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From: BluesGe~ol.com
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 21:10:03 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: The Blues Recital

Winslow Yerxa wrote:

>Bonfiglio encounters a young blues harpist in a Santa Barbara
>nightclub playing Little Walter solos note for note and is
>surprised at this curious phenomenon and a little disgusted.
>
>Other respond that he's young; it's part of the learning process;
>he'll grow out of it.
>
>So much for the nervous student hoping to get it right. But what
>about the dour, flinty-eyed judges writing copiously on their
>evaluation pads?
>
>I mean, of course, the audience. Some audiences seem to demand
>just-like-the-record note-for-note recitals of blues tunes, just
>as they do for pop tunes - a blues cover band. The wrong idea? Of
>course, but it's out there.

Occasionally I will get requests to play an artist. Someone will call for
Little Walter or James Cotton, for example. Often it is a harpist in the
audience (friend or stranger) who is making the request. "Play some Little
Walter, Dave." What they want at that point is a song by the artist, played
true to the artist's style, and with sufficient quoting of the original
improvisations, all to display the requisite mastery of the predecessor. It's
almost like. "OK, he can do that. He's paid his homage, his tribute,
aknowledged his apprenticeship. Now, we'll listen to what he has to say of
his own." I could be wrong, but this is what it feels like.

- -dave