Re: [Harp-L] need some recommendations: diatonic instrumentalists

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Eric Miller wrote:
<I'm trying to build a repertoire of instrumental songs for live performance
<on diatonic.  Songs like Summertime and St. James Infirmary are "sort of"
<in the vein I'm looking for, but hoping to get turned on to something more
<modern than Jazz standards.  Jimi Lee and/or Brendan Power have some stuff
<that's very close to what I'm looking for...
<
<I'm relatively new to the harmonica world, and I'm mostly familiar with the
<well known blues harp players from the Walters to JR and all points in
<between, so I don't really know where to look for this kind of music for
<inspiration/learning.
<
<Who are some well known diatonic performers who are well known to produce a
<good quantity and quality of modern instrumental music on the diatonic,
<that would be suitable for building a live performance repertoire?

By "modern instrumental music," it seems you mean post-bop or later jazz--at least your examples are jazzy.  So let's start with Clint Hoover.  You want brilliant, modern, and accessible, meaning lyrical and melodic? Clint's trio recording, "Dream of the Serpent Dog," is all that, and the recording quality and artwork are both terrific too.  Mostly played on chromatic, some very cool diatonic work too.  There's lots of cool diatonic work by Clint on his old-timey record with The Sugar Kings, "Take Your Time, Mrs. Brown," though the material isn't as modern as your examples.   

Me (Richard Hunter).  I released two CDs of solo harmonica compositions and arrangements--"The Act of Being Free in One act" and "The second Act of Free Being," both available at CDBaby and Amazon.  A few of the compositions on the second CD are played with guitar or vocal accompaniment, but all of these pieces feature one harmonica played in real time, many of which could pretty easily be adapted to include accompaniment.  My piece "The Longing," on the first CD, might meet your needs, and accompaniment is straightforward; it's essentially a 16-bar blues form.  Many of the pieces on this CD (including "The Longing") were played on non-standard diatonic tunings (country, natural minor, dorian minor, melody maker, etc.), which are useful tools to expand the chords and colors available to an instrumental diatonic harmonica repertoire.  Even a standard like "Comin Home Baby" feels new when it's played on a tuning that offers many more chording options than 3rd or 5th position on the standard diatonic.  

I like the Peter Ruth repertoire on display in "The Harmonica and Ukelele Project," his self-composed and produced CD, but it's not very jazzy.  However, the repertoire in the band he has with Chris Brubeck, Triple Play, certainly fits your ask.

You seem to know about Brendan Power and Jimi Lee's work already. Be sure to find out what tunings they're using on any piece you plan to cover; both of them use tunings that are much farther from standard Richter than a Natural Minor is.  One of Jimi's tunings, as I recall, involved a C harp on the bottom and G harp on top, or at least I think that's what he said; the tuning was radical enough to me that I kind of blanked on the details. Brendan's Powerharp tuning is also radically different from standard, and that's far from the only radical re-tuning he's done on a diatonic.  So check it out. 

Finally, Rob Paparozzi's latest CD, "Etruscan Soul," showcases some very nice harmonica repertoire for both diatonic and chromatic. 

Regards, Richard Hunter


 


 

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