[Harp-L] Richard Hunter’s CD, “The Lucky One”

Fri Jun 16 13:02:17 EDT 2017

Michael Rubin wrote:
<I am not sure I agree that "The praise that matters the most to us all is
the praise
<from people who know and have done the most."
<
<The other day I performed a show.  In the front row right in front of me
was a teenager with down syndrome.  His praise, given simply by a great
smile was one of the best <compliments I have ever received.

No argument from me.

Thanks, RH

On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 12:21 PM, Michael Rubin <
michaelrubinharmonica at xxxxx> wrote:

> I am not sure I agree that "The praise that matters the most to us all is
> the praise
> from people who know and have done the most."
>
> The other day I performed a show.  In the front row right in front of me
> was a teenager with down syndrome.  His praise, given simply by a great
> smile was one of the best compliments I have ever received.
> Michael Rubin
> michaelrubinharmonica.com
>
> On Fri, Jun 16, 2017 at 10:54 AM, Richard Hunter <rhunter377 at xxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> Peter Madcat Ruth wrote:
>>
>> <Richard Hunter’s CD, “The Lucky One”, is simply amazing!
>> <
>> <Each of the twelve songs on this CD features one or more mind-blowing
>> harmonica <tracks, and every harmonica track features a different
>> electronically enhanced <sound.  Richard has created such a large
>> palette of harmonica sounds: raucous & <clean, complex & simple,
>> cutting & smooth, beautiful & weird, other-worldly, and <impossibly
>> lush…  And all these amazing sounds support well constructed and
>> artfully <performed original songs (plus one cover tune).  The
>> production quality of this CD <is flawless.  I highly recommend it.
>>
>> Thanks Peter.  The praise that matters the most to us all is the praise
>> from people who know and have done the most.
>>
>> I'll just take this opportunity to note that there are many harmonica
>> records that feature novel and interesting sounds for the
>> instrument--Peter's own records include many, many examples going all the
>> way back to the mid-1970s.  What I've done with this record is to use a
>> wide range of sounds to put the harmonica into new roles in a rock band.
>>
>> The traditional role of the harmonica in blues and rock is lead
>> instrument,
>> with occasional limited support for other functions in a band. That lead
>> instrument role is traditionally inevitable given the range and tone of an
>> unaltered harmonica--an unaltered harmonica sound doesn't have enough
>> weight or harmonic flexibility to put it at the heart of the rhythm
>> section, for example, not with keys and guitar competing for the same
>> sonic
>> space.
>>
>> Magic Dick took important steps with the J. Geils Band to put the
>> harmonica
>> deeper into the rhythm section.  Lee Oskar put it into the horn section.
>> With modern electronics, it's possible to put the harmonica into a much
>> wider range of roles--to orchestrate the sound with harmonicas the way
>> Jimmy Page orchestrated Led Zep's music with guitars.  That's what I did
>> on
>> "The Lucky One."
>>
>> With the arrival of a usable MIDI controller based on the harmonica, the
>> roles available to harp players expand even further. The DM-48 is not
>> really a harmonica, of course--many of the expressive moves that players
>> can use on a real harmonica aren't available on the DM-48, at least not
>> yet.  (Brendan Power noted in a recent post that he's built an add-on for
>> the DM-48 that uses a lever to bend. That's precisely the mechanism used
>> on
>> a MIDI keyboard--which is an example of how different the DM-48 is from a
>> harmonica.)  But that's not the big issue.  The big issue is that a harp
>> player armed with a DM-48 is absolutely unrestricted in terms of what
>> roles
>> can be played in the band.  Can't find a decent bass player for the band,
>> or a decent organist?  Pull out the DM-48, load up a bass patch or an
>> organ
>> patch, and do the job.  Two or more harmonica players can now co-exist in
>> a
>> band without stepping all over each other.  Doing so demands a solid
>> understanding of how the various instruments in a band interact with each
>> other, which means that harmonica players need to think farther and wider
>> about the music they're playing.  Great!
>>
>> I've said before on this list that in the 21st century a musical
>> instrument
>> functions both as a sound-generating mechanism in its own right, and as a
>> controller for other sound-generating mechanisms.  Harmonica players now
>> have the tools they need to enter the 21st century. Let's do it.  We don't
>> have to leave the 20th century behind; we can take everything we learned
>> with us.  But we can do so much more now that these fabulous tools are
>> available to us.
>>
>> Regards, Richard Hunter
>>
>>
>> --
>> Check out our 21st Century rock harmonica record "The Lucky One" at
>> https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardhunter
>>
>> Author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
>> Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
>> Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
>> Twitter: @lightninrick‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪
>> ‪
>>
>
>

-- 
Check out our 21st Century rock harmonica record "The Lucky One" at
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardhunter

Author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: @lightninrick‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪‪