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From: Mike Curtis
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 11:32:34 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: Harp Blues/Alanis Morissette

Todd writes:

> Blues harmonica is great, but it's not the be-all and end-all of harp
> playing. The blues is such a narrow genre anyway, if you stick rigidly to
> its tenets, you sound boring and cliched no matter how good your playing.

Actually, blues doesn't _have_ to be played completely "traditional". I am
a jazz based player. In the great many blues tunes I do, I play a lot of
single note licks - both fast and slow. Which blues players are you
familiar with? Little Walter? Gary Primich? Charlie Musselwhite? Paul
deLay? Here are four blues harmonica players who don't use cliches and tend
to play each song "fresh".

> So, IMHO, it's good that Popper and others of his ilk push the envelope in
> other directions.

Yes - and he's bringing harp to the attention of a lot of new people.

But it's funny you should mention Popper in the same paragraph with "boring"
and "cliche". Popper knows roughly one fast lick, and uses it in every song
I've heard him do. As much as I liked him the first time I heard him (I
play some fast licks that sound a lot like him - in fact, some of my fans
who didn't know who Popper was at the time asked me if I had done the
session), when I bought their album (Blues Traveler), I was greatly
disappointed by the lack of variety in his playing. I was expecting more
variety, and was hoping to pick up a lot of nifty licks. Instead, I heard
the solo from "But Anyway" repeated at various speeds. Now THAT'S "cliche".

> One thing that is bad about Hopper (and it's been mentioned before) is his
> gunslinger attitude

One problem with being a gunslinger is you sometimes get outdrawn. And of
course there's always the likelihood of shooting oneself in the foot :-)

But that's really not a big deal, at least in my opinion. I think Popper is
skilled if not as versatile as I originally expected (at least not on the
album - I find it hard to believe that he knows "only one lick" - I'd like
to hear him at a jam session or similar), and he's bringing harmonica to the
attention of a whole new generation. Of course, so are beer, etc.,
commercials featuring blues, etc.

> and million-notes a minute style. Less is often more.

And sometimes silence is more, too. The rest is a valid musical symbol :-)
I use silence to great effect, too. Not just when I "shouldn't" be playing,
but also in my solos in spots. It can be quite dramatic. Guitarist Jimmy
Vaughn (Stevies brother - formerly with the Fabulous Thunderbirds) is a
master of using understatement and the rest musically.

> Music is not an athletic event. Many musicians (this is particularly a
> problem for guitar players) are so intent on wowing us with their physical
> prowessl that they forget about the melody and the song.

Quite true in my opinion as well - but many types of live audiences do their
utmost to encourage this, becoming frothing-at-the-mouth rabid in direct
proportion to the number of giggly-jillionth notes played per microsecond.
If you want to get an audience frantic, use a lot of high fast notes, then
hit ONE high note - the highest on the harp - and HOLD it for 12 bars or
until you turn blue and expire. And make sure you have the white lights on
so they can see the color change ;-)




-- mike