Maybe you 've seen his signature on a custom harp called "Brodur". This is Sebastien Charlier, a gem among the nuggets (I just invented this expression). He plays at least like JJ Milteau, but this last never adressed jazz playing with a diatonic, Seb does, and perfectly I think. This one is not jazz, but shows that sometimes, playing harp may be an ordeal!
Hi, Nick. I didn't know Milteau played jazz; however I own 7 albums of him, I never heard him in jazz. Do you have maybe a title or a specific YT vid? Thanks for correcting me.
You won't believe it! I have that album as "songbook", but didn't listen to it yet. It will be done, without fail. Anyway, Seb Charlier's jazz music cannot be called "classic jazz", sometimes a bit on the edge of sounding harsh, I find.
He's a technical monster without a doubt. Unfortunately it overshadows the song and doesn't really seem to make any sense.
To give you context, I like to find myself feeling like I want to do what another player is doing on a song or like I just want to jump right in and play on the song. I don't feel like that when I listen to this.
I agree that some of what he does feels fluid, but then there is a certain choppiness to how he strings things together (random high trills).
He does have a few interesting jazzy descending licks I'd like to lift (2:28-2:31)(4:49-4:50) are examples of what I'm talking about.
Overall, I do try to find the silver lining. He's out there making a living out of this and I'm just a guy on the Internet with an opinion that nobody asked for.
I perfectly understand what you mean, but consider:
-this is likely a one shot performance: he plays front stage for a few minutes, so he's been asked to do like he did, sort of show (I think), but high quality. -I always keep in my mind that he plays "just" with a mundane little instrument that 130 years ago was invented to play local german folkloric musics, and which now can honorably play in the same league as the jazz king's instrument -the saxophone (a belgian invention, snuuuurf!). -As for learning sth from his playing, I don't even THINK about it, I would be dead before getting the technique. So, you see, you chipped in wisely and on the right time.
