RE: [Harp-L] Is Junior Wells over-rated?

[JersiMuse <jersimuse@xxxxxxxxx>]

No Richard, this email was not meant to send anything but my opinion.
I didn't want to be provocative, even if I introduced the email by a not-funny joke.

I didn't neither compare musics but musicians.

In the same idea, there are a lot of classical musicians. Very few have Mozart genius spirit.

Mozart, Bach or Coltrane, have revolutionized the music. Not only their music, but music in general.
I know harp players tend focus only on harp players, and to think that some of their elders are pure geniuses.
To my opinion, Little Walter or Junior Wells are far from being geniuses, and comparing Little Walter's work to Bach's or Coltrane's sounds like a real joke.

Now, I may surprise you : I have as much fun listening to Junior Wells than to Coltrane.
But it is not because I like his music that he is a genius.

Let me propose another example : I love Bob Dylan's music. I know he is far from being a great guitarist (maybe one of the worst), a great singer (maybe one of the worst), a great harp player (maybe one of the worst), he has not invented anything new, but he has something that touches me.
I think Bob Dylan is very far from Charlie Parker's genius, and his impact on music is tiny compared to Charlie's. But I still prefer listening to Bob Dylan.
I just try to be as honest as possible with myself.

Nothing provocative here, nothing to be hurt about, it is just my opinion.

Regards,

Jerome

-----Message d'origine-----
De : harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] De la part de Richard Hunter
Envoyà : jeudi 4 avril 2013 14:21
à : harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Objet : RE: [Harp-L] Is Junior Wells over-rated?

JersiMuse wrote:
>
>I agree : I would say that both Junior Wells & Little Walter are over rated ah ah.
>
>Come on, we're not speaking about musicians equivalent to Mozart, Bach, 
>Ravel, Stravinsky, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Pat 
>Metheny, Michael Brecker, etc
>

I'm familiar with the works of all the artists named above, and I'd stack Little Walter up against any of them.

Saying that the premier improviser in the blues is inferior to Mozart or Charlie Parker is saying, in effect, that the blues--the most influential music of the 20th century--is inferior music.  I don't buy that.

But clearly this comment was meant to send the flames high, which it will.

Thanks and regards, Richard Hunter


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