Re: Fwd: [Harp-L] Overblows and Blues Nazis and so-called "Little Walterclones".

[gnarlyheman@xxxxxxxxx]

My friend John Frazer plays traditional harp but can also overblow--and play drums at the same time.
Gary
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-----Original Message-----
From: Grant Walters <grant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:23:18 
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Fwd: [Harp-L] Overblows and Blues Nazis and so-called "Little Walter
	clones".



> 
> Drew
> 
> you guys are probably done with this subject  but I have to agree with Drew here..
> The term Blues Nazi really rubs me the wrong way.
> Now, I used to play with self proclaimed Bluegrass nazi's
> and they wanted no Harmonica...ever..
> They would have turned down Charlie McCoy and really lost out.
> Why did I play with them...just loved the music.
> 
> I am just as apt to buy an album ( I mean CD) by someone who does not use the Overblows
> as someone who does...It depends on the music.
> 
> To counter Drew's statement, for fun..even though I agree with alot of it...
> Which Overblow specialist plays the best old school (avoiding the above slur) soulful approach.
> Is there a guy from this (OB) camp that would satisfy Drew's style of  "traditional Blues".
> 
> look..I already own every album I can fit in my little music room from all the traditional guys...
> and keep getting more...and hang out with this crowd.
> 
> Is there a guy who sounds like Big Walter and uses an Overblow?
> Sure there is...
> I leave it to the experts to identify the best of them for our education.
> Not the ones who as Drew put it...
> "the tone of OBs can't yet match the tone of traditional blues harp and b"
> But the ones who can....Who's the best..for my listening pleasure?
> 
> I've gone to see Robert Cray at least six times...love him.
> The guy practically invented his own genre..
> but even he gets into a rut...
> I'm ready for some variety but not ready for the revolution...
> who is the guy who uses OB."judiciously, sparingly and in faster phrases where 
> they are less likely to be examined too long by listeners"
> I eagerly await some suggestions for my list of new old schoolers.
> 
> thanks,
> Grant
> 
> 
> 
> On Feb 10, 2010, at 1:14 AM, Ev630 wrote:
> 
>> 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
>> 
>> 
>> Frank wrote: "I guareentee you by 2035 everybody will be using overblows
>>> simply because the instruments being built and sold to the public at large
>>> by then will be sooooooooo TOTALLY and PERFECTLY overblow FRIENDLY that the
>>> controversy surrounding them will be a "head scratcher"!!! B-Radical ring a
>>> bell..."
>>> 
>>> I agree 100% - I really can't understand why people get all het up OB/Ds,
>>> it's really not that difficult - if you can play clean bends on the top
>>> octave, then it's a good next step because all your doing is adapting the
>>> technique.
>> 
>