[Harp-L] Re: The Best

["Haka Harri" <harri.haka@xxxxxxxx>]

Jazmaan wrote:

>It's pretty clear
> that some harmonica players are better than others.   But 
> above a certain level, it becomes harder
> to distinguish among them.   Even if there were a judged 
> chromatic harp competition between
> Stevie, Toots, Hendrik, Robert, Wim and whoever else wanted 
> to compete, and even if Stevie was the
> unanimous choice of the judges, SOMEBODY would insist that 
> Stevie was still not the best.
> To which I would say "Stevie is still the best, even if some 
> refuse to acknowledge it."
> But that's just my opinion.  (Even if I am right!)

This thread seems to go on and I still wonder (no pun intended) why only chromatic players would be eligible for the title of "the best". That's like excluding Hendrix as best guitar player because he very rarely played twelve string. Diatonic doesn't leave a player below "a certain level".

Instead of "the best" I learned to use the term "my favorite" and for me that is Little Walter. To remind where it all started for Little Stevie, a quote from the book "Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers": "By the time a family friend gave Wonder a tiny, four-hole harmonica on a key chain, he had already come under the spell of Jimmy Reed and Little Walter Jacobs..."

Harri