rather than hi jack GreyOwls thread......re Michel Herblin Anyone know whatever happened to Dave? I remember this track from a Harp L complilation done in around '98 or so.(i'm on there somewhere too) I'd never heard such music done with that swing and chops before,i thought this guys gotta be a pro or soon will be...but never heard of him again. ?
Last Edited by on Apr 03, 2012 9:37 PM
That's some amazing playing in that recording. At first I thought it was a muted trombone playing. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
Wow. Now that's fantastic! Diatonic, right? Doesn't sound fraught with overblows to me (not that overblows are bad, mind you) -- more a thoughtful selection of "position".
man...I'm gonna have to dig around and resurrect my harp-l discs. Got at least 3 of them buried around here someplace. That's some sweet playing. ---------- MBH Webbrain - a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids FerretCat Webbrain - Jason Ricci's vids (by hair colour!)
@iceman: i don't know anything about it except that dave was looking to distribute it and i offered to put it up on my site for him. there's likely more info in the harp-l archives from back around then.
@iceman I think it is an altered tuning. It sure is cool! I sat down with an Ab and noodled along--lots of draw bends but no extended techniques. Dave is really good at draw bends! As far as alterations, hole 9 draw is tuned sharp (D), and 10 blow is tuned flat (G), but all that stuff on the bottom is just a bunch of controlled bends--and how about that trombone sound?
Last Edited by on Apr 06, 2012 9:24 PM
I can hear 5th position as a most likely possibility, but so many notes are spot on that would take extreme bending control to create, especially at that velocity, that I would have to surmise an altered tuning.
I guess at a 3 hole exhale tuned up a whole step to help with that first octave melody as a start to figuring out the altered tuning.
Not really too many overblows on this one. The melodic linear sensibility is beyond thinking on a diatonic. It is pretty cool music in general, just happens to be created on a diatonic. Excellent stuff. ---------- The Iceman
@iceman I thought of that Paddy note in the car today, that's a good call. Maybe I tune a harp to this and learn it! It's pretty close to Melody Maker . . . BTW, NO OB notes AFAIK
Last Edited by on Apr 06, 2012 6:47 PM
Just finished tuning an A to Ab in this tuning. Going thru the recording, have not found any OB notes. I did find a note indicating a valve over draw 9 to enable a draw bend on that note. Here's the tuning: | Ab bb | C eb | F g | Ab bb | C db | Eb f | Ab g | C bb | Eb d | F g | So it's the C# I can't get.
Last Edited by on Apr 06, 2012 9:17 PM
Those of you who wonder why I chose an A for this tuning . . . I only have one Ab, but there are quite a few refurbished A harps in my collection, don't mind losing one to a tuning I might only use on one tune!
I have just done some digging in the Harp-L archives and found this amusing post from JR in 2006.
--- Jason Ricci wrote: Every time I play Colorado everyone talks about this mysterious majic Dave guy. They say like hes a recluse and when they talk about him they sound like Dennis Hopper talking about Brando in Apocalypse now all crazy eyed like ...No I'm not kidding they do! I got to hear this guy now...are there any mp 3's recordings sightings anything....
Thanks for everything Harp L!
This in response:-
Hi Jason,
Last I heard, Magic Dave was still living in Colorado Springs (a couple of hours south of Denver), occasionally playing out with his buddies down there and pretty much keeping to the local scene. He is indeed a monster player and a very nice guy. He has been nurturing the local blues scene in the Springs, giving harp lessons here and there, and running open mic jams etc., but I've fallen out of touch with him of late.
Perhaps one of our Colorado Springs posters can fill us in on what he's up to these days.
A COUPLE OF POST ABOUT THE DEB:
Michael Peloquin wrote:
> damn! excuse me, I mean DAMN! > > OB's yes > Just intonation, I don't thinks so > > but who asked me?! > > > Michael Peloquin
Hi Michael,
I believe the expression is "Day-Yum"... LOL! Yeah, I forgot just how hot that recording was. Whew! Dave's a monster, no doubt. I really dig that trombone sound he was getting.
FYI, some years ago I asked Magic Dave about that recording and he told me he was playing in 5th position on a standard Richter-tuned Marine Band (tweaked for OBs), but I forget what key harp he used. I tried to learn the head and got as far as the first four bars. LOL!
That song made me see the value of learning positions in a big way.
ANOTHER POST:
I was reminded of Dave Therault's stunningly rendered version of The Deb. A live recording that I heard on the 4th of the harp-l compilations. Magic Dave plays a 10 hole diatonic harmonica in a chromatic jazz setting and it's just fun to listen to. The piece swings and the notes are all on pitch. I listen to this recording and I am just inspired by the music and I don't think about what instrument is playing the lead. While it's a technical tour de force the overwhelming feeling I'm left with after hearing this piece is the emotional content of the playing. For the record, it's not that I don't think it can't be done. It's more a case of seldom hearing this style of music played convincingly on a diatonic harmonica.
AND FINALLY:
I can tell you exactly when Dave Therault began playing harp: summer 1974, after we met while I was playing a gig at the Oar and Anchor (also known as the Sore and Chancre, or the Score and Thank Her) in Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Dave told me later that he was inspired by my playing, and took up harp immediately after. So far as I know, he didn't know Magic Dick, and certainly he didn't start playing around the time Magic Dick did, which would have been sometime in the 1960s (the J. Geils band's first record was released on Atlantic records in the fall of 1970, or so I recall--it was one of the first records I bought after moving to Boston at that time).
I took the opportunity to listen to Dave's recording of The Deb, and it is certainly a fine piece of work. I'm pleased to have inspired Dave to take up the harp, if indeed he wasn't just humoring me, but I can tell you that he didn't get that amazing stuff from me.
I posted the song "The Deb" on GreyOwls thread he made about playing one of Michel Herblin tunes. "The Deb" is a very memorable Instrumental that Dave Therault does and every now and then something will remind me to listen to it again. It has that "juke" quality about - where it seems impossible to improve it in any way, truly a "Masterpiece" to be passed down through the generations of harp players to come!
