[Harp-L] respect to Little Walter



I rarely post here and usually only read other people's thoughts but the post regarding Little Walter and his alleged ignorance/lack of music theory/lack of originality made me kind of uncomfortable.  

Walter was a master of the harmonica, a singer and a band leader.  We have never seen him working with the guys at a studio or at band practice, in fact, one of his drummers noted that EVERYONE learned something from working with Little Walter. Whether they learned how to play in 6/8 or various modes is a different
question but they learned to express what was in their SOUL As long as a musician has something to teach me, he/she knows about more about the topic than me and in that respect they know more than I do.  Walter still has innumerable things to teach everyone (even though he is gone)..  

Howard Levy is tremendous and I respect him greatly, he is however, doing something totally different with the harmonica.  It's irrelevant what KINDS of players the harmonica world needs.  The harmonica needs serious, learned musicians with humility.  What they express is between them and the audience.  Nobody should COPY Walter; he himself would supposedly confront harp players for doing that.  He was one of the most expressive players on ANY instrument in ANY genre and that in itself IMHO is to be respected for ever.  



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