[Harp-L] Overblows and Blues Nazis and so-called "Little Walter clones".



I don't get "het up" about overblows but I've noticed a lot of overblow
practitioners get het up when I observe that a) the tone of OBs can't yet
match the tone of traditional blues harp and b) that it is usually the case
that OBs are frequently approximate in pitch, especially when the player is
being overly ambitious and attempting some jazz tune with a lot of changes.

I don't mind OBs used judiciously, sparingly and in faster phrases where
they are less likely to be examined too long by listeners. That 6 OB works
nicely if you don't linger. But slow blues swooping notes? Forget it. I do
however get tired of OB aficionados being incredibly uncritical and
defensive about the weaknesses of the technique. It's like they're in denial
and take simple observations of fact very personally. Hey, if you tell me
that traditional blow bent notes can sound shrill and annoying - I'd agree
that's a limitation of that technique and why they should be used sparingly
and only in certain keys. I don't come out shooting.

I think sometimes people fall a little in love with a technique and being an
OB player is sometimes represented as an elite level for a harp player. It
seems to me to be a bit of a clique or badge of honor for some. I think
that's a misapprehension. There are still players using simple techniques
who will be remembered as great, great musicians long after 2035 comes and
goes without OBs moving to the centre of the harp universe. Paul Oscher is a
great example.

As to the blues nazi thread, I myself play traditional blues harp as an
artistic choice. It speaks to me emotionally and I think a deep groove,
swing and a big tone is the kind of blues that appeals to me. That doesn't
man to say that I don't listen to and enjoy numerous other styles of music
and indeed non-traditional blues. I think one of the great blues albums of
the last decade is Robert Cray's "Twenty". Indeed, the title track is an
incredibly moving slow blues and it is by no stretch of the imagination
traditional. However, Cray's album exemplifies deep groove, swing and killer
tone. Sometimes I think that this blues Nazi label is really just a
rhetorical caltrop or a verbal smokescreen. Don't like someone pointing out
the limitations of your favourite technique? Call them a blues Nazi and hope
everyone ignores them. Problem solved.

Finally, to another point I have noticed over many (15) years reading Harp-L
that irks me. That's this idea of people being Little Walter clones. It's
true there are one or two people who try to nail Little Walter. But I have
occasionally seen Kim Wilson represented as a Walter clone. Whenever THAT
happens it immediately identifies the poster to me as being someone who has
not THEMSELVES listened to much blues outside of Little Walter. Or certainly
not enough to absorb the differences. That's why they can't hear the massive
influence of Sonny Boy I, James Cotton, Big Walter, Junior Wells, Rice
Miller, George Smith, Jerry McCain and a few other guys in Wilson's playing.
And that, with a few signature phrases and techniques that are his own all
adds up to an identifiable voice in blues music. NOT a clone.

So, to sum up:

- overblows are very cool, but they're just a technique and they have
limitations like every other technique. People who don't use them just MIGHT
do so for specific valid reasons, not merely because they are the musical
primitives you first assume;

- Be careful who you call a Blues Nazi and ask yourself what your motives
are in doing so; and

- if you think certain people are Little Walter clones, maybe you need to
listen more widely.

Best,
Drew


Frank wrote: "I guareentee you by 2035 everybody will be using overblows
> simply because the instruments being built and sold to the public at large
> by then will be sooooooooo TOTALLY and PERFECTLY overblow FRIENDLY that the
> controversy surrounding them will be a "head scratcher"!!! B-Radical ring a
> bell..."
>
> I agree 100% - I really can't understand why people get all het up OB/Ds,
> it's really not that difficult - if you can play clean bends on the top
> octave, then it's a good next step because all your doing is adapting the
> technique.



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