Here's some stuff that reminds me why Mitch Kashmar was the first call I made for HCH 2012. It's a long chromatic workout. I love it because it's straight ahead blues, not jazz, and yet he's got a jazzman's playful sense of how to spin long melodic phrases that end up sometimes in unexpected places. In other words, he's not formulaic. He's really thinking music. And of course it swings. It's a long video but it's worth listening all the way through. The stuff at the end is crazy.
PS: If he's willing, I'm going to mic him through the same two-smaller-amp setup that Johnny Sansone used in 2010, which will give him a wilder sound than in this video. Or maybe the Bassman AND the Premier, with the Premier cranked and miked.....
If you haven't made the leap and decided to attend HCH 2012, it's not too late to get craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy. Mwah hah hah hah hah...
Last Edited by on May 09, 2012 2:11 PM
LOL, nice edit Kudzu. I think he would sound badass with the Sansone Special setup.
Some really cool stuff to aspire to. I've recently been revisiting my humble chrometta to work some good music out of it. It's awesome that you've taken to working with the chrom too.
One of my best memories from 2010 that's left a lasting impression, as I'm sure it did for many others, was Johnny's chromatic playing where he became almost transcendent. I hope I can get in a place like that someday.
I am very excited to see and hear Mitch in person as he was pretty much unknown to me before all the HCH 2012 hype.
"In other words, he's not formulaic. He's really thinking music."
I doubt he's "thinking music" while improvising - especially when playing swing...I'm not saying it's a formula his adhering to, but a "confident feeling" of (been there done that)and can let his musical instincts take over and ride the groove. He knows his way around the Chromatic has played to the "swing groove" a million times, so I'd say he is "feeling music"...I doubt he had to "think music" on that tune - he has a very competent and complex musical vocabulary from years of performing and I think it is safe to say on a "swing tune" he pretty much just lets loose...Sure he is thinking, though I'd say he is thinking with his heart on that tune....
Last Edited by on May 10, 2012 5:34 AM
You've misunderstood me, Frank. You're talking about left brain thinking: logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective. I'm talking about right brain thinking: intuitive, holistic, synthesizing, subjective.
Musical improvisation, when it's truly alive, comes from the right brain. The mistake a lot of people make is in assuming that left brain thinking is ALL of what constitutes thinking. It's not. It's certainly possible to think with and through your heart, or to allow your thinking to be guided by heart-energies.
He's thinking music. Feeling is a part of that process, but the process is by no means ONLY about feeling. It's about sequencing a language in a particular kind of way that involves memory (snatches of old melodies woven into the improvisation), embodied harmonic knowledge, a willingness to be playful, and a passion that comes partly from the heart but probably also comes from the crotch. You're quite right to point toward feeling as one element of what's driving Kashmar's improvisation. But it's not JUST about feeling. It's about feeling fully and gracefully subsumed within a symbolic process. It's about feeling expressing itself through complex musical language. The right brain orchestrates that synthesis. (The left brain, on the other hand, does what I'm doing as I type these words. And some "improvisations" are pretty routinized, with little surprise or innovation, and therefore come much more from the left brain. We've all heard harp players who play like that. When pros do that, we say that they're "going through the motions.")
You need to broaden your conception of what thinking consists of. Here's a helpful website:
http://www.funderstanding.com/brain/right-brain-vs-left-brain/
Last Edited by on May 10, 2012 3:09 PM
interesting topic. i wonder if really sensational players are right left brain ambidextrous as some people are right hand left hand ambidextrous. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
Nice 3rd position chromatic. The guitarist is great. Adam you never think of me LOL ---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
@Diggs: If by "you never think of me" you mean "you never think of me as somebody whose name deserves to headline at Hill Country Harmonica," you're right. It's nothing personal.
Promoters have to be cold, hard, and calculating. They have to balance any number of factors. Hill Country Harmonica selects its talent on the basis of a number of factors, among which are the following priorities:
--African American (honor the Mississippi-blues roots, if possible) --southern/regional (to avoid the cost of flying them in) --blues-focused (rather than jazz/country/folk/gospel: HCH is NOT SPAH.) --someone who helps us achieve our goal of balancing a variety of blues-based approaches (i.e., traditional AND modern) --does the person have a name that will increase registrations? --is the person a great player who flies slightly under the radar, will blow the HCH audience away, and will therefore seem like a "find" to our registrants: someone they're delighted to have been exposed to? --can the person teach, do they have a proven ability to teach, and do they love to teach?
Billy Branch, Jimi Lee, Charlie Sayles, Johnny Sansone, Dr. Feelgood Potts, Sonny Boy Terry, Mitch Kashmar, Brandon Bailey, Billy Gibson, Jason Ricci: No one of those players meets every single criterion, but all of them meet most of them. Kashmar is a brilliant player; he plays chromatic as well as diatonic; he gives us the West Coast; he's slightly under the radar compared with Musselwhite, Branch, Blue, Ricci, Kim Wilson; and he loves to teach.
You don't really meet our criteria, but you're not alone. It's nothing personal. And I do understand: The moment one steps out there and tries to create something like Hill Country Harmonica, people start cultivating grievances--and, in your case, a semi-comic, half-joking grievance--as though you owe them something. I'm used to it by now.
I still love Mitch Kashmar, am delighted we got him for HCH, and can't wait to see him live.
