Re: [Harp-L] cool horn band w/harp

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

rosco wrote:
<as the guy who started this post and actually saw the band live, I would
<like to say that Jackson did a fantastic job of playing lines with the
<horns when he could and using nicely tweaked effects when comping behind
<them - - I should have mentioned that and I don't think any of the youtubes
<do him justice. Tasty harp in a horn band is a *good thing* we should all
<support.

I checked out the video mentioned in the initial post, and I thought the guy did a very good job.

I'm a little dismayed to see some of the comments the band got on this list--I don't know exactly what some folks expect. In a blues band, harp stands out in front of everything else, and plays a very specific leading role.  (One of Magic Dick's innovations was to put the harp into the rhythm section, as opposed to keeping it out front all the time.) But this ain't a blues band. In a horn band, harp is intrinsically linked to the horn section.  I thought the harp worked very well alongside the horns in this performance.  He was playing a high-pitched harp, probably an Eb or higher--perhaps that's why somebody thought he had a thin tone.  Didn't sound thin to me--it sounded like it worked with the horns.  A big fat Chicago style sound might have worked, but might not.  

In any case, I've heard a lot of complaints about harp players doing high-profile gigs, the general tone of which is usually something like "he didn't play the gig the way Little Walter would have."  I'm glad to see a harp player up front, even if he doesn't play the gig the way I (or anybody else) would.  More harp players up front eventually translates to more gigs for harp players, which I'm all in favor of.

regards, Richard Hunter   





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