[Harp-L] Re: Is Howard Levy the most technically advanced harmonica player?

[martin oldsberg <martinoldsberg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you, Michael.
 
I´ve read this and shall consider it carefully. (Which means for me, among other things, digging out a few vinyls. In all honesty, it´s been a while since I´ve really listened to JC, for reasons hinted at earlier.)

  A comparison with Howard L is of course tough, since HL is not primarily a blues player -- and I think JC is above all a blues player, perhaps exclusively a blues player; at least I´ve never heard him in any other styles.
  But I´ll do some homework and see if I can come up with a "case". 
  You mention "sloppy", and there you go, it would be one of the characteristics I´d put on JC:s playing ... And though I can´t promise you a year´s worth of study (my whole world is rapidly ageing) I´ll see what I can make of his "precise sloppiness".
 
I´ll be back, as they say in Austria.
 
Cheers,
Martin
 
--- On Thu, 5/6/10, michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Is Howard Levy the most technically advanced harmonica player?
To: "martin oldsberg" <martinoldsberg@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: 
Date: Thursday, May 6, 2010, 4:40 PM

Martin,
It blows my mind that you do not see Cotton as a technical wizard, but everyone hears and accesses technique differently.

Here are some of Cotton's strengths:

Control of single notes and bends in all 3 octaves using tongue blocking.
Dirt.  Dirt is my term for double stops (two notes played at once) but with an emphasis on one of the notes.  For example 3 draw and 4 draw are played, but 4 draw is only heard as a "sloppy" accent to the 3 draw.  Many people hear this and think, "They are playing in a sloppy, imprecise manner."  Try for a year to make it sound like James and report back to us.  James is extremely precise in his sloppiness.
Octaves.
Slop Octaves.  Similiar dirt, this means having the two notes of the octaves be the focus notes, but having other notes surrounding those notes creep in.  Another case in extemely precise sloppiness.
Wah wah hand muting technique.  Name me one other player who is so obviously influenced by Rice Miller yet created a wah wah style completely his own that has a convincing blues style.  I love Rick Estrin and think he is close, but not like James.
High note 1st position blow bending control.  When pointing out the real deal for this style, very few names come up.  Reed, Horton, Cotton.  There are some great other players, Kashmar, Wilson, Wonder, but I think Cotton is in the top three.
Vocal microphone technique both for wah wah styles where the mic is on the stand and the player is away from the mic and he practically wrote the book on cupping a vocal mic, playing directly thru the PA and creating a great blues sound.
Tongue slaps and pulls.  Check out The Creeper again.
Ability to hold a note for a long time.
Head shakes.  And not just for two consecutive holes.
Kissing sounds on the harp.
Rhythm chording
Dynamics.  Very few players have his control of the old quiet and loud.

I'm sure there is more, but you get the idea.  All this and imho, the most authentic blues player in the blues with tone, timing and feeling and a sound that I can recognize without seconds.  If you can recognize a Cotton song in a few seconds ask yourself if there is any technical ability in creating such uniqueness.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com



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On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 6:46 AM, martin oldsberg <martinoldsberg@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:






This was interesting. 
  Pray tell, in what way is, for instance, James Cotton "equal or greater" technically to Howard Levy?
  I´m not being sarcastic -- but I´m wondering if I´ve missed something?
  James Cotton is in my book an all right blues player, somewhat repetitive (but that´s an artistic preference) and technically solid but perhaps not overly proficient. Basically sticking to the stuff he learnt in the 50´s ... -- or isn´t he? (LW and BWH considerably greater both technically and artistically, IMO.)
 
  Technically Levy is almost disturbingly good (and I think it actually hampers him some -- but that´s also an artistic statement) who´s been in constant progress for a few decades and appears to be discovering new things all the time. 
  But maybe I´ve missed something?
 
  Please enlighten us on this.
 
  I do not say my evening prayers to St Howard, and I don´t even like some stuff that he´s done, but I think when it comes to technique there are other standards involved. Let´s call them, for lack of a better word, "objective".

Cheers,
Martin

 
Michael Rubin wrote:
> As far as I am concerned, living diatonic players like James Cotton,
> Rick Estrin, Kim Wilson, Joe Filisko, Charlie Musselwhite, Charlie
> McCoy, Gruenling, Ricci, Del Junco, Michalek, Power, Gazell and many
> others equal or surpass Levy's technical ability.  They may not use
> the same techniques that Levy does, but the amount of techniques they
> have mastered are equal or greater than Levy's amounts.  If, as i've
> listed for Howard's strengths,  pleasing tone is technical ability,
> many of these players are also equal or greater than Levy.
>