Re: [Harp-L] Sam Friedman

[Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yeah Dave; I was a little surprised. I've enjoyed what I've heard of Mr.
Fried-person....I'm pretty much  pre-TV era in my musical tastes; I like
old dance music rather than the 'art' stuff. So I don't claim to be an
artistic authority on post bop jazz.
But really, there is so much crap posted here there and everywhere, and
everyone either says nuthin' or is really kind, I was surprised at the
strong reaction to Sam's rendition of 'All Blues'. I am familiar with the
piece, but I wouldn't be making any fine artistic judgements based on my
knowledge.
I just listen to people playing and I like or I don't. Like I said earlier,
there's been eff-all posts on harp-L lately, and it was like poor Sam got
set on by a bunch of bored yobboes in a half-empty bar. I must confess that
on a bad day, I've acted similarly (check the archive!! - word of warning:
don't post while drinking!)
But I want to take this opportunity to say how it always surprises me how
so many players go: 'OK I've been doing Walter and Sonny Boy for the last
thirty years, so now I'm going to advance and play a Miled Davis choon."
Huh!?
Now Dave Naiditch posted a 'blues in 12 keys' demo on the chrom recently,
and very nice too. (there's a man with wide musical tastes- hats off boys
'n' gals)
The 'blues' he played was the sort of thing they were doing back in the
twenties, with the VI II V I turnaround from bar 7 on, and the IV in the
second bar. Also the diminished from the IV to the I.
Now I NEVER hear diatonic players do that; just a staright, old time 20s
blues, like Bessie or Louis. Now wouldn't that be the way to go from down
home roots stuff to something more harmonically advanced?
Apparently not. It's from Walter to Coltrane, it seems.
Reminds me of the jazz scene here in Oz. It's either 'mouldy fig' or modal
Jackson Pollock stuff. It's like ther is 'pure traditional' or 'the future'.
Howsabout some diatonic players trying some Sidney Bechet or George Lewis?
Kinda suits the instrument if you ask me. Mind you, I never post any of my
pathetic efforts in this direction...but 'one of these days, Ethel!'
RD


On 27 July 2012 13:51, David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I was not very pleased with some of the comments I read in critique of
> Sam's stuff. Not pleased at all. That All Blues video has about 300 views.
> That's about the number of views you'll have from an extended Harp L
> thread. So that would indicate to me that most of the views came from this
> Harp-L thread, thus that would also indicate to me that the dislikes
> clicked upon that video also came from Harp-L and I find that extremely
> uncalled for.
> It's no wonder kids aren't playing harmonica. You get a kid that tries
> something new - asks people what they think - and he just gets ripped upon,
> folks clicking "dislike" on his video. If I were Sam, I'd be telling people
> to go straight to ____ do not pass go, do not collect $200, instead of
> responding with dignity and class like he did.
>
> So Sam, to answer your questions on the two threads you started. The only
> thing I liked about "Summertime" was the vocals. They were great. I think
> the rhythm is too radical a departure from Summertime. Y'all should take
> that rhythm and write a new song for it. Your stuff worked fine with what
> was there, but I didn't like what was there coupled with Summertime.
>
> The Miles Davis All Blues thing, was a different story. When I was a kid,
> I used to go to the Elk River Public Library and listen to jazz records
> literally all day, but as an adult, I only very rarely listen to jazz. So,
> to get this, I listened to Miles a few times, get to the point "OK, now I
> know what is Miles is doing," then listened to you and see what you are
> doing.
>
> Your control over the overblows is incredible, that was obvious even
> before I familiarized myself with Davis' rendition. .Emico sounded a lot
> more like Miles Davis than you did. You sounded like you and I like that.
> As a young player, that is precisely what you should be doing. Brad
> Harrison was always talking about young players, he always got excited when
> young people played the instrument. He'd say "I want to hear them make
> mistakes. If they aren't making mistakes, they aren't experimenting." I
> didn't hear anything that sounded like a mistake, but I mention that simply
> because I think it is important for a young player to hear.
>
> You took the piece, let Miles live on in the recurring themes, but my
> impression was you made the piece your own - I can hear you weaving Miles
> in and out and there were times you were obviously imitating Miles' trumpet
> with your tone.
> I heard some good overblow bending in there - obvious overblow bending and
> I think there was overblow bending going on the whole time. Cause if you
> weren't bending the overblows up constantly, they would be flatter, I
> think. Is the draw plate also tuned higher than the blow plate? (Jason
> Ricci turned me on to doing that).
>
> I didn't check the key you were in, so I will pretend you were playing a C
> harmonica as I mention this.
> The only note that sounded out of place to me was the A from the 3 draw
> bent down. As rock solid pitchwise as you were hitting everything else,
> that one note really stood out. Now, if you had that 3 blow tuned to up a
> step to A (as in Paddy Richter), you'd have that note right there, you
> could overblow the two for the G#
>
> I checked out some of your older stuff to see progress and man, there is
> progress. Your control of the overblow has really improved and it was dang
> good to begin with.
> Are you hooked up with Connor Frontera and Bradon Bailey's Justice League
> of International Young Harmonica All Stars in the Fortress of Solitude or
> whatever they call it? That would be a great place for you to network and
> get some better advice than you've been getting here.
>
>
> David Payne
> www.elkriverharmonicas.com
>
>
> Elk River Harmonicas Forum now available via Iphone app,
> www.elkriverharmonicas.com/forum
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: Sam Friedman <sammyasher@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: Maurice Nazzaro <mauricenazz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 12:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] "All Blues" - Sam Friedman
>
> Hey Maurice, thanks for your feedback. I actually do play the melody of
> "All Blues" pretty clearly in the beginning and end. Take a listen to the
> track from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" and you'll hear what the original
> tune is.
>
> -Sam
>
> On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Maurice Nazzaro <
> mauricenazz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > wrote:
>
> > Blues can be interpreted In all genres however the common thread in any
> > song, blues, jazz, rock, whatever is a MELODY which is non existent here.
> > Melody and rhythm Please!
> >
> > Maurice Nazzaro
> >
> > On Jul 25, 2012, at 11:07 AM, Venky Ramakrishna <jazzyvenky@xxxxxxxxx>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Sam -
> > > The title should be- "Anything but blues"; there's some degree of
> > confusion
> > > between the influences if I may add- Howard Levy style and others. If I
> > had
> > > to take away all of your overblowing/ position playing techniques
> (which
> > > you are good at) from the show, the blues rendition is just aweful.
> And I
> > > don't understand the need for that extra playing- it affects the
> outcome
> > of
> > > your product in a negative way. In this regard, Todd Parrot and TJ Klay
> > > stand out as impressive players.
> > >
> > > Also, listen to what Carlos del Junco has to offer and take it from
> > there.
> > >
> > > Venky
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 7:25 PM, Sam Friedman <sammyasher@xxxxxxxxx>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hey all,
> > >>
> > >> Here's a recent video of my trio playing All Blues. Unfortunately the
> > >> sound quality isn't great, so I recommend/encourage you to listen with
> > good
> > >> speakers or headphones to be able to hear the bass well. Let me know
> > what
> > >> you think!
> > >>
> > >> -Sam
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwu3AZG_47k&feature=youtu.be
> > >>
> >
>



-- 
Rick Dempster
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