[Harp-L] Harmonica Pierre vs Jia-Yi He

["Walter Scanlon" <scanlon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree with John Watts that "they had a better player right in front of
them in Jia-Yi He." And that the judges saw stacked tremolos for the second
round as being gimmicky. I was at Jia-Yi's first audition live in New York
and he brought the house down! The song choice was dynamic and, while he did
stack harps, it was evident to the judges that this was an "A-List"
performer. In hindsight, in the second round, had he simply performed
"Rhapsody in Blue" or even "Summertime" only as he can perform it, HE would
have been compared to Larry Adler, and rightfully so. Piers Morgan is the
perfect spoiler of the three judges (in a good way), but if he had been
asked to name a second harmonica player (other than Larry Adler), he
probably couldn't. (Sharon Osbourne is a good music judge and Howie Mandel
is a comic, but not without good overall talent judgment.) Collectively,
they are fun but made the wrong choice in the second round. Pierre's song
selection last night and harp choice (CX-12), however, were smart and he
deserves a vote to the next round. Jia-Yi, nevertheless, ended on a high
note with about 5 million viewers! That's like filling Madison Square Garden
150 times!
Best wishes,
Wally