[Harp-L] Re: Don Les

[Rick Dempster <rickdempster33@xxxxxxxxx>]

Pat Ramsay shadowing Don Les? I know Jason Ricci always cites Pat Ramsay as
his no.1 influence,
but to my distant across-the-water ears (ie I don't have local knowledge)
there wouldn't be any Pat Ramsay
without McCoy. The big difference between Ricci, Ramsay and the majority of
diatonic players, is that they don't play the changes.
And I mean not even in a three chord tune; it's all modal. The missing 3rd
of the V chord in 2nd position (ie 5 OB) simply isn't an issue for
the majority of players, as it never occurs to them to play it.
Nothing wrong with that; I cut my teeth on stone blues, but I can't see
what Ramsay was hanging around Les for.
RD

On 16 April 2016 at 23:34, Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>    I attended my first harmonica fest in 1990, the "Dixie Fest" in
> Birmingham, Alabama.  Then I made most the SPAH conventions since '91.
> There were a few diatonic players back then that seemed to be universally
> respected; Don Les was one, a jazz player named Johnny O'Brien, and Charlie
> McCoy.  I think there was an attitude, though, that the diatonic was your
> starter harmonica.  Then you put on your big boy pants and purchased a
> chromatic.  That the diatonic was kind of like the training wheels on a
> bicycle.
>    Pretty hard to ignore Don Les and his expertise on the diatonic.  He
> had people following him around all day at the fests.  I watched Pat Ramsay
> shadowing him in Memphis like a puppy dog, trying to get info.  I don't
> believe Don and Jerry Murad were on speaking terms; I watched them cross
> paths and completely ignore one another.
>
> Mick Zaklan
>