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From: ggre~en.k12.va.us
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 14:56:49 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Howard and da blues

I wish I had time to comment on this board more. This is a great resource.
Paul Messinger suggested I might on the subject of Howard as we were in his
5 day, 6hrs. a day class at Augusta in W.VA. I did this twice w/ Howard
...many people would repeat this experience because once there you realized
the historical importance of what Howard is doing and and the impact he was
going to have on the next generation of players.There is a certain ineffability
to that time spent there with "Buddha"
Now to Paul's point. I, like many of these readers, began as a blues player.
Norton Buffalo's early work opened my eyes in the late 70s to other directions
as did Madcat during his New Heavenly Blue days.I am so glad their music
saved me from this entrenched defensive "blues guy" attitude that if a player
does something OTHER than "Walter" then there is no way he can play LIKE "Walter"
.It is kind of like "if I can't do what he does , then he can't possibly do what
I do"...a real defensive mechanism.It might be some type of ego
protection mechanism that they fall into,..I don't know. And I see this in not only
blues guys but the overblow school has their own that feels if you "ain't
overblowin' you ain't really playin".
All of us have our strengths and weaknesses and we all have something to
say on the harmonica. Because no one person can say it all, there is room for
my style,your style,Poppers',Howards and Walter's and everyone elses.
BUT WHEN YOU SPEND ALL THAT TIME W/HOWARD HEARING HIM GO FROM AS GOOD AN
IRISH JIG AS YOU WILL EVER HEAR TO COLTRANE, TO BACH, TO LITTLE WALTER TO CHARLIE
MCCOY ON A DIATONIC HARMONICA [DON'T FORGET ALL THAT EASTERN EUROPEAN STUFF]
YOU REALLY DO WONDER...
IS CLONING NOT SUCH A BAD IDEA!