[Harp-L] Famous "Harmonica players"

[Joseph Leone]

I agree. Funny but over the years I have perused lists of guitar players, trumpet players, sax players, clarinet players, and found that the current lists are made up by 
people who have a vested interest in particular players. For instance, on a list of ‘100 TOP guitar players', I didn’t know most of them and Wes Montgomery was only rated 
86th. I think if one were to list the top 100 harmonica players the list would STILL reflect the person doing the list.  lolol

Mo Zambique 

> On Jan 23, 2019, at 12:15 PM, ian osborn via Harp-L <harp-l at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> maybe it was just me, but the way i read the question was like... - who is current harmonica players that the average 100 people would recognize, such as the average 100 people would know people like hendrix, clapton, slash etc.. 
> i would say, again- recent harmonica players would be people like musselwhite with ben harper, and raphael with chris stapleton and willie nelson.  
> i don't think the average person would know anyone else- perhaps shane sager with sting-... 
> but just think of current artists the last few years- the recent artists are ed sheeran, drake, ariana grande, kendrick lamar, bruno mars, coldplay, maroon 5, kenny chesney
> nobody but the harp players i mentioned above are currently using harp... 
> overall, i think the average person who listens to average top 40 radio type music would only know artists like stevie wonder, and perhaps jagger and lennon- and they might know that muddy waters used harp but would necessarily know the names like james cotton etc.. 
> my 2 cents
> Ian
> 
> 
> 
>    On Sunday, January 20, 2019, 3:15:38 p.m. PST, Ian Osborn <arctys at xxxxx> wrote:  
> 
> For 2018/2019, Perhaps now people know a bit more about Mickey Raphael because of the popularity of Chris Stapleton and his exposure through him but that’s the only harp person I can think of who would have that notoriety.
> 
> 
> 
> Ian 
> 
>> On Jan 20, 2019, at 12:05 PM, Ronnie Schreiber <autothreads at xxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>> " I always felt that Lennon, Jagger, Young, Dyllan, and several more played appropriate harp for the music they did. Some primitive to be sure."
>> 
>> Their playing serves their music well, that's true. Rudimentary playing can be very effective.
>> 
>> However, if you asked 100 people who a good guitar player is/was, they'd name someone like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Slash, or John Mayer, actually good guitar players. If you asked 100 people who a good harmonica player is/was, they'd mention the names above, musicians who use the harmonica as a secondary instrument and play styles that aren't generally highly regarded by actual harmonica players and enthusiasts. Even musicians don't know about harp players. I know one guitar player who knows who Jason Ricci is because he was on a blues cruise where Jason played. Some might know of Musselwhite because he played on a lot of seminal Chicago stuff, otherwise they know the old Chicago guys like the Walters and then Butterfield, but current or recent harp virtuosos? Not likely. Around here, the Detroit area, a few might know about Peter Ruth since Madcat lives in Ann Arbor. If I mentioned George Smith or William Clarke, I'd get a blank response.
>>