially when the
> player is
>         being overly ambitious and attempting some jazz tune with a lot of
> changes.
>
>         I don't mind OBs used judiciously, sparingly and in faster phrases
> where
>         they are less likely to be examined too long by listeners. That 6
> OB works
>         nicely if you don't linger. But slow blues swooping notes? Forget
> it. I do
>         however get tired of OB aficionados being incredibly uncritical and
>         defensive about the weaknesses of the technique. It's like they're
> in denial
>         and take simple observations of fact very personally. Hey, if you
> tell me
>         that traditional blow bent notes can sound shrill and annoying -
> I'd agree
>         that's a limitation of that technique and why they should be used
> sparingly
>         and only in certain keys. I don't come out shooting.
>
>         I think sometimes people fall a little in love with a technique and
> being an
>         OB player is sometimes represented as an elite level for a harp
> player. It
>         seems to me to be a bit of a clique or badge of honor for some. I
> think
>         that's a misapprehension. There are still players using simple
> techniques
>         who will be remembered as great, great musicians long after 2035
> comes and
>         goes without OBs moving to the centre of the harp universe. Paul
> Oscher is a
>         great example.
>
>         As to the blues nazi thread, I myself play traditional blues harp
> as an
>         artistic choice. It speaks to me emotionally and I think a deep
> groove,
>         swing and a big tone is the kind of blues that appeals to me. That
> doesn't
>         man to say that I don't listen to and enjoy numerous other styles
> of music
>         and indeed non-traditional blues. I think one of the great blues
> albums of
>         the last decade is Robert Cray's "Twenty". Indeed, the title track
> is an
>         incredibly moving slow blues and it is by no stretch of the
> imagination
>         traditional. However, Cray's album exemplifies deep groove, swing
> and killer
>         tone. Sometimes I think that this blues Nazi label is really just a
>         rhetorical caltrop or a verbal smokescreen. Don't like someone
> pointing out
>         the limitations of your favourite technique? Call them a blues Nazi
> and hope
>         everyone ignores them. Problem solved.
>
>         Finally, to another point I have noticed over many (15) years
> reading Harp-L
>         that irks me. That's this idea of people being Little Walter
> clones. It's
>         true there are one or two people who try to nail Little Walter. But
> I have
>         occasionally seen Kim Wilson represented as a Walter clone.
> Whenever THAT
>         happens it immediately identifies the poster to me as being someone
> who has
>         not THEMSELVES listened to much blues outside of Little Walter. Or
> certainly
>         not enough to absorb the differences. That's why they can't hear
> the massive
>         influence of Sonny Boy I, James Cotton, Big Walter, Junior Wells,
> Rice
>         Miller, George Smith, Jerry McCain and a few other guys in Wilson's
> playing.
>         And that, with a few signature phrases and techniques that are his
> own all
>         adds up to an identifiable voice in blues music. NOT a clone.
>
>         So, to sum up:
>
>         - overblows are very cool, but they're just a technique and they
> have
>         limitations like every other technique. People who don't use them
> just MIGHT
>         do so for specific valid reasons, not merely because they are the
> musical
>         primitives you first assume;
>
>         - Be careful who you call a Blues Nazi and ask yourself what your
> motives
>         are in doing so; and
>
>         - if you think certain people are Little Walter clones, maybe you
> need to
>         listen more widely.
>
>         Best,
>         Drew
>