Everyone has their own preferences of what type of tone they like and strive for.....and which pro harp player has the tone they enjoy hearing.
To me, the ideal tone is the ability to have many tones. Use the tone you need based on the song, band, acoustics,etc..etc...Do we all really just want one tone?
Jason Ricci uses many tones. He plays a fully cupped tone, partial cupped tone, and acoustic tone. He varies his embrochure to change his tone (listen to his vamping). Add to this the various effects he uses and the possibilities seem endless. He is also one of the best at putting emotion or feel into his tone.
Below is a youtube link to a full concert that Jason and New Blood did a couple years back in Germany. This is the highest quality sound and video I have found of them performing live. You will hear Jason use many tones. IMHO, all are fantastic and fit the song they are playing.
I also like how he'll step back from the mic and let the harp be quiet for a little bit. I feel like by and large, we harp players tend to shove our faces into the mics and go to town, even when playing "acoustically". I appreciate the fact that he's not afraid to let his harp blend in with the other instruments around him for a bit, even while soloing.
Great vids Dude! I'll be linking these into the FerretCat web brain as soon as I can get to it (Making dinner for 11 tomorrow night so I might not get to it for a few days ! :)
Just linked in Adam's latest vid's with Hilbert. Good stuff. (What is it though with people that stand in front of a camera that's obviously taping the show, to fiddle with their i-phones?) ---------- MBH Webbrain - a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids FerretCat Webbrain - Jason Ricci's vids (by hair colour!)
Just a thought...are we talking "tones" here, or "dynamics"? Afterall Jason's mug tone is his acoustic tone & his acoustic tone is what he then amplifies & any effect applied to that tone is his amplified tone plus effect(s)?
But agreed, varied dynamics are a good way to prevent a performance from becoming monotonous...or do I mean "monodynamous"...? ;-)
Check out this JR video: he moves from old school train stuff, at the highest level of mastery, into Middle Eastern tonality, back to train stuff, then into an amped-up blowdown.
I think it's really time to put him on that Second-10 all-time list.
Last Edited by on Aug 22, 2011 1:54 PM
Totally agree. Remember when I met him I thought, man this guy's got it all. Wish I could pick his brain about his practice regime during the early stages, haha.
Not sure who Kudzurunner would bump but there's some guys on the second list that don't inspire me as much nor do I think are as original. Though, they did have more time on the scene.
Off topic but what is he doing in the second video around 3'40-4'15 ? Sounds like he's making race car sounds through a chord?
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Some folks just don't know when to quit. ---------- I entertain By bringing a tone to your brain Just like a west bound train You wanna know my name? Well, it's Hawkeye Kane
I was always impressed with Jason's abilities to play the harmonica filtering his own personal style. However, being an older gentleman, I find that I am overwhelmed after a few minutes of this hurricane of notes. I much prefer to hear melodic lines or arcing ideas that use silence as statements as well. (Think Miles Davis). ---------- The Iceman
I agree, I find that Jason's at his best when he leaves a bit of space to breathe. Don't get me wrong I'm impressed and envious of his agility on the harp, but I'm more moved when he takes it slow and and you can hear that it's coming from a deeper place.
That said, I understand that that sort of playing is no more appropriate for EVERY song than the hurricane notes.
They were the best one set band going. However, three sets a night gets to be a lot to take in if you are not a harmonica player. I loved it, but I can see where club dates were sometimes hit or miss. ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas
"three sets a night gets to be a lot to take in if you are not a harmonica player"
That's the fault I find with most bands fronted by a harmonica player---too much harmonica. The performance tends to be about the harmonica rather than about the music. It doesn't matter how good the harp player is. I generally don't enjoy harmonica centric bands as much as I do those bands where the harp is simply part of the band instead of the centerpiece.
After seeing Buddy Greene at SPAH, I'd say that he and Jason have a lot in common. Both of them made their names with fast, virtuosic hurricanes of notes. (BG has the single most popular harmonica video on YouTube; it exemplifies this. He also plays a lot of very fast fiddle tunes.) But both of them also know how to dial things way back, leaving lots of space, working with tone. Buddy comes from a tradition that is somewhat more interested in "the melody," but that doesn't make him more melodic, just a guy from a different tradition. Great players, both.
Edited to add: Of course, Buddy plays entirely acoustic--or at least he did at SPAH--and Jason plays mostly amped-up.
Last Edited by on Aug 24, 2011 4:23 PM
is it ever too much guitar,drums ,bass ?.well let the man blow his face out. we all have a style our own like it or not.so i can dig him for what he`s worth. do it to it !!!
Mike, your point is interesting. I noticed that the other players seemed, well, bored. I forget how it is said about the sum being greater than the individual parts. That is what makes musical utopia. And what happened to Todd Rundgren anyway?
@ Colman "is it ever too much guitar,drums ,bass ?." That's exactly what I said to a landlord, who commented on a band that had "too much harp" (the guy in question plays on nearly every number, but typically just an intro, 24-48 bar solo, outro - fairly restrained by a lot of folks standards)...when I pointed out there was less harp than anything else (vocals, guitar, bass & drums) he told me I was "Mad". :-o
But give him a band with 2 guitars, 10 minute numbers with just 2 or 3 verses of vocals and he's as happy a pig in...er, that stuff that pigs like. Go figure.
Last Edited by on Aug 25, 2011 6:53 AM
I took lessons from Jason for about two years in the late 90s in Delray Beach, FL, and went to a ton of his gigs both with full band and an acoustic trio fronted by Keith B. Brown. As a teacher, Jason spent a lot of time breaking down classics from LW, SBW2, Kim Wilson, etc. He also spent a lot of time talking about playing it "pretty," meaning clean, melodic lines ala King Curtis and Lee Oskar. Oh, and for a time I remember he had a big ass poster of Coltrane on the wall. :-)
@5F6H: Ordinarily, one of my least favorite things to do is play with a band that has 2 guitars. There have been occasional exceptions (usually involving jazz or reggae) but those are very much exceptions to what I consider to be the general rule.
