[Harp-L] Adam Gussow

[Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

   Took a quick peek at the article.  Adam has a long history of popping off
about what blues harmonica players ought to be doing.  It's just what he
does.  He opines.  I vaguely remember him suggesting that New York had a
better blues harp scene than Chicago.  Maybe nobody was "copying" either of
the Walters in the Big Apple.  I also remember him immersing himself in
Southern lynching photos to the point that he said it was affecting him
psychologically.  I don't know if he was trying to get a read on what it
must have been like to be an African-American in the South at that time or
trying to channel this horror into his playing somehow.  I also recall that
he had worked himself up to such a state while having a friendly(?) harp
battle with his old student Jason Ricci onstage that he actually had to be
hospitalized.  It's been years since I read the piece, but I believe he
had given himself a real heart attack.  My opinion is that he runs on
emotion and occasionally shoots from the lip.  He's entitled to his
opinion.  Apparently this time he's called three people out by name that
many of us consider to be superior players to him.
   Does he have a point?  That's an issue that will never be settled.  Joe
Filisko vs. Jason Ricci.  Traditionalist or revivalist vs. somebody trying
to break new ground.  It's never been settled anywhere else either.  Sir
Laurence Olivier vs. Marlon Brando.  Julia Child vs. Charlie Trotter.  Jean
Claude Killy vs. Bode Miller, etc.
   I like what Mr. Pagan said; there's room for both types.  They both serve
a function.  Myself, I tend to lean more toward the traditionalists.  If
Muddy Waters or Jimmy Rogers came back at the height of their musical powers
for one last recording, I'd want to hear Kim Wilson on that session.  Not
Adam Gussow.

Mick Zaklan