Subject: [Harp-L] video- CHEROKEE by Yvonnick Prene

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Randy: I already love everything about YOUR music, and greatly admire your  
love for Toots and HIS playing. I'm a huge fan of Will's as well for that  
matter.
 
I too think Yvonnik is a brilliant young musician with chops for days and I 
 can assure you I'm not remotely jealous of you, Toots, Will, him or any  
chromatic player. Quite the contrary--I have the utmost admiration for those 
who  can play so brilliantly....but here's the thing.
 
I'm just not THAT into bebop, while I DO love Jazz. How does this  make me 
(specifically)'not open enough for anything other than what you(I)  know'?
 
Seriously: that's a pretty big condemnation of those who have wide-ranging  
tastes in both music and jazz. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Cherokee. 
But  I'll tell you this, I could NOT sit through an entire evening (as an 
audience  member) of that level of jazz on chromatic. 
 
While it might be everything you say--at a higher intellectual level than  
we mere mortals are intelligent enough to grasp (that IS your strong  
implication?) --I have sat through countless evenings of 4 hour  non-stop 
performancess by Jason Ricci playing at equally  fast speeds of mostly improv. HIS 
music 'spoke to me', is the main  difference. Bebop on a chromatic just 
doesn't. 
 
But why should it? We're all different - my first exposure to music  was 
Scottish bagpipes - I'm sure entirely different from yours or most others  
here, and if everyone in the civilized world loved to hear this as you seem to  
think we should, I suspect it wouldn't really please you since there's a 
certain  satisfaction in considering one's musical tastes 'special'. 
 
Personally, I love Big Band era Jazz. I can also get into many of Davis,  
Cochrane, Parker performances - depending on the time of day (or evening)  
--or my mood at a particular moment. But bottom line is that this extremely  
fast playing on chromatic wouldn't be my first choice to listen to on my CD  
player for entertainment. What I DO enjoy is more mellow and melodious 
music.  Does that put me well down the rung of intellectuality in your book? 
Perhaps.  Not a problem, but I can't imagine thusly judging someone's intellect 
by the  kind of music they enjoy recreationally.
 
Something to ponder: perhaps some truly do like bebop on piano, bass,  
trumpet and/or bari sax but not on chromatic harmonica no matter how  talented 
the player because it simply sounds too 'sharp' to their  ears. Possible?
 
Best,
 
Elizabeth
 
"Message: 8
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:18:26 -0400
From: Randy Singer  <randy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] video- CHEROKEE by Yvonnick  Prene
To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: William  gallison HARMONICA _wgalison@xxxxxxxx 
(mailto:wgalison@xxxxxxx) 

Another astounding jazz chromatic solo!

Many players do not like  bebop for many reasonsâ.too many notesâthey donâ
t understand itââetc.

I  believe that it is just jealousy that they are not in command of their  
instrument and therefore do not like hearing others in total musical  
command.

It is the highest calling of a musician to be able to improvise  in any 
key, at any tempo to any song and jazz is the vehicle for the highest  form of
music imo. I read somewhere that the brains of jazz musicians are  almost 
super human or something like that.

Many will argue, go ahead but  if you donât like jazz it might because you 
are not open enough for anything  other than what you  know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x7gUEs_Cvc&list=TLoQxUyobdxPSvtykG01RjNpjpv
cGmtNTY&index=2