Re: [Harp-L] Bela Fleck with Howard last night review

[michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

John,
You are right about Casey.  My computer will not play the interview
today.  If I remember correctly he said something to the effect of,
"You are not supposed to be able to play chromatically on the
diatonic, I am the guy who figured out how to do that."  If anyone
else has the computer that will work and the time to get the quote,
thanks.  It's not that big a deal to me.

Basically I am saying I was always impressed by his technical
abilities, but lots of his music has left me cold with the feeling of
it was about him showing off.  Last night, I got a much better
impression of a musical player who has great technique.  Whether or
not I understood Howard's radio interview, I would still feel the
same.
Michael

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 11:07 AM, John Kerkhoven
<solo_danswer@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Michael,
> As I recall, in the radio interview Howard does not claim to have discovered
> overblows. He does pat himself on the back, but I thought it was fair
> self-back-patting. I may be wrong. The interview is here:
> http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/itm-listenagain/2011/07/25/listen-again---bent-spectrum/
> I saw the Flektones with Howard this summer and was blown away. I loved the
> blend and variety of music. Howard needed a lot of room on the stage, very
> present, huge confidence. All the musicians at a high level (to say the
> least). The fiddle player -- I'm guessing it's the same person you saw --
> was Casey Driessen:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MipnskgF62k&feature=related
>
> John
>
> The Radio interview upset me. He defines himself as the person who
> discovered overblows. He might have discovered overblows without being
> taught, but this is not the same thing. Blues Birdhead, Toots
> Theilemans, Will Scarlett and Mike Turk were all documented by
> recordings before Levy even started playing harmonica. Now, if Howard
> were to define himself as the person who really showed the harp
> community what overblows were about, I would go with that.
>
> ...
>
> The other players were amazing as well and they had a Nashville fiddle
> player who I need to research, I did not get his name but he did a
> percussion solo hitting the bow against the strings that blew my mind.
>
>
>
>