[Harp-L] Once upon a time . . .

[Trip Henderson]

Agreed Joe. Melody and variation is what I find most satisfying, that's
where I started as a player and where I've ended up, primarily working in
bands that are either old time, bluegrass or honkytonk. It wasn't until I
was hired to play in an electric blues band that I dug into the chicago
blues greats, who btw also valued the beauty of a "head".

Pre fame, Popper played around around NYC and was a much more interesting
player, somewhere I have a cassette of him and  japanese harp player who
was in town for a summer and the two of them played music, not riffs meant
to impress.

I suspect that when BT became a pop band that John capitalized on the
audience response he got from playing fast pattern based licks. As has been
noted he's a heck of a singer and songwriter, the harp adds novelty and
uniqueness to his overall presentation.

I can respect his accomplishments, even if its not my cup o' tea.

trip

On Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 12:41 PM Joseph Leone <3N037 at xxxxx> wrote:

> The problem, as I see it, and remember I could be totally full of it. BUT
> NONE of the players mentioned play a ‘Head' or a complete ‘Melody’ of a
> tune. At least they haven’t demonstrated
> that they CAN. All I hear are riffs and runs. Now riffs and runs are good.
> And DO give a flavor to a piece. But they can only take you so far
> (musically) and I think this is one of the reasons
> that the diatonic isn’t taken as seriously as other instruments.
> Corrections to the above are cheerfully solicited.
>
> ‘Pa’ Pua
>
> > On Feb 1, 2019, at 7:52 AM, The Iceman via Harp-L <harp-l at xxxxx>
> wrote:
> >
> > really fast is good if you don't have a lot of time ..   everyone liked
> when you could get from NYC to England REALLY FAST in an airplane instead
> of slow on a boat way back
> > However, sometimes it is the slow voyage that is way more enjoyable than
> the fast trip.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Trip Henderson <trip.tunes at xxxxx>
> > To: harp-l <Harp-L at xxxxx>
> > Sent: Fri, Feb 1, 2019 7:38 am
> > Subject: [Harp-L] Once upon a time . . .
> >
> > Dan Lynch's Bar, NYC late 80's.  Me, Adam Gussow, Mason Casey, Lester
> > Schultz, Bob Bavido, a couple of others, aka the usual freereed bothers
> are
> > waiting our turn to sit in with the amazing Holmes Brothers who hosted
> the
> > regular Saturday afternoon Blues jam.  In walk some army fatigue wearing
> > scruffy college punks (with their parents Volvo keys in the cargo pockets
> > of their pants), and they announce that no they don't want to jam at the
> > jam, they want to play a couple of songs by themselves, ok, fine. Up they
> > go and play some non-blues music, we all shrug, then the singer pulls
> out a
> > harp and plays REALLY FAST. Then down they go, out the door, see you
> later.
> > The freereed brothers are speechless, finally someone says, "wow he was
> > fast", we all agree, "yep REALLY FAST", then more speechlessness, finally
> > someone says, "but no tone" like a pack of dogs we all chime in, "yes, NO
> > TONE!!!" having dismissed them with the ultimate harmonica player dis we
> > all blissfully settled back into our camaraderie.
> >
> > A couple of months later I'm mountain biking in the hills of New Jersey
> and
> > I see scrawled on an old abandoned barn the name, Blues Traveler.
> >
> > Its a good thing I'm not an A&R man.
> >
> > --
> > *Trip Henderson*
> > https://soundcloud.com/trip-henderson
>
>

-- 
*Trip Henderson*

*917-287-4882*
https://soundcloud.com/trip-henderson