But perhaps I've misunderstood your comment. If so, please enlighten me.
Last Edited by on May 10, 2012 4:45 PM
@Adam Hey I was just playing. I enjoy teaching and did some at SPAH with people that sought me out and it was cool. Your right I'm not somebody that will make money for you. Who wants to come and learn from Diggs. Who is that guy anyway. I get it as Ron Shellist said to me your really different and said I took the road less traveled. I said to him the only thing is if you suck your in real trouble.LOL
I hope people have a good time and share what they learned when they come back. I'm happy to be in philly and Slop the Hogs and teach Mikey jr how to solo on Ain't No Sunshine on the chromatic in the back room at the Twisted Tail.
Hey I heard that Corn Liquor is pretty potent down there. ---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
Yeah, that is the stuff... that is the feel that Paul deLay had on chromatic.. making the chord changes sing...wish i could come down, even if diggs will not be there :-)
And I believe you may of misunderstood me - through no fault of your own I might add.
When I say he is thinking with is heart, that to me is the right side of the brain doing the heavy lifting.
From what I can see Adam where on the same page, just paraphrased a tad differently.
Adam - It's about feeling expressing itself through complex musical language. The right brain orchestrates that synthesis.
Frank - he has a very competent and complex musical vocabulary from years of performing and I think it is safe to say on a "swing tune" he pretty much just lets loose...
And I fully agree when the "crotch" isn't in play for what ever reason the (goin through the motions syndrome) is bound to rear it's ugly head.
Mitch is one of the most seasoned Professional musicians going in the blues world today.
And probably one of the few who could stand toe to toe on chromatic with Johnny Sansone?
And he is certainly was the "air to the throne" when Master William Clarke left the planet.
I didn't know he loved to teach...What a spellbinding event you put together this year for HCH, it's like the Blues Cruise but on dry land :)...
Kudzu's revealing what is behind the curtain in regards to creating an event and booking talent is a rare glimpse at the process.
Even kidding about it, as Diggs did, tends to create an uncomfortable situation for the promoters, so is best left alone, even though Adam handled it quite nicely. ---------- The Iceman
@walterharp Thanks at least somebody loves me. Man I knew I shouldn't have worked hard and gotten a University Degree. All those years of study with Robert Bonfiglio waisted. I'm always Zigging when I should be zagging.What was I thinking trying to play Charlie Parker on the Chromatic. Wow I ruined my career. LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
As an attendee of HCH for the third straight year, I must say that this line-up is awesome. Top to bottom, one would be hard pressed to find this sort of talent assembled in one place at many blues fests, excepting the major ones of course. Aside from the headliners, there are many fine players who attend HCH and are not only very entertaining and skillful on blues harmonica, but are great people besides. They give the less skilled players such as myself pointers and guidance and inspiration to reach the next level, and become friends with contacts which are maintained after every festival.
In saying this, and not to talk anyone down at all, I am glad that exacting standards exist for the headliners at Hill Country Harmonica. I want to see the best on stage. And I want this thing to grow to its natural limits while having great fun at the same time.
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 9:11 AM
Diggs: You're a great guy. I really enjoyed meeting you and hearing you play at SPAH. I'm starting to worry about you here. I never said you weren't a fine jazz chromatic harp player. Of course you are. The question is, why is it so important for you to keep turning this thread--which was my attempt to celebrate a wonderful performer who I'm delighted to be bringing to HCH--into a thread about your own half-joking, half-serious sense of rejection?
Here's something you don't know: I was considering bringing my good friend William Galison to HCH last year. I'm sure you've heard of him. Jeff and I ended up not bringing him, because as brilliant as he is, he seemed a little bit outside of what HCH is about, as I've defined the core priorities above--plus, being a guy from the northeast, we'd have to fly him in. It was a business decision, not a personal decision. He gave us considerable grief about it. I was discreet--as good promoters are--and haven't said a word about it publicly, until now.
If we made a business decision not to bring William Galison to HCH, why on earth would we be considering bringing you or any of a dozen other fine jazz chromatic players in? You see what I mean? I realize you're just having fun cultivating the woe-is-me pose, but some people might not get it. If you keep on hammering on this particular point--even as I strive to celebrate the marvelous event we actually ARE creating--some people might be tempted to join you and rag on me for what I haven't done.
I'm wearing the promoter's hat. One thing I never anticipated was how many people I would end up disappointing, merely by trying to do the best job I'm able to do in that particular position. It's the accumulation of comments like yours in this thread that led me to tell Jeff after last year's event was put to bed that I wasn't interested in doing HCH anymore. I still haven't decided what I'm doing next year.
PS: The truth is, William Galison would add an interesting flavor to HCH, as would Ronnie Shellist, Aki Kumar, Rick Estrin, Wallace Coleman, Charlie Musselwhite, Johnny Sansone, Rob Paparozzi, Andy J. Forest, Carlos Del Junco, James Harman, and any number of other players. The Deep South focus makes Musselwhite (from Mississippi) and Harman (from Alabama, originally) into leading potential headliners, and of course Sansone would be great. Flying headliners in costs money, though, and that's an important consideration for us. So is an ability to teach. We're an intensive teaching event, not a festival that courts large crowds. Jeff and I have no sponsors; 100% of the event is paid for by registrations. We have to pinch pennies. We do the best we can.
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 9:42 AM
