(I apologize in advance for my meandering chain of reasoning here, as well as my sometimes pugilant tone). The diatonic harmonica is, by definition, a limited instrument. Things that come naturally on, say, a saxophone (such as playing a full three-octave chromatic scale) take years to master on the blues harp. Ours is also a fairly marginal instrument in the grand scheme- how many harp players can the average music fan name? We live in something of a musical ghetto, with too many harp players listening primarily or exclusively to other harp players. Consequently, our frame of reference for judging our peers can be pretty narrow. Things that make us go "Holy shit!" when played by a harp player would often sound pretty run-of-the-mill if transposed to guitar. Even Howard Levy, the man whom most of us would agree is the most technically accomplished and harmonically sophisticated harp player of all-time, isn't in the Charlie Parker/Coltrane league. In the jazz world, he's a very, very good player- to us, he's a god. So my question is this- which blues harmonica players have added, not just to the vocabulary of our instrument, but to the blues idiom in a wider sense? Little Walter, of course, but who else? Harp-specific techniques, like Jimmy Reed's first position innovations, don't qualify. Sugar Blue passes this test with flying colors. Look at it this way- if someone transposed a typical Jason Ricci song to guitar, you'd say "Man, that's a hell of a guitar player". If someone did the same for Sugar, you'd say "He's copping Sugar Blue's licks and playing them on guitar" (this is absolutely not meant as a slight toward JR). Sugar also meets Dr Gussow's 5 criteria with flying colors, even being mentioned by name in the explanation for the "Technical Mastery" test. I'm not versed enough to speculate as to whom he replaces, just making the affirmative case.
The first time that I saw Sugar Blue and his great band (at the old Buddy Guy's Legends) I left wondering why I was trying to learn to play the harmonica. Blue is beyond excellent, amazing (insert your own superlative).
Regarding Top 10 lists - I guess the question to ask is: are we tied culturally to the number 10 as the limit for assembling a "best of" list? If we are not debating this issue in order to expand these sorts of lists to a larger number, up to 15 as the norm perhaps, then we have to deal with the hand we are dealt in this particular situation.
I love Sugar Blue, I know him, and look up to him personally as a musician, and as a truly great human being. But who are you removing from the list to make room for him, if we are stuck with 10, unless this is like adding Penn State to the Big Ten in collegiate sports (while at the same time not changing the name of the conference)?
Not knowing much about George "Harmonica" Smith except from what I heard about him by word of mouth, I watched some video and am of the firm opinion that he belongs on the list, although in all honesty, Sugar Blue and Billy Branch are right there with him in most of the top 5 categories. But looking at Influence, Smith was the force to inspire the entire West Coast harmonica movement and sound - William Clarke, Kim Wilson, Mitch Kashmar, Rod Piazza etc. So I guess my answer is: If you want Sugar Blue in the Top 10 list, enlarge the list. He doesn't supplant anyone already there.
Yeah, top-10 lists are silly, what with being arbitrarily tied to the number of fingers we have. Still, they force us to make tough decisions, which is the point of Dr Gussow's exercise. So I can't take the easy way out and leave it to others to suggest someone to kick off? Fair enough. I'll put a head on the chopping block: Junior Wells. This has been argued before, but never as a Junior-Sugar head-to-head. Here's a brief rundown based on the criteria: Originality- gotta go to Sugar for the reasons I mentioned in my first post. True harmonic innovation is rare in the blues harp world. Blue had/has it. Influence- goes to Sugar, I'd say (I could easily be proven wrong here). Every harp player who has tried to develop the dexterity of a guitarist owes something to Sugar. If we take into account that this is the 'modern' blues forum, no contest, I'd say. Technical Mastery- Blue, easily. Soulfulness- The most nebulous category. Lets give this one to Wells. Recorded Evidence- Both have been amply recorded and we can say that each of their best work is available on recording. Lets call it a wash. I've got Blue by a score of 3.5-1.5 in my way-too-simple analysis. Whaddya think?
